INTRODUCTION 



I have recently published in a preliminary communication, 1 a 

 re'sume' of the results obtained in an investigation of mammalian 

 lymphatic development and organization extending over the 

 past six years, and now, in its main chapters, concluded. The 

 paper above quoted was presented, with demonstrations of 

 slides, at the 25th session of the Association of American Anat- 

 omists held in Boston during Convocation week of 1910, 

 and is intended as an attempt to definitely establish what I 

 believe to be the genetic principle upon which all systemic 

 lymphatic development in the mammalian embryo is based. 

 In outline this matter was also presented and demonstrated to 

 the Section of Anatomy and Embryology of the XVIth Inter- 

 national Medical Congress held at Budapest, August-September, 

 1909, and published in the Proceedings of the Congress. 2 



Owing to the character of the problem and its complexity, a 

 detailed consideration of the same exceeds the reasonable limits 

 of an article suitable for publication in our current anatomical 

 periodicals, and the unavoidable number of microphotographic 

 illustrations demanded makes publication through the ordinary 

 channel still more unadvisable. For these reasons I have ar- 

 ranged, with the cooperation of The Wistar Institute of Anatomy, 

 through Director Greenman, to publish the details of my obser- 

 vations on mammalian lymphatic ontogeny in the form of a 

 series of monographs, in which the subject can be handled with 



1 G. S. Huntington: "The Genetic Principles of the Development of the Sys- 

 temic Lymphatic Vessels in the Mammalian Embryo." Anat. Record., vol. iv, 

 no. 11, 1910, pp. 399 to 403, with 32 illustrations. (18 plates.) 



2 G. S. Huntington: "Ueber die Entwicklung desLymphatischen Systems beim 

 Sauger-Embryo." Compte-Rendu, xvi. Congres International de Medecine, 

 Section 1, Anatomic, Embryologie, 2. Fascicule, pp. 127-142, Budapest, 1910. 



