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Show 76 Tbe Lymphatic Glands. Tbe Lymphatic Glands. branches of the veins; so that, as Professor Mekel observes, " Vasorum igitur arteriosorum et Venosorum glomer eas suspicatus Ruyschius, excreto- rios ductus illos putavit vasorum lymphaticorum ductus." I have said, that the coats of the glands were not fibrous or muscular, that they shcwcd no marks of irritability when touched with oil of vitriol, &c. but the glands themselves are very irritable, 0r quickly excited to inilammation, even by applications made at a distance; for Mr. Hunter saw a case in which the skin being prickcd by a needle, which never had been used before, or touched any infectious or irritating substance, occasioned the lymphatics of the arm to inflame, and shew themselves in the form of red lines, running towards the axilla; in consequence of this, some one of the glands there also inflamed and swelled; the patienthad rigors and sickness; and all this in the space of a few minutes. I have also seen similar cases. The lymphatic glands, independent of those blood vessels which form their internal substance, are generally covered externally with a minute net-work of the lymphatic vessels themselves. These glands were said, by Boerhaave and others, to be exceedingly sensible; and as he thought, furnished with a great number of nerves. The pain which accompanies the venereal buboe propably led them to form this conclusion; for it does not appear that they dissected the nerves of the glands. The only anatomical fact they seem to build on, is the great number of nerves which accompany the superior int-senteric artery. Boerhaave says, " The mcscntery has bttt little feeling; it is not muscular. As the nerves here do not appear to serve the ordinary purposes of giving sensation, or disposition to be stimulated to muscular motion, is it not probable that they exist there on account of the mesenteric glands?" * into which he suspects they pour a fluid, which makes the chyle more fit for nutrition. Many experiments have been made, by Haller and oth since the time of Boerhaave, which render this authority, and the opinions of his time, of little weight; parts having been found with little sensibility, that were at that time supposed the most sensible of any. If the mesentery is wounded, at any part where the nerves are found, the ani- mal screams almost as much as when the skin is wounded. Again, the 77 nerves appear to be sent here on two very important accounts; one is, that, forming net-works on the trunks of the arteries, they may regulate the determination of blood to the intestines; and the other is on account of the sensation which was to take place in the intestines themselves, which we find in the cholic is exceedingly great. On the other hand, Baron Haller contends, from the little feeling of the glands in scrophulous suppuration, as well as from actual dissection of the nerves apparently going to the glands, that the glands have no nerves, or next to none :-" Nervi certe per- paucs cas glandulas adeunt vix demonstrabiles etiam quando maximm sunt. Ita neque in numerosis adeo mediastini glandulis vel unicum nervum osten- dere facile ftterit, neque in thymo insigni glandula qum tnollior eqttidem sttcco tamen suo et decrescente in adultis magnitttdine cum his lymphaticis glandulis convenit. Hinc obtusus harum glandularum sensus quotics tument et snppurantur, ut in scrophulis fit." I agree with Haller, that in the natural state of the glands the nerves can scarcely be demonstrated. Ido not know if they enlarge when the glands become schirrous; but I once found the nerves very much enlarged in a schit‘rous testicle. V'Valter says, the nerves sometimes perforate the glands, bttt go through them to other parts. " Immo contra opinionem nuperimorum illustrium virorum, convictus sum, ad nullas glandulas lymphaticas, seu conglobatas, ambulare nervos qui in illis terminarcntur; pcrforantnr interdum glandul're conglobatze uno vel a1tero surculo uti totics mihi obscrvare licuit scd statim ad locum proximum et ipsis przescriptum ambulant et ibi finiuntur." Haller entertains the same opinion concerning the other glands-De nervis ita tcnendum est, ut per plusculas glandulas, multi magnique traitseunt, per salivale impriniis genus ct lacrumale-Verum levi omnino studio pcrcipiet quicunque vcrum unice sectatur, cos grandes nervos non morari in his glandulis, scd ad alias partes abire ut in salivalibus omnibus et in la- crimali glandula certum cxcmplum est. No man can have a greater respect for these authorities than I have, yet I confess I cannot suppose it possible, that the nerves perforate the glands only because they come in their way; and in the examples of the conglomerate glands, given by Haller, I cannot help thinking him unfortunate in adducing the laehrytnal ' Academical Lectures translated into English. DCI‘VCF and salivary glands, because no parts are more under the influence of the mi nd |