696 SPECIAL IIISTOLOGY. 



the Peyerian patches, as well as of the spleen, and of the tonsils, and 

 the alveolar spaces in the lymphatic glands, on which account I shall 

 describe the latter as "alveoli." 



The grayish-white alkaline pulp which fills the spaces in question, 

 agrees in nearly all respects with that contained in the Peyerian folli- 

 cles, and consists of a certain proportion of fluid, and of very many 

 morphological elements. The latter are, in part free nuclei, of 0-002- 

 0-003 of a line, usually without distinct nucleoli, with homogeneous 

 contents, which are nevertheless rendered turbid by water ; in part 

 true, pale, uninuclear, round cells, most of which measure from 0-003- 

 0*004 of a line, with nuclei similar to those found in the free condition, 

 a certain number of larger size (0-005-0-007 of a line) with larger, 

 often distinctly vesicular nuclei and nucleoli, and occasionally a few fat 

 granules. These morphological elements also, to some extent, corre- 

 spond entirely with the cells of the lymph and chyle; a circumstance in 

 itself of no great significance, since no specific character can be as- 

 signed to either of them. The similarity of the contents of the alveoli of 

 the lymphatic glands, with those of the follicles of the Peyerian patches, 

 is still further increased by the circumstance, that they are also 

 penetrated by a fine vascular network, as I at least have observed, and 

 have already stated in another place ("Mikr. Anat.," II. 2, p. 192). For 

 the numerous bloodvessels of the lymphatic glands, which frequently 

 penetrate into the interior at a depressed hilus-Yike spot, are not dis- 

 tributed merely in the septa of connective tissue, as has hitherto been 

 generally asserted, but, as I have seen in Man, also enter the pulp fitting 

 the alveoli, where they run freely among the elements, and form a very 

 fine capillary plexus, bearing the closest resemblance to that of the 

 Peyerian follicles, except that in general it is rather wider, and fre- 

 quently also varicose. 



The most difficult part of the anatomy of these glands is the ascer- 

 taining of their connection with the lymphatic vessels. After the ma- 

 jority of the most recent authors had agreed in the assumption, that 

 the vasa inferentia and efferentia were connected by numerous anasto- 

 moses of convoluted and looped vessels, the proper parenchyma of the 

 glands being thus frequently left in the background or altogether for- 

 gotten, the number of those has latterly been much increased, who 

 advocate the view originally propounded by Malpighi, viz. that the lym- 

 phatic glands consist of an aggregation of anastomosing cells, into 

 which the vasa afferentia open, and from which the vasa efferentia pro- 

 ceed ; and, in particular, Ludwig and Noll have declared themselves 

 most decidedly in favor of this view. As for myself, it will be appa- 

 rent from the preceding account, that I am one of those who admit of 

 the existence ofc a special glandular element in the lymphatic glands, 

 and I consequently deny, in the most explicit terms, that they are com- 



