THE ANTERIOR LYMPHATICS OF THE EYE. 339 



connective -tissue trabeculse, which are also enclosed by an 

 endothelial sheath. Such sheaths may often be completely 

 detached, and then appear as glass-clear membranes beset with 

 elliptic nuclei. 



2. THE ANTERIOR LYMPHATIC SYSTEM OF THE EYE. 

 A. The system of the anterior chamber of the Eye. 



The anterior chamber of the eye is a general receptacle for 

 the lymph coming from the iris and ciliary processes, which 

 flows into it at two points : from the canal of Petit through 

 the capillary fissure between the pupillary border of the iris 

 and the anterior surface of the lens ; and from the ciliary body 

 through the spaces between the trabeculse of the ligamentum 

 pectinatum. 



The canal of Petit runs circularly round the margin of the 

 lens, and extends laterally in the form of a narrow fissure, as 

 far as to the ora serrata. Its lumen communicates by a series 

 of fine fissures, which exist in the zonula ciliaris, close to the 

 border of the lens, with the posterior, and through this with 

 the anterior chamber of the eye. It may be easily injected 

 from the anterior chamber, especially in the eye of the Pig. 

 Under normal conditions, however,- a current can only set in 

 from the canal of Petit towards the anterior chamber of the 

 eye, and not in the opposite direction, because in the latter 

 case the iris forms a valve-like septum to the anterior cham- 

 ber, which can only be overcome by such' a change of form 

 of the globe of the eye as results from increased intraocular 

 pressure, which may be artificially produced by injections into 

 the anterior chamber of the eye. 



The principal channels discharging themselves into the 

 anterior chamber of the- eye open into this through the spaces 

 between the trabeculs& of the ligaua>entum pectinatum, and con- 

 duct to it the lymph of a large portion of the ciliary body, and 

 probably also of the iris. It is only in the eye of the Pig 

 that a portion of this spongy region has been successfully in- 

 jected with solution of Prussian blue thrown into the anterior 

 chamber, and this has consisted of a fissure traversed by a 

 plexus of connective tissue which extends circularly from 



z 2 



