THE SCIENCE OF EASY-CHAIRS. 189 



passes onward into the lymphatics, where a series of valves prevents its 

 return, and allows it only to move onward, till at last it is emptied into 

 the gen -ral circulation. 



In strong and healthy people the veins and lymphatics together are 

 quite able to take up all the fluid which the arteries have supplied to 

 the muscles, and thus prevent any accumulation from taking place 

 either in them or in the cellular tissue adjoining them, or at least pre- 

 vent any such accumulation as might become evident to the eye. In 

 delicate, weakly persons, or in those who suffer from certain diseases 

 of the vascular system, this is not the case ; and after standing or 

 walking for a long time the legs become swollen, so that the boots feel 

 tight, and sometimes even a distinct impression may be remarked at 

 tl)at part of the ankle which was covered by the boot. In such per- 

 sons we can actually see the swelling disappear, after the feet have 

 been kept rested for some time on a level with the bod}', and it may be 

 removed more quickly still by gently and steadil}' rubbing the limbs in 

 one direction from below upward. It is almost certain that what we 

 thus see in weakly persons occurs to a slighter extent in all, and that 

 even in the most healthy person after a long walk a slight accumulation 

 of fluid, laden with the products of muscular waste, occurs both in the 

 muscles themselves and in the cellular tissue around them, even al- 

 though we cannot detect it by simple inspection. So long as the limbs 

 of such a person hang down, the force of gravity retards the return 

 both of blood through the veins and of lymph through the fasciae and 

 lymphatics, and thus hinders the muscles from getting rid of those 

 waste products which caused the fatigue. When the legs are raised, 

 this hinderance is at once removed, both blood and lymph return more 

 readily from the muscles, carrying with them those substances which 

 had been formed by the muscles of the limbs during the exertions 

 which they had undergone when carrying the body about. So long as 

 these substances remained where they had been formed, they might 

 cause in the muscles of the legs an undue amount of fatigue, although, 

 when distributed over the body generally, they may produce only a 

 pleasing languor. When the legs are long, the obstruction to the re- 

 turn of blood and lymph is, of course, greater than when they are 

 short, and this return will take place more readily when the legs are 

 raised above the body than when they are only on a level with it. This 

 may be one of the reasons why some of our long-legged American 

 cousins are so fond of raising their feet to a level with their heads, or 

 even higher, although it is very probable that there are reasons still 

 more powerful, which we may discuss at a future time. 



It has already been mentioned that the lymph is propelled along the 

 interstices of the fascise into the lymphatic vessels by the intermittent 

 pressure which the muscle exerts upon them from within ; and it seems 

 natural to suppose that the flow may also be aided by a pressure from 

 without, in the form of shampooing. Even when the hand is rubbed 



