LYMPHATIC GLANDS. 247 



SECT. 3. Each gland is a congeries of tubes/ consisting of 

 arteries, veins, lymphatic vessels, and nerves, connected by the 

 cellular substance, the whole forming a circumscribed apparatus 

 for the purpose of secretion (see Note cxix*). The cellular 

 substance surrounding the gland is a little condensed, and forms 

 what has been called, but improperly, its capsula (see Note cxix*). 

 For though we consider the cellular membrane to be the 

 common connecting medium of all the parts of the body, yet 

 we cannot allow of its forming a peculiar coat to any part, since 

 it cannot be separated from those lymphatic glands, without 

 destroying the texture of them. 



SECT. 4. The branches from the aorta supply the lymphatic 

 glands with blood, in common with all other parts of the body. 

 In general two or three small branches enter each of these 

 glands at different parts, and these branches ramify to exceeding 

 minuteness (see Note CXTX*) throughout the whole gland, and 

 their corresponding veins return the blood into the adjacent 

 venous trunks. 



SECT. 5. The nerves in their course give off extremely 

 small twigs to the lymphatic glands, but not modified to convey 

 an acute sensation ; for these glands, unless in a state of in- 

 flammation, are very little sensible. 



SECT. 6. Besides arteries, veins, and nerves, every one of 

 these glands has a number of small lymphatic vessels. The glands 

 are nowhere to be found but in the course of the larger lym- 

 phatic vessels, which, in their passage from the extreme parts 

 of the body towards the thoracic duct, enter and pass through 

 the lymphatic glands in the following manner. 



SECT. 7. About a quarter of an inch before a lymphatic 

 enters a gland, it divides into two, three, or four smaller branches, 

 sometimes into a greater number. These enter the gland at 

 the part farthest from the thoracic duct, and are then subdi- 

 vided into branches, as small as the ramifications of the arteries 

 and veins before described, and which they accompany to every 

 part of the gland. After being thus minutely divided, they 

 reunite and gradually become larger, as they approach the 

 Apposite side of the gland, forming three or four branches, which 

 are joined by other lymphatics, that arise from the cells of the 

 gland. All these branches unite together, about a quarter of 

 an inch from that part where they come out of the gland, and 



