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Section 59. in the Branching Air-Tubes of the Lung, the Central Canal of

Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata · H. G. Wells — chapter 58 of 285 · ~168 words · public domain

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the spinal cord, and in the ureters of the rabbit, and in most other types, in various organs, we find ciliated epithelium (Figure VII.). This is columnar or cubical in form, and with the free edge curiously modified and beset with a number of hair-like processes, the cilia, by which, during the life of the cell, a waving motion is sustained in one direction. This motion assists in maintaining a current in the contents of ducts which are lined with this tissue. The motion is independent of the general life of the animal, so long as the constituent cell still lives, and so it is easy for the student to witness it himself with a microscope having a 1/4-inch or 1/6-inch objective. Very fine cilia may be seen by gently scraping the roof of a frog's mouth (the cells figured are from this source), or the gill of a recently killed mussel, and mounting at once in water, or, better, in a very weak solution of common salt.

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