o ABSOBPTIOK 



It has been supposed, that the lymphatics, at their origin 

 Fig. 95.* and in the substance of absorbent glands, 



communicate directly with the blood- 

 vessels ; but there is not sufficient evi- 

 dence for believing that this is ever the 

 case in Mammalia and birds, although 

 it may be so in Amphibia and fish. In 

 man and Mammalia, the lymphatics and 

 blood-vessels are directly connected only 

 by the principal lymphatic trunk, the 

 thoracic duct, which opens into the 

 junction of the left internal jugular and 

 subclavian veins, and by a corresponding 

 but smaller trunk, which pours its con- 

 tents into the corresponding part on the 

 right side. 



Properties of Lympli and Chyle. 



The fluid contained in the lymphatic 

 vessels or lymph, is, under ordinary 

 circumstances, clear, transparent, and 

 colourless, or of a pale yellow tint. It is 

 devoid of smell, is slightly alkaline, and 

 has a saline taste. As seen with the microscope in the 

 small transparent vessels of the tail of the tadpole, the 

 lymph usually contains no corpiiscles or particles of any 

 kind ; and it is probably only in the larger trunks in 

 which, by a process similar to that to be described in the 

 chyle, the lymph is more elaborated, that any corpuscles 

 are formed. These corpuscles are similar to those in the 

 chyle, but less numerous. The fluid in which the cor- 

 puscles float is commonly and in health albuminous, and 



* Fig. 95. A lymphatic gland from the axilla, with its afferent and 

 efferent vessels, injected with mercury (after Bendz). 



