STRUCTUKE OF LYMPHATIC SYSTEM. 



357 



several others leave them at another portion of their surface, passing 

 onward toward the centre of the circulation. The former are called the 

 u afferent," the latter the " efferent" lymphatic vessels. Owing to the 

 general gland ular-like aspect which they present to the eye, these bodies 

 are known as lymphatic " glands," although they possess no proper ex- 

 cretory duct, and whatever new materials are formed in their interior 

 must be carried away either by the veins or by the efferent lymphatic 

 vessels. 



The lymphatic glands are situated upon the course of the lymphatic 

 vessels on the inside of the limbs at the flexures of the joints, in the 

 axilla and the groin, in the thoracic and abdominal cavities, along the 

 sides of the spinal column, in the mesentery, and in the sides and ante- 

 rior part of the neck. 



Fig. 126. 



LYMPHATIC VESSELS AHD GLANDS OF THE HEAD, NECK, AND THORAX. 1. 

 Thoracic duct, at the point of its emergence from the chest. 2. The same duct, at its junction 

 with the left subclavian vein. (Mascagni.) 



As regards the structure of the lymphatic glands they consist, First, 

 of an external fibrous envelope, which sends from its internal surface 

 prolongations in the form of septa and branching bands into the deeper 

 parts of the gland, so that the interior of the organ is divided into a 



