1906.] Liver Cells to the Blood-vessels and Lymphatics. 469 



In 1864, Carter (13), employing carmine gelatine as an injection mass, came 

 to the conclusion that there exists in the liver " a direct communication 

 between the lymph vessels and those of the blood, and their distal as well as 

 their proximal extremities, and in the former position through tubes of 

 dimensions so small as to preclude the possibility of the blood corpuscles 

 entering them." Carter also noted that injection of the portal vein of the 

 liver with injection mass of one colour followed by injection mass of another 

 colour results in a mixture of the two in the lymphatics. He found lymph 

 vessels passing into the lobules and ending in nucleated fusiform cells, and 

 the injection, he said, passes into these cells, which he regarded as the origin 

 of the lymphatics. 



In the same year, 1864, MacGillavry (42) published the results of his 

 researches on the lymphatics of the liver. His observations have been widely 

 accepted, and his paper is perhaps the one on the subject which is best known, 

 although much of his work had been anticipated by Beale and by Carter. 

 MacGillavry ligatured the lymphatic trunks of the liver in the portal fissure 

 of a living dog. The lymph in such an experiment soon distends the vessels 

 and brings about a natural injection. MacGillavry could not find the surface 

 lymphatics described by Teichmann and earlier workers, and assumed that they 

 are not a feature of the liver in the dog (and rabbit), but he noticed a large 

 trunk on the gall bladder with numerous branches coming to it from the 

 parenchyma of the liver. The main vessel on the gall bladder accompanies 

 the cystic duct, and ends in a lymphatic gland near the duodenum. The deep 

 lymphatics issue from every lobe of the liver, and follow the portal vein, 

 appearing like strings of pearls, because of the numerous valves on their 

 course. 



In another series of experiments the lymphatics were injected with a cold 

 watery solution of Prussian blue. To enable the injected fluid to overcome 

 the resistance offered by the valves, MacGillavry steeped the liver for several 

 hours in weak spirit prior to making the injection. (The alcohol causes the 

 valves to shrink and so renders them inefficient.) A cannula was then 

 inserted into one of the main trunks near the portal fissure, and injection fluid 

 forced in. In some experiments the blood-vessels were subsequently injected 

 from the portal vein with material of a different colour. The livers were 

 hardened and sections cut. MacGillavry described the origin of the deep 

 lymphatics from three different sources : (1) A tubular network surrounding 

 the blood capillaries and stretching, from the borders of each lobule to its 

 central vein, and looking very like a network of injected capillaries. In 

 transverse section of the blood capillaries of a lobule, the lymphatics surround 

 each vessel in a ring-shaped manner, and the walls of the lymphatics are 



