hitchcock's anatomy 



distressing sickness. Mercury, too, rubbed vigorously upon 

 almost any part of the skin, will in a short time produce sali- 

 vation, because the minute globules of this metal are forced 

 through the pores of the skin, and are absorbed by the lym- 

 phatics. In some cases where disease has so affected the 

 mouth or passage to the stomach as to prevent the intro- 

 duction of food, life has been maintained for a considerable 

 time by nutriment introduced through the skin, by means of 

 a bath of warm milk. Shipwrecked sailors in an open boat 

 and deprived of fresh water, can for some time partly assuage 

 their thirst by wetting their clothes with salt water, or better 

 still, by a thorough wetting during a rain storm. 



503. Poisons Introduced through the Skin by the Lym- 

 phatics, — The poisoning which frequently occurs from the 

 contact of the skin with sumach or ivy, is owing to the ab- 

 sorption of poisonous influence by these vessels. Animal poi- 

 sons, too, such as the venom of mad clogs, serpents, and in- 

 sects, are introduced to the general system by the lymphatics. 



504. Pressure Increases their Action. — Pressure greatly 

 increases the action of the lymphatic vessels. This is sec n 

 in a broken limb which has been tightly bandaged, when the 

 muscles become very small from the removal of the tissue by 

 the excessive action of the lymphatics. 



505. Venous Absorption— Radicles . — Besides lymphat- 

 ics, the small veins perform the function of absorption. It is 

 easily seen that these can perform the same office as the lym- 

 phatics, since both of them carry their fluids to the heart for 

 purification, and no other use is made of them on their way 

 thither. These radicles, or small veins, perform a very im- 

 portant function in the stomach by the rapid absorption of the 

 watery portion of all liquids, and its conveyance to the gen- 



Ts nutriment ever conveyed into the system in this way ? Can thirst be quenched in 

 this way? 503. Do the lymphatics ever introduce poison into the system? 504. How 

 does pressure affect the action of lymphatics ? What example of it? 505. What is said 

 of absorption by the veins? What important service do the radicles perform in the 

 stomach ? * 



