THE LYMPH AND CHYLE. 369 



COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LYMPH AND CHYLE. 



Lymph. Chyle. 



Water 965.36 902.37 



Albumen 12.00 35.16 



Fibrine 1.20 3.70 



Spirit extract 2.40 3.32 



Water extract 13.19 12.33 



Fat . traces 36.01 



Saline matter ....... 5.85 7.11 



1000.00 1000.00 



When a canula, accordingly, is introduced into the thoracic duct at 

 various periods after feeding, the fluid discharged varies considerably, 

 both in appearance and quantity. In the dog, the fluid of the thoracic 

 duct is never quite transparent, but retains a marked opaline tinge even 

 so late as eighteen hours after feeding upon lean meat, and at least three 

 days and a half after the introduction of fat food. Soon after feeding, it 

 becomes whitish and opaque, and so remains while digestion and absorp- 

 tion are in progress. After the termination of this process it resumes 

 its former appearance, becoming light colored and opalescent in the car- 

 nivorous animals, and nearly colorless and transparent in the herbivora. 



The Lymph Globules. The lymph, whatever may be its other ingre- 

 dients, contains nearly always a greater or less abundance of rounded, 

 transparent, or finely granular nucleated cells, similar to the white glo- 

 bules of the blood, which are known as the " lymph-globules." They 

 vary in size from about 6 to 12 mmm. in diameter. By treatment with 

 dilute acetic acid they become pale and transparent; while partial desic- 

 cation, or the contact of a concentrated saline or saccharine solution, 

 gives them a shrivelled appearance with an irregular outline. Accord- 

 ing to the observations of Kolliker, the lymph-globules vary much, both 

 in number and in size, according to the part of the lymphatic system 

 from which the fluid is taken. In the smallest lymphatic vessels of the 

 mesentery capable of examination, they may even be altogether absent, 

 the lymph consisting of a perfectly homogeneous fluid, not holding 

 any anatomical forms in suspension ; and in the lymphatics where they 

 first begin to show themselves, they are few in number and of less than 

 the average size. After the lymph, however, has traversed one or two 

 ranges of lymphatic glands, the globules are larger and more numerous, 

 manj^ of them in the larger lymphatic trunks attaining the size of 12 

 mmm. in diameter. From this circumstance, as well as from the micro- 

 scopic texture of the glands themselves, it is concluded that the lymph- 

 globules originate, in great part, in the interior of the lymphatic glands, 

 and that they are brought thence by the current which traverses the 

 lymph-paths in the substance of these organs. 



Movement of the Fluids in the Lymphatic System. The movement 

 of the lymph in the lymphatic vessels diners from that of the blood, in 

 the important particular that its course is always in one direction, 



