1. Of the Passage of the Chyle from the Alimentary Canal into the Sanguiferous System; and of the Function of Absorption generally.—The Chyle, as we have already said, is taken up from the alimentary canal, by numerous minute tubes, named lacteals; these tubes being part of the system of similar tubes, which arise from all parts of the body, and are termed absorbents. The whole of the absorbing tubes, after passing through various glands, at length unite into one or two of larger size; the recipient tube on the left side being by far the largest, and known by the appellation of the thoracic duct. These larger absorbent tubes pour their contained fluids into the veins named the sub-clavian; and thus into the general mass of the blood. The exact nature of the changes which the chyle and the lymph undergo in their passage through these tubes, is not well understood. One change appears to be, that the chyle, as first formed in the alimentary canal, is to a certain extent, completed, or freed from water, during its course through the lacteals: for though, when the chyle is mixed with the blood, its albuminous principles are much less perfectly developed than the principles of the blood itself; yet the developement of the albuminous principles, on their mixture with the blood, is more perfect, than when the chyle is first taken up from the alimentary canal.