LYMPH. 509 



and the larger ruminants, were the first to give any clear 

 idea of the quantity of liquids lymph and chyle which 

 pass through the thoracic duct. In an observation upon a 

 cow of medium size, he succeeded in collecting, in the course 

 of twelve hours, the enormous quantity of 105 '3 Ibs. av, 

 (47,963 grammes) ; and he further states that a very much 

 greater amount can be obtained by operating upon rumi- 

 nants of larger size. 1 Whether this represents the actual 

 quantity which is normally discharged into the venous cir- 

 culation is a question which will be considered under the 

 head of the probable quantity of lymph and chyle ; but it 

 certainly shows that the lymph cannot but be regarded as 

 one of the most important of the animal fluids. 



Among the observations upon the fluids discharged from 

 the thoracic duct which followed the experiments of Colin, 

 the most interesting are those made in 1859, by Daltoii, 

 who operated upon carnivorous as well as herbivorous ani- 

 mals. These experiments were performed upon young goats 

 and dogs ; and the general results with regard to the quan- 

 tity of fluids discharged closely corresponded with those ob- 

 tained by Colin. 2 The operation of making the fistula in 

 goats is not very difficult, all that is necessary being to cut 

 down upon the subclavian vein at the point where the duct 



latter part of the last century, Flandrin, who made a number of experiments upon 

 the effects of ligating the thoracic duct in horses (see page 449), attempted to 

 make a fistula into the canal by exposing it and introducing a tube made of 

 tin. He did not succeed, however, in obtaining the chyle in quantity, as the 

 tube soon became obstructed. (FLAXDRIN, Suite des Experiences sur V Absorption 

 des Vaisseaux Lymphatiques dans les Animaux. Journal de Medecine, Chirurgie, 

 Pharmacie, etc., Paris, 1791, tome Ixxxvii., p. 230 et seq.) 



1 COLIN, op. cit, tome ii., p. 106. 



2 DALTON, The Physiology of the Circulation. A Course of Lectures delivered 

 in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in the Fall Term of 1859. 

 American Medical Monthly and New York Review, December, 1860, p. 415 ; and 

 Treatise on Human Physiology, Philadelphia, 1864, p. 322. 



Dr. Dalton, in his experiments upon dogs, poisoned the animals with woorara, 

 and collected the liquid which flowed from the thoracic duct, the circulation being 

 kept up by artificial respiration. 



