CHAPTER IX. 



LYMPH-NODES SPLEEN. 

 LYMPH-NODES. 



IF we follow the lymphathic vessels in their course 

 from the periphery toward the thoracic duct, we 

 find that, sooner or later, they are interrupted in 

 their course by certain nodular masses, more 

 abundant in some parts of the body than in others, 

 and of variable size, commonly called lymphatic 

 glands. They are not glands in the limited sense of 

 the word, for, so far as we know, they furnish no 

 specific secretion, they have no excretory ducts, and 

 seem to have an entirely different structure and 

 function from the glands proper. It is better to 

 call them lymph-nodes, for that is not misleading, as 

 the word gland is, in regard to their relations to 

 other structures. 



The lymph-nodes present a great diversity in form, 

 being spherical, ovoid, discoidal, or irregularly pris- 

 matic ; they always present at one side a hilus, at 

 which the larger blood-vessels enter. If we make a 

 section through a fresh node, at right angles to its 

 long axis and through the hilus, we find it more 



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