106 ANALYTIC SECT. X1T. 
SECTION XII, 
Absorbent Irritability. 
ccL. The first accurate opinion relative to the 
action of the absorbent system, is that promul- 
gated by Dr. Fullarton, in a Thesis published at 
Glasgow, in 1800. He is said to have alleged, 
that the absorbents act by suction; but as I have 
never seen his Thesis, I know not upon what 
grounds he established his opinion, and I merely 
mention it here to preclude any charge of plagi- 
arism hereafter. 
cet1. The absorbents are a sort of succeda- 
neous venous system; they possess valves like the 
veins, but their action is simpler than that of the 
venous system ; in them there is no vis a tergo to 
distract the physiologist, the fluids move in them 
by the compound motion of their irritability. 
The lacteal absorbents, and the lymphatics of the 
skin, have no communication with the heart but 
by the vena cava superior, consequently no motion 
of the heart can apply to the action of these parts 
of the absorbent system. 
