PHYSIOLOGY OF ORGANIC LIFE. 135 



and killing the animal, he found that the cells 

 of the spleen, (particularly at the great end of 

 it,) were very large and distinct ; on macerating 

 a portion of it in ten drachms of water, and 

 testing it by an alkali, he found that it gave out 

 a reddish-brown color in the centre, and no 

 where else. A similar portion of the liver was 

 treated in the same manner, and an alkali was 

 added to the strained liquor, but no such 

 change in it was produced. I mention these 

 opinions in order to show how little is known 

 upon the subject. 



The same confusion exists with respect to 

 the lacteal (or chylous) vessels ; those vessels 

 which arising with open mouths from the folds 

 of the intestines, absorb the chyle, or digested 

 aliment, after it has been depurated from its 

 feculent portions, and convey it to the mass of 

 blood, in order that the waste which it under- 

 goes, may be restored. The mode by which 

 the absorption is accomplished continues an 

 object of disputation; instead of supposing 

 that it is performed by a living power in the 

 parts, analogous to the suction of a leech, or even 

 of an infant at the breast ; by many it is consi- 

 dered, an inanimate act, similar to the raising 

 different fluids in narrow tubes, by what is 

 called capillary attraction, Although the lac- 

 teal (chylous) resemble the lymphatic vessels, 

 in the office of absorption, the substances on 



