CONTROL OF THE CIRCULATION. 



79 



Lymph 



Capillary 



The Lymph. Lymph is a clear liquid. (Chyle and 

 the lacteals will be considered when we study digestion.) 

 It is more watery than the blood plasma, but contains a 

 share of all its nutritious substances. Lymph may be 

 defined as "diluted blood minus red corpuscles." The 

 blood proper never reaches the tissues. 



The Cells of the Body live in Lymph. The cells 

 of the tissues are bathed in the lymph which fills the 

 spaces in the connective 

 tissue (and we have seen 

 that the connective tissue 

 pervades nearly all the tis- 

 sues of the body), as water 

 may fill the spaces left 

 between stones built into 

 a wall. The cells get all 

 their nourishment from the 

 lymph, and into the lymph 

 they throw all their waste 

 matter. Each cell may be 

 compared to an individual 

 ameba, which lives in 

 water, and takes all its 

 nourishment from that 

 water, and throws all its 

 waste product into the 

 same water. As water is 

 the medium in which the 



ameba lives, so we may say lymph is the medium in 

 which the cells of the body live. 



Cells of the Body Aquatic. The cells of the body, 

 i.e. all the active, working cells, may, therefore, be said 



Oxygen 



Food 



Water 



Other 

 Wastes 



Fig. 36. Relation of Blood and Muscle. 

 (Lymph being Middleman.) 



