On the comparative anatomy of the lymphatics of the mammalian urinary bladder / by George Hoggan and Frances Elizabeth Hoggan.

  • Hoggan, George
Date:
[1881]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the comparative anatomy of the lymphatics of the mammalian urinary bladder / by George Hoggan and Frances Elizabeth Hoggan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Jes Vaissectux Lymphatiques, published in 1874. At page 9, speaking of the lymphatics of smooth mucous surfaces, he says : 4‘ Amongst the mucous membranes belonging to this group, there are several which are absolutely and constantly destitute of lymphatic vessels; such as the mucous membranes of the bladder, and ureters of man, and the mammalia in general. In vain have I explored the mucous membrane of the whole urinary tract in men and women, in infants, adults and old people, varying in a thousand ways the reagents proper for this investigation; the result of all my observa- tions has been completely negative, and as there does not exist in the annals of science any fact attesting that other observers have been more fortunate than I have been, we must admit that nothing demonstrates the presence of these vessels in the mucous membrane of the urinary tract, and that very probably they do not exist.” The opinions we have quoted may possibly be held to warrant us in publishing our own investigations, which have been more fortunate in their results than those of our eminent predecessors, and put the existence of the lymphatics of the bladder beyond all doubt. If, however, we have been more fortunate than our more eminent fellow-workers, our success is not to be ascribed to greater skill, patience, or perseverance, but principally to the fact that we have hit upon better methods of investigation, supplemented by appliances introduced by ourselves, and under conditions that experience has enabled us to recognise. When we consider the character of the technical methods employed in the past for investigating the lymphatic system before the introduction of the use of solutions of silver, we can scarcely feel surprised at the small measure of success which has rewarded the labours of others in investigating the lymphatics of the bladder; for in that organ they are so very few in comparison with some other tissues, and so irregular, and even abnormal as compared with the distribution in other organs, that only by a rare accident could they ever have been demon- strated. As far as the present study of the comparative anatomy of these lymphatics in different animals is concerned, and the almost absolute necessity of examining them in their simplest form as found in the bladders of the smallest mammals, jt would have been a physical impossibility to have done so by any of the methods of injection hitherto in use, as for example, in the bladder of a mouse, whose wall when distended
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