CHAPTER XXXIII 

 THE LYMPH AND THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM 



MOST people do not know even of the existence in 

 their own bodies of a fluid called " the lymph," and 

 of a system of vessels and spaces containing it which 

 ramify like the blood-vessels into every part of the body. 

 This arises from the fact that the lymph is translucent 

 and colourless. You can see the finest blood-vessels 

 when the body of a dead rat, sheep, or man is opened, 

 because they are filled with the beautiful red blood, and 

 appear as a rich, coloured network. But the lymph 

 and the lymph-vessels escape notice, and, indeed, are 

 invisible except the largest, because they are colourless. 

 They remained unknown to anatomists long after arteries 

 and veins, and the fine networks of hair-like vessels 

 or capillaries connecting them, were thoroughly well 

 studied. It is, when one thinks of it, a very noteworthy 

 fact, tending to convince us of the readiness with which 

 we may (in the absence of careful examination and 

 attention) overlook the most weighty things, that here 

 is a great system of vessels and spaces in the human 

 body and in that of other animals, carrying on most 

 important operations in our daily life, and yet most of 

 us have never seen any evidence of its existence, and 

 never hold it in our mind's eye as part of the great 

 mechanism of the animal body. 



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