ABSORBENT SYSTEM OF MAMMALIA. 



509 



the leg, in Mascagni's magnificent work (clxxi"), from which 

 fig. 398 is reduced. On the inner side they tend to converge 



397 



398 



Lymphatic glands injected with mercury, clxxi". 



about the vena saphena, and, with 

 the deeper-seated ones, mainly unite 

 into trunks which again subdivide 

 to enter the ' inguinal glands,' fig. 

 399, i, 2. Their efferent trunks 

 affect the course of the iliac vessels, 

 converging toward and uniting by 

 cross branches with those of the 

 opposite side, and communicating 

 with the lacteal system, at the f re- 

 ceptaculum chyli,' n, whence pro- 

 ceed the origins of the thoracic duct. 

 This, in Man and most Mammals, 

 enters the thorax between the aorta 

 and vena azygos, and lies behind the 

 oesophagus in the posterior mediastinum. It is frequently tor- 

 tuous and rarely single throughout. It often splits into two 

 or more branches, which after a longer or shorter course reunite ; 

 this division and reunion may be two or three times repeated. 

 The principal canal, in Man, fig. 400, «, a, mounts into the 

 cervical region in front of the vertebral artery and vein to the 

 level of the seventh cervical vertebra, opposite to which it be- 

 gins to form a curve, first forward and outward, then downward 



Superficial lymphatics of the lower extre- 

 mity. CLXXI". 



