698 SPECIAL HISTOLOGY. 



blood. If we ascribe to the alveoli of the lymphatic glands the function 

 of inducing a metamorphosis and changes in the lymphatic fluid flowing 

 through them, under the influence of the cells of its pulp, which are 

 manifestly in a continual process of development, of such a kind pro- 

 bably, that its elements are rendered more capable of development, or 

 new matters, such as fibrin, are mixed with it, the reason is at once 

 evident, why the lymphatic fluid should form more cells after its pas- 

 sage through the glands than previously. The well-known cases also 

 of "white blood," in which, together with an enormous increase in size 

 of the lymphatic glands, a vast multiplication of the colorless blood- 

 cells takes place (Virchow), may be explained in accordance with the 

 above view ; although, for the present, I am not disinclined to assume, 

 that although no constant and total passage of the pulp of the lym- 

 phatic glands into the lymph takes place, which from the anatomical 

 conditions is utterly impossible (considering the bloodvessels in the 

 alveoli), nevertheless a sort of commixture of it from the alveoli con- 

 tiguous to the vasa efferentia occurs, so that the lymphatic glands, after 

 all, at least to some extent, appear to afford a site for the formation of 

 lymph-corpuscles. 



The lymphatics of the lymphatic glands retain all their tunics up to 

 the gland. But as they ramify in an arborescent manner on the gland 

 and become smaller, they lose the muscular membrane, and enter the 

 alveoli, possessing only a layer of connective tissue with fine elastic 

 fibres, and an epithelium. The glands, at all events the larger ones, 

 always have some delicate nervous filaments composed of fine fibres, 

 which enter in company with the bloodvessels, and are lost to sight in 

 the interior. The ganglia in the lymphatic glands, mentioned by 

 Schaffner (" Zeitsch. f. rat. Med.," VII. 177), I have not been able to 

 find, nor is that author's description of the kind to command much 

 confidence. 



The above-described structure of the lymphatic glands does not apply 

 to all cases. In Man, and in other animals, there are small and smallest 

 glands, of 3-2-1, or even J a line, in which the interior does not dis- 

 tinctly exhibit the alveolar structure, appearing, on the contrary, to 

 be more continuous throughout, and homogeneous, notwithstanding a 

 good many traces of fibrous structure, which always exist in them. In 

 the larger glands also, especially in certain animals, a similar condition 

 of the contents is not unfrequently presented, which of course does not 

 materially affect the above exposition of the structure of the lymphatic 

 glands, since, in "such cases, we simply see a less developed condition 

 of the septa, and a more intimate union of the individual parts of the 

 pulp. 



0. Heyfelder has lately described (1. c.), in the lymphatic-glands of 



