ABSOEPTION. 



that they must materially retard the passage of the lymph 

 toward the great trunks ; and it is well known in pathology 

 that morbid matters taken up by the absorbents are fre- 

 quently arrested and retained in the nearest glands. 



The function of the lymphatic glands is very obscure. 

 By some they are supposed to have an important office in 

 the elaboration of the corpuscular elements of the lymph 

 and chyle ; and it has been observed that the lymph con- 

 tained in vessels which have passed through no glands is 

 relatively poor in corpuscles, while the large trunks and the 

 efferent vessels contain them in large numbers. 1 This sin- 

 gle fact is indefinite enough, as regards the mode of forma- 

 tion of the lymph-corpuscles, but it represents about all 

 that is actually known concerning the function of the lym- 

 phatic glands. The mode of development of the leucocytes 

 in this situation will be more fully considered in connection 

 with the lymph and chyle. 



In endeavoring to estimate the share which the lacteals 

 and lymphatics have in the function of absorption, it becomes 

 an important question to determine what principles these 

 vessels are capable of taking up, beside the fatty elements of 

 the food ; and how far, if at all, they assist the blood-ves- 

 sels in the absorption of the general products of digestion. 

 It is unnecessary again to recur to the function of the lac- 

 teals in the absorption of emulsified fats, for this has already 

 been discussed at sufficient length. 3 



Absorption of Albuminoids ~by the Lacteals. Comparative 

 analyses of the lymph and chyle always show in the latter 

 fluid an excess of albumen and fibrin. As we may reason- 

 ably suppose that during the intervals of digestion the lac- 

 teals carry ordinary lymph, for at this time these vessels are 

 filled with a colorless transparent fluid, having the general 

 physical characters of lymph, it is natural to infer that the 



1 KULLIKER, Manual of Human Microscopic Anatomy, London, I860, p. 513. 



2 See page 426. 



