124 



Life and Health 



188. The Lymphatics. In nearly every tissue of the 

 body there is a marvelous network of vessels, precisely like 

 the lacteals, called the lymphatics. These are busily at 

 work taking up and giving out waste or surplus materials 

 derived from the blood and tissues generally. It is esti- 

 mated that the quantity of fluid exuded from the blood 

 and picked up by the lymphatics and restored daily to the 

 circulation is equal to the bulk of the blood in the body. 



The minute branches 

 of the lymphatics, or 

 lymph capillaries, seem 

 to start out from the 

 part in which they are 

 found like the rootlets 

 of a plant in the soil. 

 They carry a turbid, 

 slightly yellowish fluid, 

 called lymph, which 

 seems to play the part 

 of a " middleman " be- 

 tween the blood on the 

 one hand and the tis- 

 sues on the other. 

 ;Cl89. Work done by 

 the Lymphatics. Now, 

 just as the chyle was 

 not fit to be immediately taken up by the blood, but was 

 passed through the mesenteric glands to be properly worked 

 over, so the lymph is carried to small rounded or bean-shaped 

 bodies called lymphatic glands, where it undergoes certain 

 changes to fit it for being poured into the blood. Nature, 

 like a careful housekeeper, allows nothing to be wasted that 

 can be of any service in the body (Figs. 63 and 64). 



FIG. 61. Section of a Lymphatic Gland. 



A, strong fibrous capsule sending partitions into 

 the gland ; S, partitions between the follicles 

 or pouches of the cortical or outer portion ; 

 C, partitions of the medullary or central por- 

 tion ; D, , masses of protoplasmic matter in 

 the pouches of the gland ; F, lymph vessels 

 which bring lymph to the gland, passing into 

 its center ; G, confluence of those leading to 

 the efferent vessel ; //, vessel which carries 

 the lymph away from the gland. 



