OF THE LYMPHATIC GANGLIA. 313 



mists entertain opposite opinions on this subject: Wrisberg 

 admits them, and Walter rejects them. 



474. Anatomists do not agree any better with reference 

 to the internal conformation and the texture of the lymphatic 

 glands. Albinus, Ludwig, Hewson, Wrisberg, Monro, and 

 Meckel, consider their tissue as entirely vascular; Malpighi, 

 Nuck, Mylius, Hunter and Cruikshank, admit of cells in them; 

 Scemmering admits these two kinds of texture, and a third 

 resulting from their combination. The examination I have 

 made myself of this tissue in man, in several animals, and 

 especially in the inguinal glands of cows which died during 

 lactation, has shown me that it results entirely from vessels, 

 but which present an erectile disposition more or less obvious. 

 In fact, among the vasa inferentia which penetrate into the 

 thickness of the gland, some acquire and preserve a great 

 tenuity, others dilate in cells like the veins of the penis, both 

 having numerous anastomosing communications. The roots 

 of the vasa efferentia present, on the other hand, the same 

 disposition, that is to say, that some are fine radicles, and the 

 other roots swelled or dilated in cells. The greater number 

 of the lymphatic glands present in their interior this mixture 

 of minute ramifications and enlarged parts. Some only pre- 

 sent twigs dilated in cells; some others, seem to consist only 

 in a net-work of fine ramifications. It is by these varieties 

 that we may explain the diversity of opinions which has ex- 

 isted on this point of anatomy. 



The lymphatic glands contain in their interior a cream-like 

 substance, which appears to be contained in the fine or large 

 vessels which compose them, and not in the cellular tissue. 



475. These ganglia are more voluminous, softer, more 

 reddish, and contain more liquid in children and young sub- 

 jects than in adults; they greatly diminish, but do not dis- 

 appear in old age. There is no well marked difference in 

 this respect between the two sexes. Hewson says that they 

 are larger in man: Bichat says, however, exactly the reverse. 

 Under the skin of negroes they are found black. 



476. The function ascribed to the lymphatic glands is, 

 that they serve to mix the liquids arriving by the different 



