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]
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.
2/6 page 4
![•i GULSTON IAN LECTURES FOR 183<). by directing a stream of water upon the surface: let the whole mucous membrane be well washed under a large stream flowing from a cock, and then with a good syringe direct a moderate stream upon each portion of the membrane in succession; by these means in a short time the layer of’ mucus may be very completely removed, and then the stomach may be kept in a weak •spirit for an indefinite period, without suf- fering any alteration in its structure. I have in this way preserved for many months several injected and non-in- jected specimens, which completely retain their natural appearance, and will, I have no doubt, continue in the same condition. Thus prepared, the structure of the mem- brane may be ascertained by various modes of examination. A portion of it injected or otherwise, pinned on a piece of cork, and il- 1 uminated by light thrown upon it by a con- denser, may be examined under water by the simple or compound microscope, and with the aid of a lens, or object glass, of even very low magnifying power. I find lhat the Coddiugton lens, or in the com- pound microscope an object glass of two inches focal distance, affords a most satis- factory view of the surface, arranged as I have stated. In a successful injection the mode of distribution of the capillaries is beautiful]v seen, but they are so nume- rous as to conceal the arrangement of the membrane, and, therefore, the anatomist must not confine himself to the examina- tion of injected specimens only. Thin vertical sections of the membrane must next be made, and if these be sufficiently thin they may be examined as transparent objects; but the structure is very well seen when they are placed on a black ground, and examined as opaque objects. I have found it also extremely useful to make very thin horizontal sections at various depths of the membrane, and to examine them by transmitted light. This mode of examination, which has not, so far as I know, been adopted by other observers, has enabled me to satisfy myself about several points in the structure which with- out it must have remained doubtful. When a portion of the mucous membrane of a true digestive stomach is examined, stretched upori a plane surface under water, we observe it to exhibit a multitude of small cells more or less circular in form. These cells are present over the whole sur- face, where a thick epithelium visible to 1 he naked eye does not exist, and their presence may be considered to be charac- teristic of the true digestive surface, as con- tra-distinguished from that of a simple macerating cavity. When tjre mucus has been well cleared away, we can see to the floor of each cell, which exhibits from three to five perforations, often rendered distinct by being filled with the white mucous secre- tion (fig. I.) The cells are separated from Fig. 1. This figure (from Bischoff) represents the cells seen on the surfuce of the stomach, with their foors perforated by the orijices of the tubes. each other by partition-like elevations of the membrane, which vary in depth, and sometimes even form pointed pro- cesses, mistaken by some anatomists for villi, which they really do resemble when examined on an oblique section. The diameter of the cells is about 1-180th inch to 1-250th inch : it varies, however, in the different regions, and is always largest near the pylorus. Such is the general descrip- tion of the mucous surface of the stomach of the following animals in which I have examined it—in man, the dog, cat,lion, the fourthstomach of ruminants,in the pig, rab- bit, horse, and ass; in the simple stomachs of the frog and waternewt, in the stomach of the turtle, and in those of the skate and cod, in the former of which each cell measured l-360th of an inch. When the vessels of the stomach have been minutely injected with the size in- jection coloured red, nothing can be more beautiful than the vascular net-work which is then seen on the surface of the mucous membrane. The margin of each cell is surrounded by a vascular circle, which is joined at various points of its circum- ference by minute vessels emerging from the substance of the membrane (fig. 3), and all the circles anastomose with each other. I kuow nothing which more forci- bly exhibits the intricacy of the capillary vessels themselves than this vascular net- work on the surface of the gastric mucous membrane. Although the appearance which I have described is rendered visible by a lens of very low magnifying power, so low as three or four diameters, no trace of it can be seen by the naked eye. The orifices of the so-called gastric glands, which Sir Everard Home states may be seen at the pyloric and cardiac portions of the mu- cous membrane of the stomach of man and other animals, can correspond to no- thing but the cells which I have describ- ed; yet it is difficult to imagine, if he really did see these cells at the cardia, how he could have avoided seeing them, similar in arrangement although different in size, all over the mucous surface. Not unfrequently a remarkable series of smaller](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22469461_0004.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
