LYMPHATIC SYSTEM. 145 



the blood-vessels of that gut. Into this lymphatic some small 

 branches from the kidneys seem to enter, which coming from 

 those glands upon the mesentery of the rectum, at last open 

 into its lymphatics. At the root of the coeliac artery, the 

 lymphatics of the lower extremities probably join those from 

 the intestines. The former I have not yet traced to their ter- 

 mination, though I have distinctly seen them on the blood- 

 vessels of the thigh; and in one subject, which I injected, some 

 vessels were filled, contrary to the course of the lymph, from the 

 network of lymphatics near the root of the coeliac artery ; these 

 vessels ran behind the cava, down upon the aorta, near to the 

 origin of the crural arteries, and I presume they were the trunks 

 of those lymphatic branches which I had seen in the thigh. At 

 the root of the coeliac artery, and upon the contiguous part of 

 the aorta, a network is formed by the lacteals and lymphatics 

 above described. This network consists of three or four trans- 

 verse branches, which make a communication between those 

 which are lateral. In the subject from which this description 

 was taken there were four. From this network arise the two 

 thoracic ducts ; of which one lies on each side of the spine, 

 and runs upon the lungs obliquely up towards the jugular vein, 

 into which it opens, not indeed into the angle between the 

 jugular and subclavian vein, as in the human subject, but 

 into the inside of the jugular vein, nearly opposite to the angle. 

 The thoracic duct of the left side is joined by a large lymphatic, 

 which runs upon the oesophagus, and can be traced as far as 

 the lower or glandular part of that canal ; from which part, 

 or from the gizzard, this lymphatic seems to issue. The thoracic 

 ducts are joined by the lymphatics of the neck (and probably by 

 those of the wings) just where they open into the jugular veins. 

 The lymphatics of the neck generally consist of two pretty 

 large branches, on each side of the neck, accompanying the 

 blood-vessels. 1 Those two branches join near the lower part 

 of the neck ; and the trunk is, in general, as small, if not 

 smaller, than either of, the branches. This trunk runs close 

 to the jugular vein, gets on its inside, and then opens into a 

 lymphatic gland. From the opposite side of this gland, a 

 lymphatic comes out, which pours the lymph into the jugular 



1 These lymphatics in the necks of fowls were first discovered by Mr. John Hunter. 



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