44:0 ABSORPTION. 



with the deep vessels. The superficial glands are most nu- 

 merous in the folds at the flexures of the great joints, and 

 about the great vessels of the head and neck. The deep-seated 

 glands are most numerous around the vessels coming from 

 the great glandular viscera. A distinct set of large glands is 

 found connected with the lymphatic vessels between the 

 folds of the mesentry. These are known as the mesentric 

 glands. All of the lymphatic vessels pass through glands 

 before they arrive at the great lymphatic trunks, and most 

 of them pass through several glands in their course. 



There is some difference of opinion among anatomists 

 concerning the intimate structure of the lymphatic glands. 

 Some regard them as composed simply of a plexus of lym- 

 phatic vessels, held together by a delicate stroma of fibrous 

 tissue ; while others deny that there is any direct communica- 

 tion between the afferent and the efferent vessels, assuming 

 that the vessels which penetrate the glands break up into 

 small branches which open into a parenchyma, which is 

 filled with closed follicles, and that the fluids are collect- 

 ed from the glands by a second set of capillaries connected 

 with the efferent lymphatics. According to the latter view, 

 the meseiiteric glands are little more than collections of fol- 

 licles like the solitary glands of the intestines, held together 

 by a delicate fibrous structure. This difference^ of opinion 

 seems to be due to the different methods which have been 

 employed in studying the structure of the glands. Taking, 

 for example, the results arrived at by two prominent investi- 

 gators, Sappey, w r ho has studied these organs with great 

 success by injections, seems to have clearly demonstrated a 

 lymphatic plexus in their interior ; while Kolliker, whose in- 

 vestigations have been confined chiefly to examinations of 

 the organs in a recent state, has not been able to follow out 

 the lymphatic vessels, but has accurately described the con- 

 tents of the alveoli, or what are regarded by others as closed 

 follicles. In attempting to represent what has been actu- 

 ally demonstrated concerning the structure of these bodies, 



