On the structure of the mucuous membrane of the stomach : from the Gulstonian Lectures for 1839 delivered at the Royal College of Physicians in London.

  • Robert Bentley Todd
Date:
[1839]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the structure of the mucuous membrane of the stomach : from the Gulstonian Lectures for 1839 delivered at the Royal College of Physicians in London. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    wrinkles is seen on the pyloric and car- diac portions of the membrane. Three slight and very short fissures radiate from a central depression, and these occur in so great numbers, and at such regular dis- tances from each other, that they are not unlikely to be mistaken for a peculiar structure, nor to be set down as glands, by those who are zealously in search of a distinct series of such organs in connec- tion with the stomach. I have seen this appearance many times on the human stomach, and always in that of the pig ; and I am disposed to think that it is pro- duced by the contraction of the muscular coat, although 1 am unable to explain ex- actly the manner in which it is effected. When thin sections of the mucous mem- brane, cut vertically to the surface, are placed under the microscope, they are seen to be composed of a number of tubuli closely applied to each other side bv side, their blind extremities being in contact with the submucous tissue, and their free extremities opening into the bottom of the cells. In some situations these tubuli are straight and short; in other parts they are longer, and at their blind extremities pre- sent an appearance which might arise either from a slight convolution of the tube, or from some irregular dilatations of it in that situation (fig. 2). It very commonly Fig. 2. Tubes from the pyloric portion of the stomach, as seen by a vertical section. happens that two tubuli coalesce or anas- tomose at their free extremities, and they will consequently open upon the floor of a cell by a common orifice; and hence it is that a greater number of tubules actu- ally pour their contents into a cell, than would be indicated by the number of openings which pierce its floor. The dia- meter of the tubuli varies from l-360th to l-540th of an inch. The tubuli are straiter and shorter at the cardiac portion of the stomach, longer and more convoluted, or irregular,at their blind ends, at the pyloric portions. In a vertical section of an injected specimen, wc see the vessels coming up from the submucous tissue, and passing between the tubuli, as in the annexed figure (fig. 3), Fig. 3. Vertical section of the mucous membrane, shew- ing the vessels passing to the superficial net- work (from Bischoff.) to terminate in the vascular net-work on the surface. From the examination of thin horizon- tal sections at various depths of the mem- brane, I have ascertained that the tubuli are arranged in bundles or groups, sur- rounded and bound together by a fine cellular membrane, the bundles varying in size, and in the number of tubules con- tained in them, as shewn in fig. 4, which Fig. 4. Transverse section of the tubuli in the dog. represents such a section of the dog’s sto- mach, magnified about 100 diameters. When a very thin horizontal section, taken from the free surface of the mem- brane, is placed under the microscope, the free surface being upwards, and covered with talc or thin glass, a very beautiful view of the mouths of the cells, and the arrangement of the membrane around and
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