306 GENERAL ANATOMY. 



and Cruikshank;* especially by those of the illustrious P. 

 Mascagni,t and by some other writers, J all of whom have 

 ascribed to them patulous orifices, and absorption to these 

 orifices. 



460. These vessels are commonly distinguished into chy- 

 liferous and lymphatic vessels; but this distinction is entirely 

 superfluous and without any utility, for their disposition, their 

 texture and their functions are the same. 



461. The lymphatic vessels have an arborescent disposi- 

 tion, like other vessels. The humours which they contain, 

 pass through them, like the veins, from the ramifications, or 

 rather from the roots, towards the trunks. The aggregate of 

 these vessels consists in a principal and an accessory trunk, 

 in which numberless roots terminate. 



462. Lymphatic vessels are found in every part of the 

 body, excepting the spinal marrow, the brain, the eye and the 

 placenta. 



Their situation is remarkable, that in the limbs and in the 

 parietes of the trunk, they are, like the veins, distributed in 

 two plans, the one superficial or subcutaneous, the other in- 

 termuscular or deep, which accompanies the blood-vessels and 

 nerves; and that in the splanchnic cavities there occurs, also, 

 a plane of lymphatic vessels, situated immediately under the 

 serous membranes, and others more deeply seated. 



463. The number of lymphatic vessels is very considera- 

 ble; as many as twenty are counted in the superficial plane of 

 the inferior limbs accompanying the inner saphena vein alone, 

 and a smaller, but still considerable number, accompanies the 

 deep seated vessels. The superficial lymphatic vessels are 



* Anatomic dcs veisseaux absorbans da corps humain, traduite de 1'anglais 

 par Petit Radel. Paris, 1787. 



j- Vasorum lymphaticorum corp. hum. historic, d ichonographia. Senis, 

 1787. 



^Luchvig, a German translation of Cruikshank and ofMuscagnf, with ad- 

 ditions. Lips. 1789. Werner and Feller, Vasorum ladeorum aiquc lymph, 

 anal, physiol. descriptio. Lips. 1784. J. G. Haase, dc vasis cutis et inteslin. 

 aljsnrbcnlibus, &c. Lips. 1786. Schrcger, FragntciUa ana. et physiol. 

 fane. i. Lips. 1791. 



