600 



SPECIAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



The Absorbent Vessels and G-lands. 



In Man, and the Vertebrata generally, two sets of vessels are en- 

 gaged in the processes of absorption, viz., first, certain bloodvessels, 

 especially the venous capillaries, and the smaller veins ; and, secondly, 

 the absorbent vessels proper. 



Pig. 100. 



Fig. 100. General view of the principal absorbent or lymphatic vessels and glands. The superficial lym- 

 phatics are shown on the head and face, and on the left limbs; the deep lymphatics on the right limbs. 

 The lymphatic glands are seen in the neck and axillae, at the elbow, in the groins, pelvis, and abdomen ; 

 a part of the small intestine, i, shows its chief lymphatic or lacteal trunks, passing on to the mesentery, 

 through the inesenteric glands, to the upper and back part of the abdomen, a, the chief trunk of the ab- 

 sorbent system, named the thoracic duct, commencing below, in a dilatation, named the receplaculum chyli, 

 and curving down in the neck at c, to end in the great veins at the root of the neck, where the jugular and 

 flubclavian veins join to form the left innominate vein, v. On the right side of the neck, smaller lymphatic 

 trunks are seen entering the great veins. 



