The anatomy of the absorbing vessels of the human body / by William Cruikshank.

  • Cruickshank, William, 1745-1800.
Date:
1790
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The anatomy of the absorbing vessels of the human body / by William Cruikshank. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    themselves; they run towards the axilla, but in their way sometimes pass through small glands half way between the nipple and the axilla, situated between the integuments and exterior surface of the mamma; comrnonly they pass immediately to the first glands of the axilla, from these to the second, and thus through a chain of glands, to the trunk of the absorb- ents of the arm, or some one of the great trunks, near the angle, between the jugular and subclavian. Some of the external thoracic absorbents^ instead of going into the axilla, pass over the pectoralis major, and go into glands under the middle of the clavicle; these are continued, as a chain, into other glands above the cla- vicle, all the way to the middle of the neck; from thence their lympha- tics return upon themselves, and pass downwards. I have seen these glands affected from cancer of the mammae, and the disease renewed after too late an extirpation of the breasts. The internal, or mammary absorbents, arise from the posterior part of the mamma, perforate in many places the intercostal muscles, and join the plexus already described as coming from the liver and diaphragm, and running on each side of the mammary artery and veins, behind the car- tilages of the true ribs. The absorbents of the breasts of women and their glands are of im- mense importance in the practice of surgery. The breasts in women, and the testicles in men, are more liable to cancer than any other glands. Why this should happen is perhaps difficult to say ; they are glands much connected with the general health of the body, and indicate the degree of vigour in the system pretty accurately in both sexes; even nurses and old women know this. They seldom are affected with cancer till the vigour of the system begins to decline, after forty-five or forty-eight, when the menses generally stop in women, who naturally attri- bute this disease of the breast to the retention of the menses. They are, besides, glands more exposed than any other in the body, and often, from obvious reasons, more exhausted than they are able to bear.—The cir- cumstance of their being more exposed, makes them liable to blows, and a greater number of accidents than any other glands, and from one or all of these causes they are frequently indisposed, and very often these com- plaints terminate in cancers. In