f a series of tubes which absorb and convey to the
blood certain fluids. These tubes lead to lymphatic glands, through
which the fluids pass to reach the right lymphatic vein and thoracic
duct, both of which enter the venous system near the heart. Through the
excessively thin walls of the capillaries the fluid part of the blood
transudes to nourish the tissues outside the capillaries; at the same
time fluid passes from the tissues into the blood. The fluid, after it
passes into the tissues, constitutes the lymph, and acts like a stream
irrigating the tissue elements. Much of the surplus of this lymph passes
into the lymph vessels, which in their commencement can hardly be
treated as independent structures, since their walls are so closely
joined with the tissues through which they pass, being nothing more
than spaces in the connective tissue until they reach the larger lymph
vessels, which finally empty into lymph glands. These lymph glands are
structures so placed that the lymph flowing toward the larger trunks
passes through them, undergoing a sort of filtration. From the fact of
this arrangement lymph glands are subject to inflammatory diseases in
the vicinity of diseased structures, because infective material being
conveyed in the lymph stream lodges in the glands and produces
irritation.

LOCAL INFLAMMATION AND ABSCESS OF LYMPHATIC GLANDS.

Acute inflammation of the lymph glands usually occurs in connection with
some inflammatory process in the region from which its lymph is
gathered. Several or all of the glands in a cluster may become affected,
as in strangles, nasal catarrh, or nasal gleet, diseased or ulcerated
teeth, the lymph glands between the branches of the lower jaw almost
invariably become affected, which may lead to suppuration or induration.
Similar results obtain in other portions of the body; in pneumonia the
bronchial glands become affected; in pharyngitis the postpharyngeal
glands lying above the trachea become affected, etc.

_Symptoms._--The glands swell and become painful to the touch, the
connective tissue surrounding them becomes involved, suppuration usually
takes place, and one or more abscesses form. If the inflammation is of a
milder type, resolution may take place and the swelling recede, the
exudative material being absorbed, and the gland restored without the
occurrence of suppuration. In the limbs a whole chain of the glands
along the lymphatic vessels may become affected, as in fa