Clinical and experimental techniques to study the lymphatic system.

Abstract

On the evolutionary scale the tissue fluid or lymph circulation long antedates the blood vascular system. In one form or another-whether as a single giant coelom or as an intricate network of thin-walled channelsa distinct tissue fluid circulation can be consistently identified in all vertebrate or invertebrate animal-life. In a general sense, this circulation helps maintain water balance and tissue turgor, influences food gathering and the absorption and distribution of nutriments, disposes of wastes, and aids in respiration, locomotion, defense and even occasionally in reproduction.’ I