100 FORMATION OF FIBRIN. 



lamp ceases to burn ; but if it be first soaked in water, it will wholly 

 refuse to take the oil, and remove the water alone, until all is escaped by 

 evaporation. But did ever any one impute to the wick of a lamp a 

 "power of intellectuality, no matter how obscure, or suppose that there 

 is any thing mysterious in such a selecting operation ? A perpetual refer- 

 ence of the most common facts to mysterious agencies has been the great 

 barrier to the advance of medical science. This system was introduced 

 by the alchemists and quacks of the Middle Ages, and even now it will 

 take many books and many years before physiology can be rescued from 

 such visionary theories. 



From the point to which our descriptions have brought us, we have 



Connection of to re S ar( ^ tn ^ s P art ^ tne absorbent mechanism as connected 

 lacteaisand with two great animal functions, motion^and respiration. 

 with motion Both its divisions, the lymphatics and the lacteals, in prepar- 

 and respira- ing fibrin from albumen, make provision for the repair of the 

 muscular tissues, and are therefore to be regarded as a portion 

 of the motive apparatus. But the lacteals are charged with a farther 

 duty, and in a double manner are connected with the respiratory mechan- 

 ism, for they not only introduce fats into the system, but give origin to 

 the cells of the blood, which are the carriers of oxygen. 



We may therefore close this chapter with a few remarks, 1st. On the 

 connection of the absorbent system with the provisions for motion ; 2d. 

 On its connection with the respiratory function, as more particularly dis- 

 played by the preparation of blood-cells. 



1st. The connection of the absorbent system with the provisions for 

 motion is through its function of preparing fibrin from albumen. 



From the membrane which lines the plexus of tubes of which the mes- 

 Fabrication enteric and lymphatic glands are composed, crowds of nucleated 

 of fibrin. ce n s are continually arising. As to the function of these cells, 

 there can be little doubt that it is in part to effect the translation of a 

 portion of albumen, which has been introduced along with the oil glob- 

 ules, into fibrin, and accordingly we find that the chyle, analyzed 'at dif- 

 ferent parts of its course, yields different products. As has been stated 

 already, intercepted before its passage through these glands, very little 

 fibrin is found, but collected from points beyond, the quantity of fibrin 

 steadily increases and that of albumen declines. The plexus of tubes 

 has therefore for its object to expose its contents to the influence of the 

 cells. 



Now what are the chemical conditions under which the transmutation 

 of albumen into fibrin takes place ? The ^problem is most clearly pre- 

 sented in !tae case, of r 'the 'incubation of a : bird's egg. The white of the 

 egg, consisting chiefly ^of albumen, gradually loses that form, and passes 

 into the Bfattf bi* fibrin as the \5evelo|!>nient of the muscular tissues of the 



