^66 Medicine. [Chap. IV. 



the same office with respect to other parts of the 

 body. Notwithstanding this, anatomists in general, 

 from repeated experiments, particularly such as 

 ■were made by injections, were persuaded that these 

 lymphatic vessels did not arise from cavities, and 

 did not absorb, but were merely continuations of 

 the small arteries. It had indeed been supposed by 

 Dr. Glisson, who wrote in 1654, that they arose 

 from cavities, and that their use was to absorb. Dr. 

 Fredei'ick Hoflman had also very explicitly laid 

 down the doctrine of the lymphatic vessels being a 

 system of absorbents. These suggestions, however^ 

 produced little effect. And it was reserved for Dr. 

 Hunter * of London, and Dr. Monro, the present 

 professor at Edinburgh, to prove that the lympha- 

 tics are absorbing vessels throughout tJie whole 

 body; that they are similar to the lacteals; that all 

 these, collectively taken, together with the thoracic 

 duct, constitute one great ajid general system, di^ 

 spersed through the whole body for the purpose of 

 absorption; that their sole office is absorption; and, 

 finally, that they serve to take up and convey what- 

 ever is to enter the composition of the bloody or to be 

 again mixed with the blood, from the intestinal canal, 

 from the skin, and from all the internal cavities and 

 surfaces -f. 



* William and John Hunter, also natives of North Britain, and 

 aften^'ards residents in London, hold a high place in the anatomi- 

 cal history of the eighteenth century. The former was born in 

 1/18, and died in l/b3 j the latter was born in 1728, and died 

 in 1793. 



t A warm controversy, concerning the discovery of the true 

 use of the lymphatics, was carried on between Dr. Hunter and Dr. 

 Monro. The former asserts that he taught it in his lectures so 

 early as 17-16, and appeals tj3 his pupils for the truth of the asser- 



