ABSOKPTTON OF WATER BY THE LACTEALS. 449 



receptaculum chyli, and in the fourth, which was afterward 

 killed, a vessel was fonnd extending from the duct below the 

 point of ligature to the great lymphatic vein on the right side. 1 

 The experiments of Dupuytren upon horses were followed 

 by nearly the same results. Some of the animals died after 

 five or six days, and others apparently recovered. In those 

 that fried, it was found impossible after death to pass an in- 

 jection from the lower part of the duct, below the ligature, 

 into the subclavian vein ; but in the animals that survived, it 

 was always easy to pass any kind of liquid from the duct into 

 the vein, by numerous communicating vessels located in the 

 posterior and^he anterior mediastinum. Magendie, who was 

 present at the dissection of a horse upon which Dupuytren 

 had tied the duct six weeks before, found evident communica- 

 tions between that portion of the duct situated below the point 

 of ligature and both subclavian veins, although the duct itself 

 had been completely obliterated. 8 The experiments of Flan- 

 drin seem to indicate that ligation of the thoracic duct is not 

 necessarily fatal, even though the flow of chyle be com- 

 pletely arrested. In one experiment upon a horse that was 

 old and feeble, death took place in three days, while in 

 eleven other experiments, the animals survived, and were 

 killed generally fifteen days after ligation of the duct ; but 

 no attempt was made to determine the existence or non-exist- 

 ence of anastomosing branches communicating with the veins 

 in*the neck. 3 ' 



The early experiments of Du Yerney 4 and others, which 



1 Loc. cit., p. 104 et seq. In one of these experiments the duct was simply 

 divided in the neck and was not tied. The animal died on the fifth day. 



2 MAGENDIE, Memoire sur les Organes de V Absorption chez les Mammiferes. 

 Journal de Physiologic, Paris, 1821, tome i., p. 21. 



3 FLANDRIN, Suite des Experiences sur V Absorption des Vaisseaux Lympha- 

 tiques dans les Animaux. Journal de Medecine, Chirurgie, Pharmacie, etc., Paris, 

 1791, tome Ixxxvii., p. 226 et seq. 



4 Histoire de 1} Academic des Sciences de Paris, 1675, tome i., p. 197. Cu 

 Verney did not tie the thoracic duct, but applied a ligature to "the subclavian 

 vein above the thoracic canal, and the jugular above its insertion." 



29 



