200 LYMPHATIC SYSTEM. 



under the skin of the arm, in inoculation, before that matter 

 enters the constitution so far as to produce any fever or eruption, 

 the lymphatic glands in the axilla most frequently swell or 

 inflame ; a strong presumption that it is through the channel of 

 the lymphatic system that this poison enters the constitution. 



After the application of the venereal matter to the genitals, 

 where the skin is abraded, before the lues venerea is occa- 

 sioned, there is commonly an inflammation of the inguinal 

 glands, which circumstance renders it probable, that in this 

 case, too, the poison enters by the lymphatic vessels. 



On the application of blisters, we sometimes find lymphatic 

 glands swelling between the part inflamed by the blister 

 and the heart. 1 Thus the axillary glands sometimes become 

 painful from a blister between the shoulders; and I once 

 from this cause saw glands swell where they are not commonly 

 met with on dissection. It was in the case of my ingenious 

 friend, Mr. H. Apothecary, who, having applied a blister to his 

 back, observed some small swellings opposite to the inferior 

 costa scapulae ; he showed them to me, and I told him they 

 were glands inflamed in consequence of an absorption of a part 

 of the cantharides, and would subside on drying up the blister, 

 which accordingly happened. 



It may be worth remarking, that these cases of glands swell- 

 ing in consequence of the application of blisters, furnish the 

 strongest arguments in favour of the lymphatics being the in- 

 struments of absorption ; because where a blister is applied, the 

 skin is only inflamed and not eroded, so that if the acrid mat- 

 ter gets into the lymphatic system, it can only be by absorp- 

 tion. Whereas, when the variolous matter is inserted with a 

 lancet, or the venereal matter enters from a chancre, we might 

 question whether it got into the lymphatics by absorption or 

 by an erosion of the side of those vessels. But when the lympha- 

 tic glands swell in consequence of a blister, it seems deci- 

 sive in favour of the poison entering the lymphatic system, 

 merely in consequence of that system being endowed with a 

 power of imbibing whatever is applied to the surfaces of the 

 body. 



Poisons which enter the constitution, besides being disco- 

 vered by their affecting the lymphatic glands, can sometimes 



1 See Professor Monro, De Yen. Lym. Valv. p. 93. 



