OF THE ABSORBENT VESSELS. 135 



was first seriously attacked by Dr. William Hunter. Dr. Monro 

 secundus soon afterwards did the same, and commenced a very 

 acrimonious quarrel with Dr. William Hunter for the honour of 

 priority of attack. Dr. Baillie expressly states, that Dr. Hunter 

 had delivered such opinions six years before Dr. Monro professes 

 to have made his discover}'-, and the world has generally given 

 priority to Dr. Hunter. Dr. Monro had also an equally acri- 

 monious dispute with Mr. Hewson for the honour of the discovery 

 of the lymphatics in fish, but the Royal Society adjudged Hewson 

 the Copley medal in 1769 for the discovery. It is amusing to 

 reflect that the very doctrine, for the honour of having first 

 attacked which so much violence was shown, is now again in 

 high favour with some ; and that Dr. Monro would be now lauded 

 had he shown that Dr. Hunter only had attacked it. John 

 Hunter deposited various fluids in the intestines ; but, although 

 he found manifest traces of them in the absorbents, he could 

 discover none in the mesenteric veins. In the experiments of 

 Oudmann and Schreger, substances were found in the lympha- 

 tics, and not in the veins. 



It may be difficult not to suppose that both parties were inac- 

 curate in some of their negative observations. 



This appears certain ; 1. That the lacteals absorb chyle; and 

 usually, but not invariably, nothing else. 2. That the lymphatics 

 absorb ; and, as they terminate so abundantly in veins, and a lym- 

 phatic running to a minute vein has just the same right to be 

 called a vein as a lymphatic, we may say that the veins absorb. 

 3. That lymphatics do not absorb quite indiscriminately; and 

 those which run to veins, perhaps, absorb more indiscriminately 

 than those which continue on as lymphatics and run to absorbent 

 ganglia or glands. 



" From the universal existence of the lymphatics, and espe- 

 cially from their great number on the surface capable of absorb- 

 ing fluids from without, the heterogeneous nature of the lymph 

 must be obvious ; and this is further proved by accurately ex- 

 amining it in different parts of a subject ; v. c. that contained in 

 the hepatic or splenic lymphatics is perfectly different from that 

 in the uterine. 



" We will enumerate the principal fluids which are continually 

 absorbed during health, to say nothing of many different kinds of 

 substances taken up during disease. There is, besides the chyle 

 separated from the faeces in the small intestines, the halitus of the 



