LYMPHATIC AND LACTEAL SYSTEM. 



223 



quantity of lymph ; the comparison therefore 

 between chyle and lymph has never been fairly 

 instituted. Regretting with others the defici- 

 ency in our knowledge of the relative compo- 

 sitions of these important fluids, which, though 

 derived from such different sources, enter in 

 combination the already circulating blood, I 

 performed some experiments, which need not 

 here be described in detail, for the purpose of 

 ascertaining the quantity of chyle that might 

 be procured from the vasa eflerentia of the 

 mesenteric glands, and found that by a little 

 care and contrivance as much as half an ounce 

 of perfectly pure chyle might be procured from 

 a horse after a full meal. I now applied to 

 Dr. G. O. Rees, well known to me as an able 

 and zealous investigator of the too much 

 neglected science of animal chemistry, and re- 

 quested him to undertake the analysis of 

 the unmixed chyle and lymph, and to institute 

 the desired comparison between them. Dr. 

 Rees kindly acquiesced in my proposal, and 

 has published the result of his inquiry in one 

 of the late numbers of the London Medical 

 Gazette, from which I transcribe his analysis 

 with some of his observations, the whole of 

 which are well worthy of perusal. The fluids 

 in question were procured from a donkey, 

 killed seven hours after a full meal of oats and 

 beans. 



Analysis of chyle and lymph before reaching 

 the thoracic duct, by Dr. G. O. Rees 



Chyle. 



Water 90-237 . 



Albuminous matter 3-516 , 



Fibrinous matter 0'370 . 



Animal extractive matter so- 

 luble in water and alcohol 

 Animal extractive matter so- 

 luble in water only .... 



Fatty matter 3-601 



"Alkaline chloride,"} 

 sulphate and carbo- | 

 nate, with traces of S-0'711 

 alkaline phosphate, ] 

 oxide of iron . . . . J 



1-233 



Salts.. 



Lymph. 



96-536 

 1 200 

 0-120 



0-240 



1-319 

 a trace. 



0-585 



100-000 



100-00 



Dr. Rees describes the albuminous matter of 

 chyle as possessing a dead-white colour, which 

 he attributes to the admixture of a substance 

 of a peculiar character, and upon which he 

 conceives it probable that the white colour of 

 the chyle depends. Will further investigation 

 prove this peculiar substance to be derived from 

 the chyle granule ? or is the chyle granule 

 formed of a combination of this substance with 

 fatty matter ? 



This peculiar matter, Dr. Rees states, is 

 readily obtained by agitating chyle with aether, 

 when the mixture speedily separates into three 

 distinct strata, the centre stratum being the 

 substance in question ; a similar matter, he 

 observes, may be obtained from saliva by 

 treating it in the same way. He found it to 

 react as follows : 



" It was insoluble in alcohol, both hot and 

 cold insoluble in aether miscible with water, 



and soluble in liquor potassae. When it had 

 been dried on platinum foil, the addition of 

 water made it pulpy, and it was found still to 

 be miscible with that fluid, from which, how- 

 ever, it separated in flakes on the addition of 

 diacetate of lead." 



I have now examined each part of the lym- 

 phatic system in detail, and on reviewing it 

 as a whole, with the mind fully emancipated 

 from the old erroneous views in physiology, 

 and with a full conviction of the truth of the 

 modern discoveries with respect to imbibition, 

 endosmosis, and exosmosis, including venous 

 absorption, as established by Magendie, Du- 

 trochet, Segalas, Delille, and others, and ad- 

 mitted by M tiller, Panizza, Fohmann, Lauth, 

 Breschet, and all the modern investigators in 

 this interesting and intricate field of inquiry, 

 in which I regret not to be able to mention 

 the name of one of our own countrymen since 

 the time of Cruickshank, Hewson, and Sheldon 

 in bringing, I say, with our present improved 

 state of knowledge in physics and physiology, 

 the mind to bear upon the subject of the lym- 

 phatic system, it appears to me that we are 

 justified in materially modifying our opinions, 

 both with respect to the functions exercised by 

 this system of vessels, as well as with regard to 

 its anatomical arrangement, which has been 

 made to depend so much upon the precon- 

 ceived physiological notions respecting it. I 

 venture then to suggest that we are going too 

 far in attributing- to the lymphatic (since the 

 veins also absorb) the important and universal 

 function of interstitial absorption of the old 

 material, previous to the deposition of the new, 

 in the process of growth and nutrition; that it 

 is without sufficient proof that we admit the 

 ulcerative process to be carried on solely 

 through the agency of the lymphatic system, 

 or that the removal of all morbid growths or 

 depositions is effected by the one order of ab- 

 sorbent vessels unassisted by the other ; and 

 indeed that there would be nothing repugnant 

 to sound reasoning, or at variance with the pre- 

 sent improved state of our knowledge, were we 

 to confine the functions of the lymphatic system 

 more within the bounds ascribed to the lacteal 

 vessels during the process of digestion, viz. to 

 select and prepare nutritious materials for the 

 purpose of sanguification, and to deposit them 

 in the already circulating current. 



Descriptive anatomy. I now proceed to 

 describe the exact course which the lymphatic 

 vessels take in the different parts of the body, 

 the position and number of the absorbent 

 glands which they traverse, and the precise 

 direction, mode of commencement, and termi- 

 nation of the two principal trunks, into which 

 they pour their contents. 



This part of our subject, the descriptive 

 anatomy, neither requires nor admits of that 

 rigid exactness which is absolutely necessary in 

 tracing out the ramifications of the blood- 

 vessels. In the first place, the surgeon, in the 

 performance of his operations and in the treat- 

 ment of wounds, scarcely finds it necessary to 

 take the lymphatic vessels into consideration. 

 To relieve the stricture in strangulated femoral 



