32 Mr. Abernethy on some Particulars 
the animal substance, by immersing them in muriatic acid. 
In some of these glands the wax appeared in very small por- 
tions, and irregularly conjoined ; which is a convincing proof, 
that it had acquired this irregular form from having been 
impelled into numerous minute cells. But in several in- 
stances, I found one solid lump of wax, after the destruction 
of the animal substance : and it appears to me sufficiently 
clear, that the glands which were filled in this manner, were 
formed internally of one cavity, and were not, as is commonly 
the case, composed of many minute cells. I have also filled 
glands of this structure, in the mesentery of an horse, with 
quicksilver: I have then dried them, cut open the bags, and 
introduced a bristle into them through the vas inferens. And 
in the human mesentery, after having injected the artery, I 
have filled a bag resembling a gland, with quicksilver ; which 
being opened, a mixture of injection and quicksilver was found 
in its cavity. 
That the lymphatic glands in most animals are cellular, 
may not, perhaps, be hereafter doubted : that they are some- 
times mere bags, analogy and actual observation induce me to 
believe. It might be said, that in those instances which I have 
related, the cells were burst, or that the glands were diseased : 
to which I can only reply, that there was no appearance to 
lead me to such a conclusion. 
If, then, the lymphatic glands are either cellular, or recep- 
tacles resembling bags for the absorbed fluids, we are na- 
turally led to inquire, what advantage arises from this tem- 
porary effusion of the contents of the absorbents. That there 
is a considerable quantity of fluids poured forth from the 
arteries of the whale, to mix with the absorbed chyle, is very 
