164 
J. HCILSON. 
employ themselves exclusively in the absorption of chyle, while 
the lymphatics also receive some matters and reject others. 
That absorption is not an act of mere capillary attraction is 
proved by the fact that besides the healthy and ordinate ac¬ 
tion of these vessels, they have also a morbid and inordinate 
action. If it were not so, their absorbent powers would ever 
remain unchanged, while, on the contrary, we find them con¬ 
tinually changing. Sometimes they scarcely act at all, while 
again they are endowed with even too much energy. There 
is some difference of opinion among anatomists concerning 
the relative structure of the lymphatic glands, some regard¬ 
ing them as composed simply of a plexus of lymphatic vessels, 
held together by a delicate stroma of fibrous tissue, while 
others deny that there is any direct communication between 
the efferent and the afffuent vessels, assuming that the vessels 
which penetrate the glands break up into small branches, 
which open into a parenchyma or gland with closed follicles, 
and that the fluids are collected from the gland by a second 
set of capillaries, connected with the efferent lymphatics. It 
is probable that the lymphatic and lacteal vessels have no 
direct connection with the blood vessels except by the two 
openings by which they discharge their contents into the 
venous system. But the absorbent system shows that they 
not only collect fluids from the intestinal canal during diges¬ 
tion, but from nearly every tissue or organ in the body, and 
that these fluids are received into the venous circulation. 
THROMBOSIS OF THE ILIAC ARTERIES. 
By Dr. J. Hitilson, Jersey City, N. J. 
(A Paper read before the Veterinary Medical Association of New Jersey). 
Although 1 have nothing new to offer in my paper on this 
subject, a brief review may not be uninteresting, and I hope 
will lead to some discussion on the part of members. If there 
is nothing else in it, one good thing will be its brevity, and 
that, I know, will conlmend itself to you. We very seldom 
read or hear of cases of thrombosis, and it would appear from 
