JTS direct passage from the stomach to the blood. 



Exp. 3, on a Exp. 3. The thoracic duct near its termination was so 

 dog. »heil)o- ^j^,.^jj jjj ^ ^ whose spl«;en had been removed fonr days 

 racic duct tied, r>' r p , , 



and the spleen before, and tliree ounces of infusion of rhubarb were injected 

 extirpated. ij^^^, ^[■^^. stomach. In an hour and half the doj^ was killed, 

 and the urine was found strongly impregnated with rhubarb; 

 and on examination, the thoracic duct was found to be com- 

 pletely secured by the ligature. Several ot the lacteals had 

 burst, but the duct itself had not given way; it was greatly 

 distended with chyle and lymph. 

 The spleen not By this experiment it was completely ascertained, that the 

 passage, gpiggri is not the channel through which the infusion of rhu- 

 barb is conveyed into the circulation of the biood, as I had 

 been led to believe, and therefore the rhubarb, in my former, 

 experiments detected in the spleen, must have been depo- 

 sited in the same manner as in the urine, and in the bile. 

 In the next ex- The detection of this errour made me more anxious to 



pernnenc the avoid being misled respecting the thoracic duct; and there- 

 teriXiination of " . 



the thoracic fo>e, although there was little probability that the infusion 

 duct oti the of rhubarb could have passed into the lymphatic vessels, 

 the l>inphatic which open into the blood vessels of the right side of the 

 trunk of the neck, I thought it right, before 1 proceeded farther, to re- 

 je^ured,'^' peat the experiment, securing the termination of the thora- 

 cic duct on the left side, and the lymphatic trunk of the 

 right side, where it empties itself into ihe angle between the 

 jugular and subclavian vein. This was done on the 2Sth of 

 October, 1810, with the assistance of the same persons as in 

 the last experiment, 

 fexp. 4, on a Exp. 4. The thoracic duct of a dog was tied, as in the 

 '* former experiment; in doing it the duct was wounded, and 



about a dram of chyle flowed out; the .ymphatic trunk of 

 the right side was then secured. After this, three ounces of 

 infusion of rhubarb were injected into the stomach, and in 

 an hour the dog was killed. The urine and the bile were 

 found distinctly impregnated with rhubarb. On opening 

 the thorax, some absorbttit vessels, distended with lymph, 

 were seen on the right side pf the spine, entering an absorb- 

 ent gland on the second dor.sal vertebra, and the vasa efFe- 

 rentia from the gland were seen uniting with other absorbent 

 Tessels, and ejLtending towards the right shoulder, where 

 V they 



