124 



ANATOMY FOR NURSES. 



[CHAP. XL 



which it bathes, and we have two different fluids, separated by 

 the moist membrane which forms the walls of the blood-vessels, 

 the lymph in the tissues outside the walls of the capillaries 

 and the blood inside the capillary walls, and the same condi- 

 tions may be said to exist as in the salt and sugar solutions just 

 spoken of. And now the same phenomena take place ; for 

 though the pressure is higher in the blood-vessels than in the 



lymph outside, some of the constitu- 

 ents of the lymph pass into the blood 

 by the process of osmosis. 



These constituents, which, as we 

 cannot too often emphasize, are prod- 

 ucts resulting from the activity of 

 the tissues, are carried away by the 

 blood to other tissues, which will 

 either make use of them, or, as in 

 the kidneys, take them up to make 

 excretory fluids, and so remove them 

 from the body. 



In consequence of the different 

 wants and wastes of different tissues 

 at different times, both the lymph 

 and blood must vary in composition 

 in different parts of the body. But 

 the loss and gain is so fairly balanced 

 that the average composition is pretty 

 constantly maintained. The blood, on 

 account of the higher pressure, loses 

 more liquid to the lymph than it re- 

 ceives back, but this excess is returned 

 back again to the blood by the lym- 

 phatics when they empty their con- 

 tents into the veins. 



Lymphatic glands. The lymphatic 

 glands are small, solid bodies, placed 

 in the course of the lymphatics and 

 lacteals, through which the contents 

 of most of these vessels have to pass in their progress towards 

 the thoracic and right lymphatic ducts. These bodies are col- 

 lected in numbers alongside of the great muscles of the neck, 



FIG. 85. LYMPHATICS AND 

 LYMPHATIC GLANDS OF AXILLA 

 AND ARM. 



