320 THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM, BY F. v. RECKLINGHAUSEN. 



diffused tense infiltration is produced, in which no determinate 

 figures are discoverable. Against these results it has been 

 objected, and to a certain extent justly, that such appearances 

 are due to over distension, and originate in extravasation or 

 rupture of the tissues ; and it is certain that they do not appear 

 with the above-named injections, unless very considerable 

 pressure has been applied. In the meanwhile, the injection of 

 the substance of the villi occurs even when only very slight pres- 

 sure has been employed ; and we here possess a very good means 

 of control by a comparison of the results obtained with the 

 natural injection that takes place with the chyle. The same 

 appearances are presented in both instances, of a plexiform 

 arrangement of chyle drops around the central lacteal in the 

 first instance, and ultimately of chylous infiltration of the whole 

 parenchyma of the villus. Can it be possible that such a plexi- 

 form appearance of the chyle masses has given rise to the belief 

 that the lacteals in the villi form a dense network still closer 

 and more compact than that of the bloodvessels ? 



The open communication existing between the serous canals 

 and the capillary lymphatic vessels enables the latter to receive 

 substances from the former ; and the facts that have already 

 been adduced, in regard to the behaviour of the villi during 

 chymification, afford sufficient evidence of the passage of a 

 lymph current through the interstices of the tissues (serous 

 canals) into the rootlets of the lymphatic vessels. Moreover, 

 the passage of the cellular elements of the connective tissue 

 from the serous canals into the lymphatics, although not as yet 

 directly witnessed, is in the highest degree probable, since they 

 migrate from place to place within the lumen of the former. 

 Judging from silvered preparations, the communication be- 

 tween the . rootlets of the lymphatic vessels and the serous 

 canals is often so free as to render it difficult to determine the 

 limits between them ; this can, indeed, only be accomplished 

 by determining the existence of an epithelium, and consider- 

 ing that the lymphatic vessels commence where the epithelium 

 first makes its appearance. 



The conclusions that have been here stated have by no means 

 obtained general acceptance, and it must be acknowledged that further 

 evidence is still required. We should endeavour to effect the physiologi- 



