ON THE LYMPHATICS, 
553 
known facts, that mercury, when applied to the skin, as well as 
collections of water, when formed in the abdomen, cellular mem¬ 
brane, &c. were occasionally taken up, conveyed into the circu¬ 
lation, and ultimately became passed off again by secretion : 
likewise from the great analogy between the lymphatics and 
lacteals, both as regards their coats, valves, manner of ramifying, 
&c.; and also from the lacteals being known and admitted to 
take their origin from the inner surface of the intestines, and 
being for the purpose of absorbing the chyle from those parts. 
If Dr. W. and Mr. J. Hunter had merely confined themselves 
to the idea of the lymphatic vessels arising and absorbing from 
surfaces, £cc. and then had given to them their proper share, as 
regards the Junction oj ' absorption , these gentlemen, in my idea, 
would have made a very important advancement in the science 
of physiology; but they not only attempted to dispute their 
origin from the arteries, but also that the red or real veins had 
nothing whatever to do with the process of absorption. By this 
logic they endeavoured to make the veins appear almost of a 
similar nature with a set of inert tubes , viz. merely for the 
purpose of conveying back the red blood from the arterial system*. 
Dr. Hunter, prior to noticing Mr. J. Hunter’s experiments in 
refutation of venous absorption, and wherein he attempts to esta¬ 
blish the whole process of absorption by the lymphatics, remarks 
thus :—“ With regard to absorption, I was of opinion that na¬ 
ture had provided a system on purpose, viz., the lymphatic. I 
considered these vessels and' the lacteals as an appendage to the 
venal system, by which the stores were brought in for supplying 
the circulation; and the glands and secretory vessels all over the 
body, I considered as an appendage to the arterial, by which 
the proper separations were made, and the redundancies thrown 
off. 
“ My only doubt was, whether the veins did or did not ab¬ 
sorb a certain quantity, especially in the intestines. From my 
own observations on injections, I should have considered that 
* A question is still undetermined, Do the lymphatics absorb the loose 
or free fluids secreted on the surfaces? Do they always take up what is 
offered to their mouths, in the same manner that we know they do extra- 
vasated blood or bile? And is itfhc office of the veins to return the matter 
which formed that part of the texture of animal bodies, and which was 
never separated from the influence of the circulatory system? What is this 
carbon the waste of the animat frame returned by the veins , and is not this 
process of the nature of absorption? In short, there appears to me still 
an open field for inquiry, where an ingenious man may gain, in future, as 
much reputation as IJr. Hunter and Dr. Munro acquired by their in¬ 
vestigations into lymphatic absorption.— See Sir C. Bell on the Anatomy and 
Physiology of the Human Body , Fifth Edition, vol. ii, page 33-1, 1823. 
