292 ON LYMPH-CORPUSCLES IN THE LYMPHATIC VESSELS. 



question now in discussion superfluous, inasmuch as it has 

 long been proved that the lacteals of the small intestine, even 

 at their commencement between the intestine and the mesen- 

 teric glands, contain lymph-corpuscles ; but here the possi- 

 bility arises, that the cells may be derived from the Peyerian 

 and solitary follicles, whose connexion with the lacteals is 

 asserted by Briicke, and which on this account have been 

 regarded as a kind of lymphatic glands. In this state of 

 things, it is above all necessary to investigate the conditions 

 under which, and the situations in which, the lymphatics 

 contain cellaeform elements previously to their reaching the 

 lymphatic glands, and where not ; an investigation which, 

 when carried out sufficiently, is more difficult than it appears 

 at first sight. Although I have had neither opportunity nor 

 leisure of instituting detailed researches on this subject, still 

 I am in a condition to communicate some facts, which may 

 serve as an introduction to further inquiries. 



In a large Dog, which had been copiously fed a few hours 

 before death, and in which all the lymphatics of the abdo- 

 minal organs were distended, H. Miiller and I found, in all 

 the lacteals proceeding from the Peyerian glands, (which in 

 such cases are always enlarged,) in every preparation, a con- 

 siderable amount of colourless cells. The chyle from the 

 other vessels of the small intestine, however, also contained 

 cells, but these were in general less abundant, though in one 

 case likewise the number was not inconsiderable. In the 

 same way also the lymphatics arising from the large intestine 

 contained a certain number of cells in the pale-coloured 

 lymph. On the other hand, we were unable to discover a 

 trace of cellaeform elements in the lymph taken from the 

 much-distended vessels of the liver. 



Upon the supposition, therefore, that the solitary follicles 

 of the small and large intestine communicate with lymphatic 

 vessels, these facts would appear to correspond with the 

 hypothesis, that the lymphatic glands and the analogous 

 follicles of the intestines are the only sites of formation of 

 the lymph-cells. 



On the other hand, again, I invariably found in the large 

 lymphatics of the spermatic cord of the Bull, close to the 

 epididymis, in several very carefully-examined cases, a certain, 

 though it is true but small, number of cells, which were in- 

 distinguishable from lymph-corpuscles. 



Further investigation, for which I would recommend the 

 lymphatic vessels on the exterior of the gastric mucous mem- 

 brane of the Pig, and those of the uterus and liver in the 

 large mammalia, will show in what cases lymph-cells exist 



