Number, size and distribution of Peyer's Patches in the human small intestine I. The development of Peyer's Patches

EDITORIAL SYNOPSIS The presence of Peyer's patches is commonly taken for granted but this is the first serious study of the incidence and development of Peyer's patches before and after birth. The number of Peyer's patches found in the various parts of the human small intestine has never been accurately determined. Most textbooks of anatomy put their number at 20 to 30 (Gray 1962), and only slight variations of these figures are given from one textbook to another. However, Sappey (1877), Passow (1885), and Gundobin (1892) occasionally found 70 or more patches, and Hellmann (1921) in his studies on status thymico-lymphaticus found as many as 246 patches in young children who had died suddenly and unexpectedly from a wide variety of causes. The present study was undertaken to find out ho