4 Th. Lewis, 



II. Historical. 



It is a curious fact that two series of observers, the one English 

 and the other German, have been independently at work for manj- 

 years upon subjects with a direct bearing on the present one, yet 

 they seem to have been each unaware of the work of the other.^) 

 As there is no mention in their accounts of the "hœmolymph glands'^ 

 by name, or indeed any reference to the striking appearance, even to 

 be naked eye, of the true "hcemal glancls^^, it seems probable that 

 the German writers have to a great extent worked at structures, 

 which they would include under the general name ''lymphatic glands". 



The first English communication on the subject of bloodlymph 

 glands was that of Heneage Gibbs [5 a], as early as 1884. This was 

 a short note on the histology of the structures found in the region 

 of the renal artery and vein in man. Gibbs was of opinion that 

 certain glands found in this situation, though closely resembling lym- 

 phatic glands, differ from the latter in that the lymph stream is 

 replaced by blood. 



In November 1890, Robertson [12] described the glands in more 

 detail, dealing particularly with those found in the sheep, in which he 

 estimated their nitmber at from three to four hundred. Amongst the 

 details of structure he observed elastic and involuntary muscle fibres 

 in the adenoid tissue. The cells to which he attached most importance 

 were nucleated cells, resembling red corpuscles, which underwent nuclear 

 division, until they became giant cells containing as many as seven 

 or eight nuclei. He asserted that these nuclei gradually lose their 

 affinity for logwood and become stainable with eosin; and suggested 

 that they might be freed as erythrocytes. In his conclusions, he stated 

 that he considered the glands to have an important function in con- 

 nection with the life history of the blood corpuscles. Gibbs' com- 

 munication ['5b] in 1893 was simply a note recognizing the work of 

 the last author, and confirming his own previous observations. 



^) A preliminary notice by Weidenreicli [y.9b] has not long since come to 

 hand, which appears to be the first German paper referring to the English liter- 

 ature. 



