SECT. XII. PHYSIOLOGY. lil 
their tubes, by suction and capillary attraction, 
and that their subsequent contraction must for- 
ward it from branches to trunks, agreeably to 
the laws of hydraulics. The valves of the ab- 
sorbents prevent their small branches from being 
at any time overburthened with a long column 
of fluid. 
ccitxv. When the delicacy of the expansibility 
of the small absorbents is considered, the serous 
effusions so frequently found in spasmodic diseases 
can be readily explained; the same alteration of 
the vital force which induces morbid contraction 
of the muscular system, throws the absorbents 
into the same state. 
ccLxvi. The absorbents which rise from the 
inner surface of the alimentary canal, have been 
called lacteals, from their containing chyle. The 
motion of the chyle in the lacteals is very rapid ; 
for when they are wounded, it runs out with very 
considerable velocity. 
ccLxvil. An opinion now begins to prevail, 
that the lacteals absorb nothing but chyle, and 
that the other substances which are taken from 
the alimentary canal, are absorbed exclusively by 
the veins. John Hunter, however, states ex- 
pressly, that he found both indigo and musk in 
the lacteals; a statement corrobarated by For- 
dyce, Haller, and Blumenbach. Hallé, Magendie, 
Tiedmann, Gmelin, have never found odorous 
