CHAPTER VI 

 LYMPH, LYMPH GLANDS, SPLEEN 



1. THE LYMPH 



FROM the blood capillaries there continually transudes to 

 the tissues a fluid, which, as tissue fluid, surrounds the cells 

 and carries to them their nourishment. After the giving off 

 of these substances and the taking up of the end-products of 

 metabolism, the tissue fluid goes as lymph from the minute 

 tissue spaces to the lymph vessels, then, proceeding through 

 the great lymph trunk (thoracic duct, right lymphatic duct) 

 empties into the blood vessels. A part of the tissue fluid 

 also passes directly through the capillary walls again into 

 the blood. 



The lymph is a clear, salty fluid, having a specific gravity 

 of 1.007-1.043 which coagulates spontaneously after being 

 shed. It contains, as the cellular element, lymph corpuscles 

 identical with the leucocytes of the blood, and the plasma of 

 the lymph contains the same substances as the plasma of the 

 blood. These substances are about in the same proportions 

 as in the blood plasma except the proteid substances, the 

 percentage of which is somewhat smaller in the lymph than 

 in the blood. The lymph found in the lymph vessels of the 

 intestine during digestion contains the absorbed fat in the 

 form of a fine emulsion and therefore has a milky appear- 

 ance ; it is called chyle. 



In man, the quantity of lymph flowing from the thoracic duct 

 is estimated at i to 2 litre per day. 



Lymph formation. In the transudation of the lymph from 

 the blood capillaries, physical processes filtration and 



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