312 GENERAL ANATOMY. 



The lymphatic ganglia are generally of a reddish white, si- 

 milar to flesh, but their colour varies according to the regions 

 they occupy; thus those which are subcutaneous have a deeper 

 colour; those in the environs of the liver are yellowish, those 

 of the spleen brown, those of the lungs blackish, those of the 

 mesentery very white, &c. 



Their consistence is greater than that of any soft part. 



473. The lymphatic ganglions are enveloped in a thin 

 fibrous, very vascular, membrane, united to the surrounding 

 cellular tissue, and which sends fine and soft prolongations 

 into the interior. 



The lymphatics, whose course is interrupted by glands, are 

 distinguished into those which come to these glands, vasa in- 

 ferentict) and in those that issue from them, vasa efferentia'. 

 they are distinguished from each other by the direction of 

 their valves. The number of vasa inferentia is very varia- 

 ble, they may be from one to twenty or thirty; that of the 

 vasa efferentia is also variable, seldom correspondent, and 

 ordinarily fewer. The first mentioned enter the gland on the 

 side nearest to the origin of the system, the others issue from 

 the opposite extremity, which corresponds to the trunks. The 

 vasa inferentia, in approaching the gland, divide themselves 

 into twigs, which go off radiating around it, divide and sub- 

 divide themselves at its surface, so as to surround it with a 

 net-work. The vasa efferentia produce nearly the same effect 

 at the other extremity of the gland, by the successive reunion of 

 their radicles and of their roots in trunks more or less numer- 

 ous and voluminous. The total capacity of the vasa efferentia 

 seems generally smaller than that of the vasa inferentia; this 

 is particularly obvious in the mesentery. 



The lymphatic glands have also remarkable sanguineous 

 vessels. The arteries are sufficiently numerous and volumin- 

 ous, so that when injected, the glands are entirely coloured by 

 it. The veins, still more voluminous than the arteries, are 

 deprived of valves. Nervous filaments may be seen reaching 

 these organs and transverse them; but it is very difficult to 

 ascertain whether some filaments terminate in them, or whe- 

 ther they are merely crossed by them all. Two great anato- 



