56 



Mr. E. C. Baber on the Minute Structure [Jan. 31, 



directions, the paramount influence of this "facility of production" 

 should still be apparent as the one cause which determines the general 

 aspect of the system. 



The causes 1 have mentioned would obviously determine an unequal 

 growth of the system and preclude a perfectly symmetrical arrange- 

 ment, at any given time of observation, of the cluster of hydrocarbons 

 around the axial line. How far this inequality is due to accidental 

 causes, and how far to the operation of permanent causes acting in one 

 direction, is impossible, from the slender data we possess, to say, but 

 the chemist should ever be alive to the detection of permanent devia- 

 tions, in the form of the actual system, from the form indicated by 

 theory, for in such observations lie our best means of detecting the 

 existence of other causes affecting its growth, besides that predominant 

 cause which has been here discussed. 



January 31, 1878. 



Sir JOSEPH HOOKER, K.C.S.I., President in the Chair. 



The Presents received were laid on the table and thanks ordered for 

 them. 



The following papers were read : — 



I. " Further Researches on the Minute Structure of the Thyroid 

 Gland." Preliminary Communication. By E. Ckesswell 

 Baber, M.B. Lond. Communicated by Dr. Klein, F.R.S. 

 Received November 21, 1877. 



In a previous communication to the Society* I have described some 

 observations made on the minute anatomy of the thyroid gland of the 

 dog. Since then I have extended these observations, under the direc- 

 tion of Dr. Klein, to the glands of other vertebrate animals. The 

 chief results as yet arrived at will be very shortly described in the 

 present communication, a full account of them being reserved to a 

 future paper. 



Lymphatics. — In the thyroid gland of the dog I have described a 

 dense rounded network of lymphatics traversing the gland in all 

 directions, and consisting of lymphatic vessels, tubes, and spaces. A 

 similar system of lymphatics has been observed in the glands of other 

 mammalia, as kitten, rabbit, man, and horse ; the extent of distribu- 

 tion, however, as shown by the injection, apjoears to vary in different 



# " Philosophical Transactions," 1876, vol. clxvi, pt. ii, p. 557. 



