304 CIRCULATORY SYSTEM. 



are not always to be found, though commonly he has readily 

 shown them covering with their meshes the whole external sur- 

 face of the lung. The larger meshes follow the interstices of 

 the lobules, and within them are others of extreme delicacy. 

 The same author states, that one of the easiest methods of find- 

 ing them, is to inflate the lungs of a still-born child, from the 

 trachea, and the air passing from its proper cells, will get into 

 the absorbents; a puncture teing then made into one of the lat- 

 ter, quicksilver may be very readily introduced. Some of their 

 trunks penetrate to the bottom of the fissures of the lungs, and 

 pass through the glands there, while others continue more su- 

 perficial along the internal face of the lung, and so reach the 

 bronchial glands. 



The deep absorbents of the lungs observe the course of the 

 pulmonary vessels and of the bronchia. They arise from the 

 substance of the lung, anastomose very freely with the superfi- 

 cial vessels, and, in parting from the lung, pass through the 

 bronchial glands, where they are joined by the superficial. 



By the junction of the branches from the left lung, three con- 

 siderable trunks are formed; one, which is sometimes the size 

 of a goose-quill, is inserted into the thoracic duct, immediately 

 behind the bifurcation of the trachea; another ascends between 

 the trachea and the oesophagus, to join the thoracic duct near 

 its termination,, and the third joins the glands belonging to the 

 absorbents of the heart.* 



The absorbents of the right lung also coalesce into three prin- 

 cipal trunks at the root of the lung: one of them ascends across 

 the front of the superior cava, making, in its course, many ele- 

 gant convolutions, and at length terminates in the second trunk 

 on the left side.t The other trunks, ascending on the side of 

 the trachea, and having traversed their glands, discharge into 

 the right thoracic or brachio-cephalic trunk, or else near it into 

 the right internal jugular, or into the right subclavian vein. 

 There are, in these respects, diversities in different subjects. 



The trunks of the Absorbents of the Heart follow the course 

 of the coronary vessels, and distribute themselves by branches 

 over its whole surface. They are, without previous manage- 



* Cruikshank, loc. cit -fc Cruikshank, IOQ. cit. 



