Ultimate pulmonary tissue.— Lobules. — Historical bibliography. — From the dawn of anatomy to the present age, " the struc ture of the lungs " has proved a fertile theme for disputation. Anterior to the era of Mal pighi, anatomists were wont to regard the lungs as consisting of " a spumous tissue," in which air and blood became directly inter mixed. Malpighi 11 first demonstrated the untenableness of this view. He placed the fact beyond doubt, that the air and the blood were contained in separate channels.1 He described the air-cells, and contended that they communicated among themselves, but not with the blood passages.
In the year 1665, Bartholin wrote to de fend the theory of Malpighi.* Willis .1. came next in the list of disputants. By him it was argued, that the extreme bronchi deprived of their cartilages bulged on all sides into the " vesicles" described by Malpighi, and that they communicated among themselves. After Willis came Borel:, and Duverney. § By the former it was denied that muscular fibres exist in the walls of the vesicles ; by the latter it was maintained that the extremities of the bronchi in man's lungs, as in that of the bird, cornmunicated amongst themselves.
Helvetius (1718)11 now sought to modify the views of Malpighi as developed by Bar tholin and Duverney. He also admits that the pulmonary tissue consists of a cellular or spongy tissue, of which the cells open the one into the other.
Haller now entered the arena. This illustrious anatomist doubted the existence of a system of air-cells in the lungs, because he could not see that those of one lobule were connected with those of the adjacent. Haller, at this period, was followed by Hales, Volelfart, Hamberger, Hildebrand, each in his turn advocating some modification of the opinions already stated.
A new epoch now occurred in the history of this controversy by the publication of the far-famed "Dissertation" of Reisseissen.** In the judgment of the Berlin academicians the researches of Reisseissen overthrew, by un deniable fact and experiment, the theories of Willis, Malpighi, and antiquity. It was taught by Reisseissen, that the air-cells form the real terminal extremities of the bronchial tubes, each vesicle being independent of the others, and having its own separate bronchial peduncle.tt In I 825, Magendie published opinions with reference to the structure of the lungs, which were essentially a reproduction of the views of Helvetius.tt The facts adduced by Magen
die did not, however, satisfactorily overthrow the theory of Reisseissen. In England, Home and Bauer§§, attempted at this period to show that the pulmonary vesicles did not consist of dilated air-tt4bes, as supposed by Willis and Reisseissen, but of polygonal cells of deter minate form. They declared a preference for the theory of BIalpighi. M. Bazin, in the year 1832*, reproduced the opinions of Reisseis sen. In 1839, M. Sereboullett followed on the same side. About this period, INI. Bour gery in France and Dr. W. Addison in Eng land, combated' severally the views of NVillis and Reisseissen. To the theories of these anatomists, more especial reference will be afterwards made. Dr. Addisont, from a re petition of the method adopted by Reisseissen, concludes, " that the bronchial tubes, after dividing into a multitude of minute branches, which take their course in the cellular inter stices of the lobules, terminate in their in terior in branched air-passages and freely communicating air-cells. Mr. Rainey, whose excellent memoirs have rendered great service to the cause of the minute anatomy of the lungs, more clearly defines the distinction be tween the inter-cellular passages (the lobular passages of Drs. Todd and Addison) and the true bronchi.§ M. Hiischke II in 1844 pub lished researches mhich tended to support the views of M. Bourgery. At this time Dr. Eichholtz c, contributed to anatomy the re sults of careful investigations into the structure of the lungs. The dissertation of Dr. Mole schott** was also added to the rich list of works on the organisation of these parts. The views of this excellent writer differ in no essen tial respects from those of M. Rossignol t, who describes the extreme bronchi as termina ting in infundibula, v‘hich sacculate into lateral and terminal alveoli (air-cells). In the year1848, Adrius Adriani t published a dissertation of considerable value. It is illustrated by draw ino-s taken from their own preparations by Sairceder van der Kolk and Harting. To this admirable essay, special allusions will be afterwards made. An inaugural dissertation, also, by Ernest Schultz §§, devoted chiefly to questions of structural anatomy, now appeared to enrich the literature of this subject.