General Anatomy, Applied to Physiology and Medicine, Vol. 3 (of 3)Bichat, Xavier
Science
General Anatomy, Applied to Physiology and Medicine, Vol. 3 (of 3)
Bichat, Xavier
Human anatomy; Human physiology
The exterior of the glands not covered by membranes is unequal and
lobulated; it conforms to the muscles, the vessels, the nerves, and
even the bones, as the parotid which is placed under the angle of the
jaw. Less cellular texture is in general found around them, than around
organs with great motion. That which is in contact with them is more
dense and compact than that of the organic interstices. It closely
resembles the sub-mucous texture, that exterior to the arteries, the
veins, the excretories, &c. but it is not however so resisting. It
receives fat with difficulty, and forms a kind of membrane, which,
insulating to a certain extent the vitality of the gland, performs in
great measure in this respect the functions of the peritoneum around
the liver, of the peculiar membrane of the kidneys, the spleen, &c.
ARTICLE SECOND.
ORGANIZATION OF THE GLANDULAR SYSTEM.
I. _Texture peculiar to the Organization of this System._
The glandular texture is distinct from most of the others in this, that
the fibrous arrangement is wholly foreign to it. The elements that
compose it are not placed at the side of each other, in longitudinal or
oblique lines, as in the muscles, the fibrous bodies, the bones, the
nerves, &c. They are found agglomerated, united by cellular texture,
and adhere but very slightly. Thus whilst the organs with distinct
fibres resist much, especially in the direction of their fibres,
these are torn with the least effort, and break even with ease. Their
rupture is unequal, full of prominences and depressions, a difference
which distinguishes them from cartilage, the rupture of which is in
general smooth. This rupture is not equally easy in all the glands.
The prostate, the amygdalæ, the mucous glands resist much more than
the liver or the kidneys, which principally exhibit this phenomenon.
The pancreas and salivary glands yield a little without breaking, when
they are pulled; but it is not their texture which is the seat of this
phenomenon, it is the abundant cellular texture that penetrates them;
thus their different lobes are then separated, in proportion as the
filaments which are between them become longer.
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