[ 380. ] 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
Some Particulars in the Anatomy of a 
Whale. By Mr. Fohn Abernethy. 
From the Philosophical Trans- 
actions, Part I, 
THERE are some particulars in 
the anatomy of the whale, which, 
I believe, have either entirely es- 
caped, or have not been as yet 
communicated to the public. The 
parts which in the whale cor- 
respond in situation and office with 
the mesenteric glands of other ani- 
mals, differ considerably from those 
glands in structure. ‘These pecu- 
liarities are not only curious in 
themselves, but are illustrative of 
circumstances hitherto esteemed 
obscure, in the anatomy and cco- 
nomy of the lymphatic glands in 
general. I therefore take the li- 
berty of submitting the following 
account of them to the inspection 
of this learned society. 
The animal, from which the 
parts that I am going to describe 
were taken, was a male, of the 
genus named by Linnzus balzna. 
Being désirous of making an 
anatomical preparation, to shew 
the distribution of the mesenteric 
vessels and laéteals of the whale, I 
procured for this purpose a broad 
portion of the mesentery with the 
annexed intestine; and proceeded 
in the first place to inject the blood 
vessel, The mesentery had been 
cut from the animal as close to the 
spine as possible ; had a less portion 
been taken away, the parts which 
I am about to describe would have- 
been left with the body, for they 
ure situated upon the origin of the 
blood vessels belonging to the in- 
testines ; and this, perhaps, is the 
reason why they have not been ob. 
served before. 
When I threw a red-coloured 
waxcn injection into the mesenteric 
artery, I saw it meandering in the 
ramifications of that vessel ; but at 
the same time I observed itcolleéting 
in several separate heaps, about the 
roots of the mesentery, which soon 
increased to the size of eggs. At 
the time, I imagined that the ves- 
sels had been ruptured, and that 
the injection in consequence had 
become extravasated; but I was 
conscious that no improper degree 
of force had been used in propeliing 
the inje€tion. 
I next threw some yellow injec- 
tion into the vein, when similar 
phanomena occurred ; the branches 
of the vein were filled, but at the 
same time the masses of wax near 
the root of the mesentery were in- 
creased by a further effusion’ of 
the injettion. These lumps had 
now acquired a spherical es 
an 
