Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 14.djvu/201

Rh passes onward into the lymphatics, where a series of valves prevents its return, and allows it only to move onward, till at last it is emptied into the general circulation.

In strong and healthy people the veins and lymphatics together are quite able to take up all the fluid which the arteries have supplied to the muscles, and thus prevent any accumulation from taking place either in them or in the cellular tissue adjoining them, or at least prevent any such accumulation as might become evident to the eye. In delicate, weakly persons, or in those who suffer from certain diseases of the vascular system, this is not the case; and after standing or walking for a long time the legs become swollen, so that the boots feel tight, and sometimes even a distinct impression may be remarked at that part of the ankle which was covered by the boot. In such persons we can actually see the swelling disappear, after the feet have been kept rested for some time on a level with the body, and it may be removed more quickly still by gently and steadily rubbing the limbs in one direction from below upward. It is almost certain that what we thus see in weakly persons occurs to a slighter extent in all, and that even in the most healthy person after a long walk a slight accumulation of fluid, laden with the products of muscular waste, occurs both in the muscles themselves and in the cellular tissue around them, even although we cannot detect it by simple inspection. So long as the limbs of such a person hang down, the force of gravity retards the return both of blood through the veins and of lymph through the fasciæ and lymphatics, and thus hinders the muscles from getting rid of those waste products which caused the fatigue. When the legs are raised, this hinderancehindrance [sic] is at once removed, both blood and lymph return more readily from the muscles, carrying with them those substances which had been formed by the muscles of the limbs during the exertions which they had undergone when carrying the body about. So long as these substances remained where they had been formed, they might cause in the muscles of the legs an undue amount of fatigue, although, when distributed over the body generally, they may produce only a pleasing languor. When the legs are long, the obstruction to the return of blood and lymph is, of course, greater than when they are short, and this return will take place more readily when the legs are raised above the body than when they are only on a level with it. This may be one of the reasons why some of our long-legged American cousins are so fond of raising their feet to a level with their heads, or even higher, although it is very probable that there are reasons still more powerful, which we may discuss at a future time.

It has already been mentioned that the lymph is propelled along the interstices of the fasciæ into the lymphatic vessels by the intermittent pressure which the muscle exerts upon them from within; and it seems natural to suppose that the flow may also be aided by a pressure from without, in the form of shampooing. Even when the hand is rubbed