[ 361 ] 

 SECT. XXIX. 



OF THE FUNCTION OF THE ABSORBENT VESSELS.* 



420. The chyle, which we left in the ileum just 

 separated from the faeces, must evidently be a mixture 

 of different fluids. The proportion derived from the 

 secretions — the saliva, bile, the gastric, pancreatic, and 

 enteric, fluids, surpasses, without the least doubt, that 

 which is derived from the aliment, although this cannot 

 be accurately ascertained. Hence must be derived the 

 solution of the problem, — how ingesta of such various 

 kinds can be converted into the chyle — a fluid con- 

 stantly of the same appearance, homogeneous, and of 

 an animal nature. 



421. The course of the chyle from the intestines to 

 the blood, is through a part of the absorbent system, 

 which we have hitherto only hinted at, but shall now 

 speak of particularly. It is divided into four parts — 

 lacteal, and lymphatic, vessels, conglobate glands, and 

 the thoracic duct. Each of these will now fall under 

 consideration. 



422. It is certain that the lacteals originate among 

 the villi of the internal coat of the intestines ; but whe- 

 ther they are an immediate continuation of these villi, 

 or merely connected with them by a cellular medium, 



* A very copious list of writers upon the absorbents will be found in Sfim- 

 mering's work, De morbis vasotum absorbaUium corporis Aumairi. Francof, 

 1795. 8vo. 



