ABSORBENTS OF THE HEAD AND NECK. 289 



iliac veins has been farther demonstrated by certain prepara- 

 tions, exhibited by M. Amussat to the Academic Royale.* M. 

 Podera has, however, again brought the subject under discus- 

 sion, by multiplying the active agents of this function, and suys, 

 that his experiments prove that all organized tissues enjoy it, 

 and not certain parts only, as has been heretofore supposed ;t 

 from which it results that most of the rules in regard to the 

 application of local remedies are inexact, and that we should 

 have more regard to the thickness and density of tissues, to the 

 quantity and rapidity of their circulation, than to simple lo- 

 cality 4 



CHAPTER VI. 



OF THE SPECIAL ANATOMY OF THE ABSORBENT SYSTEM. 

 SECT. I. OF THE ABSORBENTS OF THE HEAD AND NECK. 



THE Superficial Absorbents of the head are found in compa- 

 ny with the several branches of the temporal, the occipital, the 

 frontal, and the facial arteries, and, in order to get into the 

 lymphatic trunks leading to the thoracic duct, follow or rather 

 reverse the course of their respective arteries. There are at 

 least two absorbent trunks for one arterial, and frequently 

 more: those on the face are more abundant than such as are on 

 the side of the cranium, owing to the excess of cellular sub- 

 stance on the former. The absorbents of these two regions 

 anastomose freely beneath the external ear, between the skin 

 and the parotid gland. 



* Am. Med. Jo'ur. vol. i. p. 422. 



t Rechcrches Experirnentalos sur I' Absorption et 1'Exhalation. Paris, 1824. 



I For a most interesting and instructive series of experiments on the laws and 

 phenomena of absorption, see Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical 

 Sciences. Nos. 6 and 10. The experiments were executed by Drs. Lawrence, 

 B. H. Coates, and Harlan, of this city. 



VOL. II. 26 



