622 LYMPHATIC SYSTEM. 



sorbents accompanying the facial vein traverse the submaxil- 

 lary lymphatic glands and those seen over the buccinator 

 muscle ; the deeper branches of the face pass likewise through 

 the glands at the angle of the jaw, in their course downwards to 

 the mass of lymphatic ganglia at the base of the neck. And the 

 efferent vessels from these glands which receive most of the 

 absorbents from the head and neck, unite on each side 

 to form single trunks which enter the right and left thoracic 

 ducts, or sometimes directly the subclavian or the jugular 

 veins. The anterior termination of the great chylo-lympha- 

 tic duct is still irregular and divided, like its posterior com- 

 mencement ; and although this common centre of the chyli- 

 ferous and lymphatic systems is now single in most of its 

 course, it exhibits traces of its double and plexiform condi- 

 tion in most lower vertebrata, by the divisions and anastomo- 

 ses which it still seldom fails to present in different parts of 

 its course in mammalia and in man. 



The course and distribution of the lymphatics of the arms, 

 correspond much with those of the posterior extremities, 

 forming a superficial series mostly accompanying the cuta- 

 neous veins, and a deep seated group following the course of 

 the great arteries. The principal cutaneous absorbents of 

 the anterior extremity ascend on the palmar side of the 

 hand, wrist, and fore- arm to the bend of the elbow, where 

 they form one or more glands, seldom seen in lower mamma- 

 lia, and continue their course on the inside of the arm, en- 

 larging by the accession of branches from all surrounding 

 parts, to the cluster of glands in the axilla. The smaller su- 

 perficial group proceeds along the dorsal part of the hand and 

 arm, and along the course of the cephalic vein to the subcla- 

 vian glands. The deeper-seated lymphatic trunks accompany 

 the radial, ulnar, inter- osseous, and brachial arteries, commu- 

 nicating with the cutaneous absorbents, and terminating in the 

 group of axillary glands, which receives also the lymphatics 

 from the anterior and posterior parietes of the thorax. The 

 efferent trunks from these large axillary glands follow the 

 course of the subclavian artery, on each side, and open with 

 other lymphatic trunks into the right and left thoracic 

 ducts, or sometimes directly into the subclavian veins. 



The axillary and inguinal lymphatic glands are more 

 subdivided and detached in man than in most lower mam- 



