120 OUR BODIES AND HOW WE LIVE 



much like blood without the red corpuscles. It is to be 

 remembered that the lacteals are really the lymphatics 

 which begin in the villi of the small intestine. 



The lymphatics have little round bodies, about the size 

 of hazelnuts, at many points of their course, scattered like 

 stations along a line of railroad, which bodies are called 

 lymphatic glands. They seem to be a kind of magical work- 

 shops to make over the lymph in some way, and to fit it 

 for being poured into the blood (Figs. 80 and 81). 



Nature, like a careful housekeeper, allows nothing to go 

 to waste that can be of any service to the body. 



169. The Spleen and Other Ductless Glands. There are in 

 the body a number of organs called " ductless glands," because 

 they have no ducts or canals along which may be carried the 

 products of their work. Their products are carried off by the 

 blood which flows through them. 



The 'spleen is situated in the abdomen on the left side, and 

 just behind the stomach. It is about five inches long, of a 

 deep red color, and full of blood (Figs. 73 and 128). 



The spleen appears to take some part in the formation of 

 blood corpuscles. In certain diseases, like malarial fever, it 

 may become remarkably enlarged. 



The thyroid gland is situated beneath the muscles of the 

 neck, on each side of the windpipe. It is greatly enlarged in 

 the disease called goitre. 



The thymus gland is situated around the windpipe, behind 

 the upper part of the breast bone. Its use is not certainly 

 known. It exists only during early life. 



The suprarenal capsules are two little glands, one perched 

 on the upper edge of each kidney, shaped something like a 

 cocked hat. Nothing definite is known about them (Fig. 128). 



170. Absorption by the Blood Vessels. We have just 

 learned that the fats for the most part get into the blood 



