Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/114

* MXrCKEKS. 86 tity and moral influencc. His followers were accused of the grossest immorality, ami a garden in Kiinigsberg where they met aciiuired the name of the Seraph's Grove. The sulijcct was hrought before the courts (1839-42), ami the result was that Ehel and Diestel were degraded from their oHices, and the latter was further punished by imprisonment. T?ut the sentence was dictated by strong prejudice against the accused, on ac- count of their religious views and peculiar ec- centricities, and the evidence gives no support whatever to the charge of licentiousness. The matter was revamped withoiit jiroper examina- tion by V. Ilepworth Dixon in his Siiiritual ^yices (London, 1808), and thus rendered fa- miliar to English readers. For the facts con- sult J. I. Mombert, Faith VictorioKx, a life of Ebel (New York. 1882). MUCORA'CEJE (Neo-],at., noni. pi., from Lat. mttcor, mold, from m uccre, to be moldy, from mucus, slime; connected with Gk. /xi!fa, myxa, mucus, Skt. niwc, to release). A widely distril)- uted order of fungi mostly microscopic, com- prising what are commonly known as molds, whicii are found on decaying vegetable and ani- mal matter. Pliycomyccs nitens grows on greasy substances, a habitat not usual with most fungi, ilucor mucedo, one of the most common, appears as a glistening mass of mycelium on fresh horse manure in moist places. It .seems to flourish in decaying nitrogenous matter, evolving am- monia. From the mycelium there project toward the light slight white threads (conidiophores), whose tips soon became black, from the developed sifhres. The spore stalks of the common l)read mold appear to lie inditlercnt to light. If the mycelium be kc])! moist it develops cross-parti- tions which increase in number, the cells so pro- duced swelling into a spherical form to become thick-walled resting spores; but if grown in a decoction of horse manure the mycelium bears only conidia. The principal genera arc Mucor, Thamnidium, Pilobolus, Phycomyces. MUCOUS MEMBRANE and MUCUS. The iiiucdii^ incnil'ranc i-> i-nnt inuiui-- willi llie skin at all the oriticcs of the body, and liTics the passages by which the internal (jrgans coinmuni- eate with the outer worhl. For convenience of description it may be divided into three great tracts — the alimentary mncnus membrane, the respiratory mucous mendirane. and the genito- urinary mucoiis membrane. The iilinii iilinii miimns mtinhriuic commences at the lips, and not only forms the inner lining of the intestinal canal from the mouth to the anus, but gives oil' prolongations which after lining the ducts of the various glands (the salivary glands, the liver, and the pancreas) whose products are discharged into this canal, penetrate into the iiuiermosl recesses of these glands, and constitute their true secreting ele- ment. Besides these larger ofTsets. we find in the stomach and small intestine an infinite series of minute tubular [irolongations. the anatomical arrangement ami function of which are ilescribed in the article nioESTiON, Ukuans of. The rrs/iinilnri/ iinn-tniy nicinhrtnir begins at the nostrils, and under the name of Nclinviderian or iiiliiitiirii wimhrnnc (sec Nose) lines the nasal cavities, from whence it sends on either side an upward pndongation through the laeh- rymnl duct to form the ronjunrtiin of the eye; backward, through the posterior nares (the com- MUCOUS MEMBRANE. munication between the nose and the throat), it sends a prolongation through the Eustachian tube to the middle ear (the cavity of the tym- panum), and is continuous with tlic pharyngeal mucous membrane (which is a jiortion of the alimentary tract); it then, instead of passing down the oesophagus, enters and forms a lining to the larynx, trachea, and bronchial tubes to their terminations. From the continuity of these two tracts some writers describe them as a single one, under the name of the gastro-pulmonary tract. The geuito-uri}wrt/ luucons ntciuhrane com- mences at the genitourinary orifices, lines the excretory ])assages from the generative ami uri- nary organs, and is the essential constituent of the glands of both. In the female it becomes continuous with the serous membrancc of the ab- domen at the fimbriie of the Fallopian tubes. See Kidney. Mucous membranes line all those passages by which internal parts communicate with the sur- face, and by which matt<>rs are either admitted into or eliminated from the body. As a general rule they are soft and velvety, and of a more or less red color, from their great vascularity; but they present certain structural peculiarities ac- cording to the functions which they arc required to discharge. In all the principal parts of the mucous tracts we find the mucous membrane to present an external layer of epithelium (q.v.) resting on a thin, transparent, homogeneous membrane, which from its position is termed the liasenient membrane, and beneath this a stratum of vascular tissue of variable thickness, which usually presents either outgrowths in the form of papilhc and villi, or depressions or inversions in the form of follicles or glands, or both. The follicles are almo.st invariably present, but the papilla' and villi are limited to the alimentary or gastrointestinal mucous membrane. The mu- cous membranes constitute the medium through which nearly all the material changes are efTect- ed that take place between the living organism and the external world. Thus in the gastro- intestinal mucous membrane we find a ])ri>vi^iiin for reducing the food by means of a solvent lliiid poured out from its follicles: while the villi, which are closely set upon the surface of the small intestine, are specially adapted to absorb the nutrient materials thus reduced to the liquid state. The same membrane, at its lower part, constitutes an outlet through which are cast out not merely the indigestible residuum of the food, but also the excretions from numerous minute glandiihc in the intestinal wall, which result from the decomposition of the tissues, and which must be sei)arated from them to [uevent fur- ther decay. Again, the bronchio-pulmonarv or re- spiratory mucous membrane serves for the intro- ductifin of oxygen from the air. and for the ex- halation of water and carbonic acid. . d. lastly, the mucous menibranes are continuous with the cell-lined vesicles or tubes of the various glands, which are the instruments whereiiy their rc-^pec- tive products are eliminated from the blood. .Mthough the various kinds of e|iithelial cells discharge a special office in relation to the pe- culiar function of the mucous membrane ufion which each kind occurs, yet they all serve one general purpose — namely, that of protecting the surfaces on which they are placed. This protect- ing power is increased by the presence of the se-