334 ON ABSORPTION FROM 



It is not difficult to understand the prolonged absence of 

 pigment from the lymph hi those cases where only small 

 quantities are introduced into the peritoneal cavity. The 

 foreign substances, being quickly transferred directly into the 

 blood stream, are at once taken up and eliminated by the 

 kidneys, as the intravascular injection of pigment also indi- 

 cates. In this way little material is left to pass into the 

 lymphatic system from the lymph spaces by this relatively 

 slower process, or by subsequent transference from the blood- 

 vessels. 



It has already been mentioned that Starling and Tubby 

 express doubt regarding the direct absorption of coloring 

 matter into the lymphatics in their experiments, and emphasize 

 the possibility that the coloration of the lymph may be due to 

 a " passage of coloured lymph from the blood vessels." Thus 

 they observed that a colored substance introduced intraven- 

 ously may appear in the lymph flowing from the thoracic duct 

 within half a minute. So far as I am aware, no other com- 

 parable observations are recorded showing so brief an interval. 

 For sodium salicylate, which does not influence the lymph 

 flow, Tschirwinsky * has observed from four to seven minutes ; 

 Cohnstein f has found four or five minutes to intervene after 

 potassium or sodium ferrocyanide solutions are injected, and 

 for sodium iodide the writer \ has repeatedly observed similar 

 intervals. A few additional data obtained with indigo-carmine 

 are given here: 



VIII. Dog, 20 kilos. Cannula in thoracic duct and in each 

 ureter; cannula for intravenous injection in right facial vein. 

 Rate of flow of lymph in ten minutes was 2.3 c.c. ; of urine was 

 1.1 c.c. At 11.59 to 12.0 10 c.c. of strong indigo-carmine solution 

 (in 0.7 per cent sodium chloride solution) were infused into the 

 vein. At 12.9 the blue color was distinct in the urine. At 2.45 

 there was still a good flow of urine and lymph ; the latter had 

 not yet shown a trace' of blue, while the color of the urine had 



Tschirwinsky, Centralblatt fur Physiologic, 1895, ix, p. 49. 

 t Cohnstein, Archiv f. d. ges. Physiol., 1895, lix, p. 509. 

 $ Mendel, Journal of Physiology, 1896, xix, p. 227. 



