HAEMAL LYMPH 149 



and physiological work as an indispensable fluid in the 

 economy of life. 



The alteration in its disposal, within, and without, the 

 systemic nervous system, as that system is affected by age, 

 shows its adaptability, in functional purpose, to every phase, 

 temporary and permanent, of the life history, as well as to 

 the "thousand and one" minute changes, which charac- 

 terise the daily experience of every human organism. 



In its first production and disposal the lymph generally 

 may be likened to a culture medium, in which the growth 

 of the ovum, with the succeeding embryonal structural 

 evolutions, take place in a region of secured developmental 

 calm and freedom from external disturbance, and to a great 

 extent shut off from maternal influences " maternal im- 

 pressions " notwithstanding while, in its later embryonic 

 disposal, the neural lymph becomes " gathered up," so to 

 speak, within the neuro-enteric canal, and projected, or 

 diverted, along the many nervine channels, as they become 

 developed from the ectodermal into the meso- and hypo- 

 dermal areas. During these developmental phases, what is 

 a mere, but great, cerebro-spinal fluid cistern, or canal 

 system, becomes encroached upon by a gradual process of 

 neuro-mural thickening, and consequent general narrowing, 

 of its central lumen, until an organised series of spaces and 

 tubes alone is left to carry on the cerebro-spinal lymph 

 circulation in post-natal conditions. 



It will, consequently, be easily evident that the immedi- 

 ately post-natal cerebro-spinal circulatory facilities must 

 mark their maximum, and that a process of solid material 

 encroachment from neuro-mural thickening and passive 

 accumulation of structural debris, or detritus, and interfere- 

 ment with excretional mechanisms, must ensue, in propor- 

 tion to the advancement of life generally, and with the 

 existence of environments inimical to health particularly. 

 It will, therefore, likewise become evident that these 

 natural occurrences, as they develop themselves physio- 

 logically, may become pathogenic, and that rational 

 medicine must busy itself in the discovery of means to 

 obviate them, or to neutralise their incidence. 



The functional role of the cerebro-spinal fluid, as here 

 and elsewhere outlined, is a largely passive and mechanical 



