136 MANUAL OF HISTOLOGY. 



glands they were met with, the possibility of their origin in these so- 

 called glands was recognised even years ago. This view received sup- 

 port, also, from, the discovery that the contents of the latter is the same 

 as that of the lymphatic vessels. In the mucous membrane of the 

 digestive tract there occur also small lymphatic glands, known as "Peyefs 

 patches," and hence the origin of the few isolated lymph-corpuscles found 

 in the smaller branches of the chyle vessels, leaving the intestinal 

 tube. 



And, in fact, the cells of lymph and chyle are the corpuscles of these 

 organs which have penetrated into the hollow interstices of the lymph- 

 nodes, and have been carried off by the stream of fluids. These points if 

 borne in mind will render the description of the lymphatic glands more 

 easy of comprehension, in discussing which we shall have to consider the 

 origin of the cells in question in the latter organs. 



How far these cells are capable of undergoing multiplication in the 

 lymph and chyle streams, is also a matter worthy of our consideration. 

 At present we are in possession of no reliable facts bearing upon this 

 point. 



85. 



However important it might be to determine the amount of these fluids 

 in the body, even approximately, science possesses at present no certain 

 data to go upon in regard to- their quantitative analysis. We can only, 

 so far, conjecture that the amount of both must be very considerable, and 

 that, as through the lacteal system, so also through that of the lymphatics, 

 an extensive intermediate circulation exists. 



If we now turn to the chemical constitution of these two fluids, we 

 have at present but very insufficient analyses to go upon. Hitherto it 

 has not been possible to investigate chyle and lymph in a manner 

 adequate to the requirements of histology. We cannot yet even accurately 

 determine the composition of the moist lymph-cell. All the rough analyses, 

 too, which have hitherto been made, display enormous differences, owing 

 to the difficulty of obtaining large quantities of lymph and chyle in a 

 pure state, and to the changeable nature of both liquids. 



As to the cells, they consist of various modifications of albuminous 

 compounds, the enveloping layer showing different reactions to those of 

 the nucleus and protoplasm of the body of the cell, which encloses 

 molecules of a coagulated albuminoid, and of fats : it is soluble, namely, 

 in dilute acids, while the nucleus is not. 



Lymph is a more or less clear, alkaline, watery liquid, whose specific 

 gravity is not yet known. In it may be found, again, those protein sub- 

 stances which are likewise present in the plasma of the blood namely, 

 the two constituents of fibrin, with albumen and its modifications. The 

 former give rise here, also, to the coagulation of the fluid when collected 

 in a vessel. And yet a difference exists between the fibrin of lymph 

 and that of blood in the manner in which it solidifies. Lymph, namely, 

 does not usually coagulate in the corpse, but subsequently on being 

 drawn off, and only after frequently very long continued exposure to the 

 oxygen of the atmosphere. As far as is known at present, from ten to 

 twenty minutes appear necessary ; but even an hour may pass over before 

 it takes place (Nasse). The lymph-clot retains also, as was the case with 

 that of the blood, the form of the vessel in which it solidifies, but is 

 naturally much smaller on account of the much smaller number of cells 



