94 



CHYLE COKPUSCLES. 



By the action of water, the nucleus of the chyle-cell becomes more dis- 

 tinct, its increased granular aspect making it more visible, as in Fig. 32. 



Fig. 32. Fig. 33. 



Chyle corpuscles with water, magnif ed 

 500 diameters. 



Chyle corpuscles with acetic acid, mag- 

 nified 500 diameters. 



tern. 



By acetic acid the nucleus is greatly contracted, as in Fig. 33, and some- 

 times even escapes from the cell. 



In embryonic life, the first appearance of chyle corpuscles commonly 

 coincides with a change in the arrangement of the respiratory mechan* 

 ism, as the closing of the branchial fissures, indicating a connection be- 

 tween their production and the activity of interstitial oxidation. 



It has been previously stated that the bodies known as Peyer's glands 

 Fever's bodies are to be regarded as belonging to the absorbent rather than 

 ^ ie Digestive apparatus. In structure they are analogous to 

 the lymphatic and lacteal glands, consisting of a capsule 

 containing granular material, in which loops of capillary blood-vessels 

 are laid. From these proceed many lacteal vessels, as may be very 

 plainly observed during digestion. Their functions would therefore seem 

 to be the submitting of the chyle to the simultaneous influence of the 

 blood brought by the arterial capillaries, and the pulpy material or gran- 

 ular plasma they contain. They are, in reality, dilatations of the absorb- 

 ent vessels, accomplishing in a small space a result which would other- 

 wise demand a very long lacteal tube, and probably not impressing any 

 other change on the chyle than that which would have occurred in such 

 a tube, if of sufficient length. 



It is not possible clearly to understand the functions of the lacteals 

 . without a description of the structure and functions of the 



Structure and r 



functions of the lymphatics, for these vessels conspire in their action. 



tlcs * Anatomical, chemical, and physiological considerations 



lead us to conclude that the formation of the LYMPHATIC SYSTEM is 

 closely allied to that of the LACTEAL. The two classes of vessels make 

 their appearance together in fishes ; the lymphatics originate in a net- 

 work of delicate tubes, but are disseminated through all the soft tissues 

 except the nervous, and are found especially in the skin. The fine ini- 



