Gland

(gland.) [From L. glans, the nut-like fruit of a forest-tree. ] (Anat.) An organ of the animal body concerned in the work of secretion. The form and composition of the glands are very various, but they exhibit in the arrangement of the cells a common structural plan. The cells which line their cavities and tubes form an epithelium, and at the same time act as secreting cells, and elaborate the matters which they discharge. There is much obscurity as to the proce of secretion by the glands. It is no doubt the result of the vital proce es of the cells, but why one set of glands should elaborate and discharge the components of saliva, and another set the components of bile, from one common source of supply, viz. the blood, has never been elucidated. (Bot.) Glands or Glandules are wart-like swellings found on the surface of plants, or at one end of their hairs. They are extremely various in form. [s. 410]