(T. G. Br.)
LYMPHATIC SYSTEM.In anatomy, the lymphatic system (Lat.lympha, clear water) comprises thelymphoidoradenoidtissue so plentifully distributed about the body, especially in the course of the alimentary canal (seeConnective Tissues),lymph spaces,lymphatic vesselsof which the lacteals are modifications,lymphatic glands,haemolymph glands, and thethoracicandright lymphatic ductsby which the lymph (q.v.) finally reaches the veins.
Lymph spacesare mere spaces in the connective tissue, which usually have no special lining, though sometimes there is a layer of endothelial cells like those of the lymphatic and blood vessels. Most of these spaces are very small, but sometimes, as in the case of thesub-epicranial spaceof the scalp, thecapsule of Tenonin the orbit, and theretropharyngeal spacein the neck, they are large and are adaptations to allow free movement. Opening from these spaces, and also communicating with the serous membranes by small openings called stomata,1are thelymph capillaries(seeVascular System), which converge to thelymphatic vessels. These resemble veins in having an internal layer of endothelium, a middle unstriped muscular coat, and an external coat of fibrous tissue, though in the smaller vessels the middle coat is wanting. They have numerous endothelial valves, formed of two crescentic segments allowing the lymph to pass toward the root of the neck. When the vessels are engorged these valves are marked by a constriction, and so the lymphatics have a beaded appearance. The vessels divide and anastomose very freely, and for this reason they do not, like the veins, increase in calibre as they approach their destination. It is usual to divide the lymphatic vessels into a superficial and a deep set; speaking generally, the superficial ones are found near the course of the superficial veins, while the deeper ones accompany the arteries. Probably any single drop of lymph passes sooner or later through one or more lymphatic glands, and so those vessels which are approaching a gland are calledafferent, while those leaving are spoken of asefferent lymphatics. Thelactealsare special lymphatic vessels which carry the chyle from the intestine; they begin in lymphatic spaces in the villi and round the solitary and agminated glands, and pass into the mesentery, where they come in contact with a large number ofmesenteric glandsbefore reaching thereceptaculum chyli.
Thelymphatic glandsare pink bodies situated in the course of the lymphatic vessels, to which they act as filters. They are generally oval in shape and about the size of a bean, but sometimes, especially in the groin, they form irregular flattened masses 2 in. long, while, at other times, they are so small as almost to escape notice. They are usually found in groups.
Each gland has a fibrous capsule from which trabeculae pass toward the centre, where they break up and interlace, forming a network, and in this way a cortical and medullary region for each gland is distinguished; the intervals are nearly filled by lymphoid tissue, but close to the trabeculae is a lymph path or sinus, which is only crossed by the reticular stroma of the lymphoid tissue, and this probably acts as a mechanical sieve, entangling foreign particles; as an example of this the bronchial glands are black from carbon strained off in its passage from the lungs, while the axillary glands in a tattooed arm are blue. The blood-vessels enter at one spot, thehilum, and are distributed along the trabeculae. In addition to their function as filters the lymphatic glands are probably one of the sources from which the leucocytes are derived.Fig. 1.—Superficial Lymphatic Vessels and Glands.α, Preauricular.β, Mastoid.γ, Superficial cervical.δ, Submaxillary.ε, Submental.ζ, Infraclavicular.η, Anterior axillary.θ, Supratrochlear.ι, Antecubital.κ, Inguinal.λ, Superficial femoral.The exact position of the various groups of glands is very important from a medical point of view, but here it is only possible to give a brief sketch which will be helped by reference to the accompanying diagram. In the head are foundoccipitalandmastoid glands(fig. 1, β), which drain the back of the scalp;internal maxillary glands, in the zygomatic fossa, draining the orbit, palate, nose and membranes of the brain;preauricular glands(fig. 1, α), embedded in the parotid, draining the side of the scalp, pinna, tympanum and lower eyelid; andbuccal glands, draining the cheek region. In the neck are thesuperficial cervical glands(fig. 1, γ), along the course of the external jugular vein, draining the surface of the neck; thesubmaxillary glands(fig. 1, δ), lying just above the salivary gland of the same name and draining the front of the face and scalp; thesubmental glands(fig. 1, ε), beneath the chin, draining the lower lip, as well as sometimes the upper, and the front of the tongue; theretropharyngeal glands, draining the naso-pharynx and tympanum; thepretracheal glands, draining the trachea and lower part of the thyroid body; and thedeep cervical glands, which are by far the most important and form a great mass close to the internal jugular vein; they receive afferent vessels from most of the glands already mentioned and so are liable to be affected in any trouble of the head or neck, especially of the deeper parts. Into them the lymphatics of the brain pass directly. The lower part of this mass is sometimes distinguished as a separate group called thesupra-clavicular glands, which drain the back of the neck and receive afferents from the occipital and axillary glands. The efferents from the deep cervical glands join to form a common vessel known as thejugular lymphatic trunk, and this usually opens into the thoracic duct on the left side and the right lymphatic duct on the right.In the thorax are foundintercostal glands(fig. 2, I.), near the vertebral column draining the back of the thoracic walls and pleura;internal mammary glands, draining the front of the same parts as well as the inner part of the breast and the upper part of the abdominal wall;diaphragmatic glands, draining that structure and the convex surface of the liver;anterior, middle, posterior and superior mediastinal glands, draining the contents of those cavities. Thebronchial glands, draining the lungs, have already been referred to.In the abdomen and pelvis the glands are usually grouped round the large arteries and are divided into visceral and parietal. Among the visceral are thegastric glands, draining the stomach (these are divided intocoronary,subpyloricandretropyloricgroups); thesplenic glandsat the hilum of the spleen, draining that organ, the tail of the pancreas and the fundus of the stomach; thehepatic glandsin the small omentum, draining the lower surface and deep parts of the liver; thepancreatic glands, behind the lesser sac of the peritoneum, draining the head and body of the pancreas, thesuperior mesenteric glands; from one to two hundred in number, lying in the mesentery and receiving the lacteals; theileo-caecal glands, draining the caecum, one of which is known as theappendiculargland and drains the vermiform appendix and right ovary; thecolic glandsalong the right and middle colic arteries, draining the ascending and transverse colon; theinferior mesenteric glandsin the course of that artery, draining the descending iliac and pelvic colons; therectalglands, behind the rectum, draining its upper part.Among the parietal glands are theexternal iliac glands, divided into a lateral and mesial set (see fig. 2, E.I.), and receiving the inguinal efferent vessels and lymphatics from the bladder, prostate, cervix uteri, upper part of the vagina, glans penis vel clitoridis and urethra. Thesupraandinfra-umbilical glandsreceive the deep lymphatics of the abdominal wall, the former communicating with the liver, the latter with the bladder. From the latter, vessels pass to the epigastric gland lying in front of the termination of the external iliac artery. Theinternal iliac glands(fig. 2, I. I.) are situated close to the branches of this artery and drain the rectum, vagina, prostate, urethra, buttock and perinaeum.Common iliac glands(fig. 2, C.I.) lie around that artery and receive afferents from the external and internal iliac glands as well as a few from the pelvic viscera.2Theaortic glandsare grouped all round the length of the aorta, and are divided intopre-,retro- andlateral aorticgroups (fig. 2 P.A. and L), all of which communicate freely. The upper preaortic glands are massed round the coeliac axis, and receive afferents from the gastric, hepatic, splenic and pancreatic glands; they are known ascoeliac glands. Thelateral aortic glandsdrain the kidney, adrenal, testis, ovary, fundus of uterus and lateral abdominal walls. In the upper extremity a few small glands are sometimes found near the deep arteries of the forearm. At the bend of the elbow are theante-cubitalglands (fig. 1 λ) and just above the internal condyle, one or twosupra-trochlear glands(fig. 1, θ). Theaxillary glands(fig. 1, η) are perhaps the most practically important in the body. They are divided into four sets: (1)external, along the axillary vessels, draining the greater part of the arm; (2)anterior, behind the lower border of the pectoralis major muscle, draining the surface of the thorax including the breast and upper part of the abdomen; (3)posterioralong the subscapular artery, draining the back and side of the trunk as low as the umbilical zone; (4) superior orinfra-clavicular glands(fig. 1, ζ), receiving the efferents of the former groups as well as lymphatics accompanying the cephalic vein. In the lower limb all the superficial lymphatics pass up to the groin, where there are two sets of glands arranged like a T. Thesuperficial femoralglands (fig. 1, λ) are the vertical ones, and are grouped round the internal saphenous vein; they are very large, drain the surface of the leg, and are usually in two parallel rows. Theinguinal glandsform the cross bar of the T (fig. 1, κ), and drain part of the buttock, the surface of the abdomen below the umbilicus and the surface of the genital organs. The deep lymphatics of the leg drain into theanterior tibial glandon that artery, thepopliteal glandsin that space, and thedeep femoral glandssurrounding the common femoral vein.
Each gland has a fibrous capsule from which trabeculae pass toward the centre, where they break up and interlace, forming a network, and in this way a cortical and medullary region for each gland is distinguished; the intervals are nearly filled by lymphoid tissue, but close to the trabeculae is a lymph path or sinus, which is only crossed by the reticular stroma of the lymphoid tissue, and this probably acts as a mechanical sieve, entangling foreign particles; as an example of this the bronchial glands are black from carbon strained off in its passage from the lungs, while the axillary glands in a tattooed arm are blue. The blood-vessels enter at one spot, thehilum, and are distributed along the trabeculae. In addition to their function as filters the lymphatic glands are probably one of the sources from which the leucocytes are derived.
α, Preauricular.
β, Mastoid.
γ, Superficial cervical.
δ, Submaxillary.
ε, Submental.
ζ, Infraclavicular.
η, Anterior axillary.
θ, Supratrochlear.
ι, Antecubital.
κ, Inguinal.
λ, Superficial femoral.
The exact position of the various groups of glands is very important from a medical point of view, but here it is only possible to give a brief sketch which will be helped by reference to the accompanying diagram. In the head are foundoccipitalandmastoid glands(fig. 1, β), which drain the back of the scalp;internal maxillary glands, in the zygomatic fossa, draining the orbit, palate, nose and membranes of the brain;preauricular glands(fig. 1, α), embedded in the parotid, draining the side of the scalp, pinna, tympanum and lower eyelid; andbuccal glands, draining the cheek region. In the neck are thesuperficial cervical glands(fig. 1, γ), along the course of the external jugular vein, draining the surface of the neck; thesubmaxillary glands(fig. 1, δ), lying just above the salivary gland of the same name and draining the front of the face and scalp; thesubmental glands(fig. 1, ε), beneath the chin, draining the lower lip, as well as sometimes the upper, and the front of the tongue; theretropharyngeal glands, draining the naso-pharynx and tympanum; thepretracheal glands, draining the trachea and lower part of the thyroid body; and thedeep cervical glands, which are by far the most important and form a great mass close to the internal jugular vein; they receive afferent vessels from most of the glands already mentioned and so are liable to be affected in any trouble of the head or neck, especially of the deeper parts. Into them the lymphatics of the brain pass directly. The lower part of this mass is sometimes distinguished as a separate group called thesupra-clavicular glands, which drain the back of the neck and receive afferents from the occipital and axillary glands. The efferents from the deep cervical glands join to form a common vessel known as thejugular lymphatic trunk, and this usually opens into the thoracic duct on the left side and the right lymphatic duct on the right.
In the thorax are foundintercostal glands(fig. 2, I.), near the vertebral column draining the back of the thoracic walls and pleura;internal mammary glands, draining the front of the same parts as well as the inner part of the breast and the upper part of the abdominal wall;diaphragmatic glands, draining that structure and the convex surface of the liver;anterior, middle, posterior and superior mediastinal glands, draining the contents of those cavities. Thebronchial glands, draining the lungs, have already been referred to.
In the abdomen and pelvis the glands are usually grouped round the large arteries and are divided into visceral and parietal. Among the visceral are thegastric glands, draining the stomach (these are divided intocoronary,subpyloricandretropyloricgroups); thesplenic glandsat the hilum of the spleen, draining that organ, the tail of the pancreas and the fundus of the stomach; thehepatic glandsin the small omentum, draining the lower surface and deep parts of the liver; thepancreatic glands, behind the lesser sac of the peritoneum, draining the head and body of the pancreas, thesuperior mesenteric glands; from one to two hundred in number, lying in the mesentery and receiving the lacteals; theileo-caecal glands, draining the caecum, one of which is known as theappendiculargland and drains the vermiform appendix and right ovary; thecolic glandsalong the right and middle colic arteries, draining the ascending and transverse colon; theinferior mesenteric glandsin the course of that artery, draining the descending iliac and pelvic colons; therectalglands, behind the rectum, draining its upper part.
Among the parietal glands are theexternal iliac glands, divided into a lateral and mesial set (see fig. 2, E.I.), and receiving the inguinal efferent vessels and lymphatics from the bladder, prostate, cervix uteri, upper part of the vagina, glans penis vel clitoridis and urethra. Thesupraandinfra-umbilical glandsreceive the deep lymphatics of the abdominal wall, the former communicating with the liver, the latter with the bladder. From the latter, vessels pass to the epigastric gland lying in front of the termination of the external iliac artery. Theinternal iliac glands(fig. 2, I. I.) are situated close to the branches of this artery and drain the rectum, vagina, prostate, urethra, buttock and perinaeum.Common iliac glands(fig. 2, C.I.) lie around that artery and receive afferents from the external and internal iliac glands as well as a few from the pelvic viscera.2Theaortic glandsare grouped all round the length of the aorta, and are divided intopre-,retro- andlateral aorticgroups (fig. 2 P.A. and L), all of which communicate freely. The upper preaortic glands are massed round the coeliac axis, and receive afferents from the gastric, hepatic, splenic and pancreatic glands; they are known ascoeliac glands. Thelateral aortic glandsdrain the kidney, adrenal, testis, ovary, fundus of uterus and lateral abdominal walls. In the upper extremity a few small glands are sometimes found near the deep arteries of the forearm. At the bend of the elbow are theante-cubitalglands (fig. 1 λ) and just above the internal condyle, one or twosupra-trochlear glands(fig. 1, θ). Theaxillary glands(fig. 1, η) are perhaps the most practically important in the body. They are divided into four sets: (1)external, along the axillary vessels, draining the greater part of the arm; (2)anterior, behind the lower border of the pectoralis major muscle, draining the surface of the thorax including the breast and upper part of the abdomen; (3)posterioralong the subscapular artery, draining the back and side of the trunk as low as the umbilical zone; (4) superior orinfra-clavicular glands(fig. 1, ζ), receiving the efferents of the former groups as well as lymphatics accompanying the cephalic vein. In the lower limb all the superficial lymphatics pass up to the groin, where there are two sets of glands arranged like a T. Thesuperficial femoralglands (fig. 1, λ) are the vertical ones, and are grouped round the internal saphenous vein; they are very large, drain the surface of the leg, and are usually in two parallel rows. Theinguinal glandsform the cross bar of the T (fig. 1, κ), and drain part of the buttock, the surface of the abdomen below the umbilicus and the surface of the genital organs. The deep lymphatics of the leg drain into theanterior tibial glandon that artery, thepopliteal glandsin that space, and thedeep femoral glandssurrounding the common femoral vein.
C. Common iliac glands.
C.I. Common intestinal trunk.
D.C. Deep cervical glands.
E.I. External iliac glands.
I. Intercostal glands and vessels.
I.I. Internal iliac glands.
L. Lateral aortic glands.
M. Mediastinal glands and vessels.
P.A. Pre-aortic glands and vessels.
R.C. Receptaculum chylii.
R.L.D. Right lymphatic duct.
S. Sacral glands.
S.A. Scalenus anticus muscle.
T.D. Thoracic duct.
Thethoracic ductbegins as an irregular dilatation known as thereceptaculum chyli, opposite the first and second lumbar vertebrae, which receives all the abdominal lymphatics as well as those of the lower intercostal spaces. The duct runs up on the right of the aorta through the posterior mediastinum and then traverses the superior mediastinum to the left of the oesophagus. At the root of the neck it receives the lymphatics of the left arm and left side of the neck and opens into the beginning of the left innominate vein, usually by more than one opening.
Theright lymphatic ductcollects the lymphatics from the right side of the neck and thorax, the right arm, right lung, right side of the heart and upper surface of the liver; it is often represented by several ducts which open separately into the right innominate vein.
Haemolymph glandsare structures which have only been noticed since 1884. They differ from lymphatic glands in their much greater vascularity. They assist the spleen in the destruction of red blood corpuscles, and probably explain or help to explain the fact that the spleen can be removed without ill effects. In man they extend along the vertebral column from the coeliac axis to the pelvis, but are specially numerous close to the renal arteries.
T. Lewis suggests that lymphatic and haemolymph glands should be classified in the following way:—Haemolymph Glands.Haemal glands.Simple.Specialized (Spleen)Haemal lymphatic glands.1. Blood and lymph sinuses separate.2. Blood lymph sinuses.3. Other combined forms.Lymphatic glands.Details and references will be found in papers by T. Lewis,J. Anat. & Phys.vol. xxxviii. p. 312; W. B. Drummond,Journ. Anat. and Phys.vol. xxxiv. p. 198; A. S. Warthin,Journ. Med. Research, 1901, p. 3, and H. Dayton,Am. Journ. of Med. Sciences, 1904, p. 448. For further details of man’s lymphatic system seeThe Lymphaticsby Delamere, Poirier and Cuneo, translated by C. H. Leaf (London, 1903).Embryology.—The lymphatic vessels are possibly developed by the hollowing out of mesenchyme cells in the same way that the arteries are; these cells subsequently coalesce and form tubes (seeVascular System). There is, however, a good deal of evidence to show that they are originally offshoots of the venous system, and that their permanent openings into the veins are either their primary points of communication or are secondarily acquired. The lymphatic and haemolymph glands are probably formed by the proliferation of lymphocytes around networks of lymphatic vessels; the dividing lymphocytes form the lymphoid tissue, and eventually the network breaks up to form distinct glands into which blood vessels penetrate. If the blood vessels enlarge more than the lymphatic, haemolymph glands result, but if the lymphatic vessels become predominant ordinary lymphatic glands are formed. At an early stage in the embryo pig two thoracic ducts are formed, one on either side of the aorta, and the incomplete fusion of these may account for the division often found in man’s duct. In the embryo pig too there have been found two pairs of lymph hearts for a short period.See A. S. Warthin,Journ. Med. Research, vol. vii. p. 435; F. R. Sabin,Am. Journ. of Anat.i., 1902; and, for literature,Development of the Human Body, by J. P. McMurrich (London, 1906), and Quain’sAnatomy(vol. i., London, 1908).Comparative Anatomy.—A lymphatic system is recognized in all the Craniata, and in the lower forms (fishes and Amphibia) it consists chiefly of lymph spaces and sinuses in communication with the coelom. In fishes, for instance, there is a largesubvertebral lymph sinussurrounding the aorta and another within the spinal canal. In Amphibia the subvertebral sinus is also found, and in the Anura (frogs and toads) there is a greatsubcutaneous lymph sinus.Lymph heartsare muscular dilatations of vessels and are found in fishes, amphibians, reptiles and bird embryos, and drive the lymph into the veins; they are not known in adult mammals.In birds the thoracic duct is first recognized, and opens into both right and left precaval veins, as it always does in some mammals. In birds, however, some of the lymphatics open into the sacral veins, and it is doubtful whether true lymphatic glands ever occur. In birds and mammals lymphatic vessels become more definite and numerous and are provided with valves.Haemolymph glands are present in mammals and birds, but have not been seen lower in the scale, though S. Vincent and S. Harrison point out the resemblance of the structure of the head kidney of certain Teleostean fishes to them (Journ. Anat. and Phys.vol. xxxi. p. 176).For further details seeComparative Anat. of Vertebrates, by R. Wiedersheim (London, 1907).(F. G. P.)Diseases of the Lymphatic System and Ductless Glands.Lymphadenitisor inflammatory infection of the lymphatic glands, is a condition characterized by hyperaemia of and exudation into the gland, which becomes reader, firmer and larger than usual. Three varieties may be distinguished: simple, suppurative and tuberculous. The cause is always the absorption of some toxic or infective material from the periphery. This may take place in several of the acute infectious diseases, notably in scarlet fever, mumps, diphtheria and German measles, or may be the result of poisoned wounds. The lymphatic glands are also affected in constitutional diseases such as syphilis. Simple lymphadenitis usually subsides of its own accord, but if toxins are produced in the inflamed area the enlargement is obvious and painful, while if pyogenic organisms are absorbed the inflammation progresses to suppuration.Tuberculous lymphadenitis(scrofula) is due to the infection of the lymph glands by Koch’s tubercle bacillus. This was formerly known as “King’s Evil,” as it was believed that the touch of the royal hand had power to cure it. It occurs most commonly in children and young adults whose surroundings are unhealthy, and who are liable to develop tuberculous disease from want of sufficient food and fresh air. Some local focus of irritation is usually present. The ways in which the tubercle bacillus enters the body are much disputed, but catarrh of the mucous membranes is regarded as a predisposing factor, and the tonsils as a probable channel of infection. Any lymphoid tissue in the body may be the seat of tuberculous disease, but the glands of the neck are the most commonly involved. The course of the disease is slow and may extend over a period of years. The earliest manifestation is an enlargement of the gland. It is possible in this stage for spontaneous healing to take place, but usually the disease progresses to caseation, in which tuberculous nodules are found diffused throughout the gland. Occasionally this stage may end in calcification of the caseous matter, the gland shrinking and becoming hard; but frequently suppuration follows from liquefaction of the caseating material. Foci of pus occur throughout the gland, causing destruction of the tissue, so that the gland may become a single abscess cavity. If left to itself the abscess sooner or later bursts at one or several points, leaving ulcerated openings through which a variable amount of pus escapes. Temporary healing may take place, to be again followed by further breaking down of the gland. This condition, if untreated, may persist for years and may finally give rise to a general tuberculosis. The treatment consists mainly in improving the general health with good diet, fresh air (particularly sea air), cod-liver oil and iron, and the removal of all sources of local irritation such as enlarged tonsils, adenoids, &c. Vaccination with tuberculin (TR) may be useful. Suppuration and extension of the disease require operative measures, and removal of the glandsen massecan now be done through so small an opening as to leave only a very slight scar.InTabes mesenterica(tuberculosis of the mesenteric glands), usually occurring in children, the glands of the mesentery and retroperitonaeum become enlarged, and either caseate or occasionally suppurate. The disease may be primary or may be secondary to tuberculous disease of the intestines or to pulmonary phthisis. The patients are pale, wasted and anaemic, and the abdomen may be enormously enlarged. There is usually moderate fever, and thin watery diarrhoea. The caseating glands may liquefy and give rise to an inflammatory attack which may simulate appendicitis. Limited masses are amenable to surgical treatment and may be removed, while in the earlier stages constitutional treatment gives good results. Tuberculous peritonitis frequently supervenes on this condition.Lymphadenoma(Hodgkin’s Disease), a disease which was first fully described by Hodgkin in 1832, is characterized by a progressive enlargement of the lymphatic glands all over the body, and generally starts in the glands of the neck. The majority of cases occur in young adults, and preponderate in the male sex. The first symptom is usually enlargement of a gland in the neck, with generally progressive growth of the glands in the submaxillary region and axilla. The inguinal glands are early involved, and after a time the internal lymph glands follow. The enlargements are at first painless, but in the later stages symptoms are caused by pressure on the surrounding organs, and when the disease starts in the deeper structures the first symptoms may be pain in the chest and cough, pain in the abdomen, pain and oedema in the legs. The glands may increase until they are as large as eggs, and later may become firmly adherent one to another, forming large lobulated tumours. Increase of growth in this manner in the neck may cause obstructive dyspnoea and even death. In the majority of cases the spleen enlarges, and in rare instances lymphoid tumours may be found on its surface. Anaemia is common and is secondary in character; slight irregular fever is present, and soon a great and progressive emaciation takes place. The cases are of two types, the acute cases in which the enlargements take place rapidly and death may occur in two to three months, and the chronic cases in which the disease may remain apparently stationary. In acute lymphadenoma the prognosis is very unfavourable. Recovery sometimes takes place in the chronic type of the disease. Early surgical intervention has in some cases been followed by success. The application of X-rays is a valuable method of treatment, superficial glands undergoing a rapid diminution in size. Of drugs arsenic is of the most service, and mercurial inunction has been recommended by Dreschfeld. Organic extracts have of late been used in the treatment of lymphadenoma.Glandular Feveris an acute infectious fever, generally occurring in epidemics, and was first described by E. Pfeiffer in 1889. It usually affects children and has a tendency to run through all the children of a family. The incubation period is said to be about 7 days. The onset is sudden, with pain in the neck and limbs, headache, vomiting, difficulty in swallowing and high temperature. On the second day, or sometimes on the first, swelling of the cervical glands is noticed, and later the posterior cervical, axillary and inguinal glands become enlarged and tender. In about half the cases the spleen and liver are enlarged and there is abdominal tenderness. West found the mesenteric nodes enlarged in 37 cases. Nephritis is an occasional complication, and constipation is very usual. The disease tends to subside of itself, and the fever usually disappears after a few days; the glandular swellings may, however, persist from one to three weeks. Considerable anaemia has been noticed to follow the illness. Rest in bed while the glands are enlarged, and cod-liver oil and iron to meet the anaemia, are the usual treatment.Status lymphaticus(lymphatism) is a condition found in children and some adults, characterized by an enlargement of the lymphoid tissues throughout the body and more particularly by enlargement of the thymus gland. There is a special lowering of the patient’s powers of resistance, and it has been said to account for a number of cases of sudden death. In all cases of status lymphaticus the thymus has been found enlarged. At birth the gland (according to Bovaird and Nicoll) weighs about 6 grammes, and does not increase after birth. In lymphatism it may weigh from 10 to 50 grammes. The clinical features are indefinite, and the condition frequently passes unrecognized during life. In most cases there is no hint of danger until the fatal syncope sets in, which may be after any slight exertion or shock, the patient becoming suddenly faint, gasping and cyanosed, and the heart stopping altogether before the respirations have ceased. The most trifling causes have brought on fatal issues, such as a wet pack (Escherich) or a hypodermic injection, or even a sudden plunge into water though the head is not immersed. The greater number of deaths occur during the administration of anaesthetics, which seem peculiarly dangerous to these subjects. When an attack of syncope takes place no treatment is of any avail.Virchow, West and Goodhardt have described a form of asthma in adults which they ascribe to a hypertrophied thymus gland and term “thymic asthma.”Diseases of the Spleen.—Physiological variations and abnormalities and absence of the spleen are so rare as to require no comment. The most usual pathological condition which gives rise to symptoms is that ofwandering spleen, which may or may not be secondary to a wandering left kidney. It may produce symptoms of dragging and discomfort, dyspepsia, vomiting and abdominal pain, and sometimes jaundice (Treves), or the pedicle may become twisted, producing extremely severe symptoms. The treatment is entirely surgical. Abscess in the spleen occasionally occurs, usually in association with infective endocarditis or with general pyaemia. The spleen may be the seat of primarynew growths, but these are rare, and only in a small portion of cases does it share in the metastatic reproduction of carcinoma. Infection of the spleen plays a prominent part in many diseases, such as malaria, typhoid fever, lymphadenoma and leucaemia.Diseases of the thyroid gland (seeGoitre) andAddison’s disease(of the suprarenal glands) are treated separately.
T. Lewis suggests that lymphatic and haemolymph glands should be classified in the following way:—
Details and references will be found in papers by T. Lewis,J. Anat. & Phys.vol. xxxviii. p. 312; W. B. Drummond,Journ. Anat. and Phys.vol. xxxiv. p. 198; A. S. Warthin,Journ. Med. Research, 1901, p. 3, and H. Dayton,Am. Journ. of Med. Sciences, 1904, p. 448. For further details of man’s lymphatic system seeThe Lymphaticsby Delamere, Poirier and Cuneo, translated by C. H. Leaf (London, 1903).
Embryology.—The lymphatic vessels are possibly developed by the hollowing out of mesenchyme cells in the same way that the arteries are; these cells subsequently coalesce and form tubes (seeVascular System). There is, however, a good deal of evidence to show that they are originally offshoots of the venous system, and that their permanent openings into the veins are either their primary points of communication or are secondarily acquired. The lymphatic and haemolymph glands are probably formed by the proliferation of lymphocytes around networks of lymphatic vessels; the dividing lymphocytes form the lymphoid tissue, and eventually the network breaks up to form distinct glands into which blood vessels penetrate. If the blood vessels enlarge more than the lymphatic, haemolymph glands result, but if the lymphatic vessels become predominant ordinary lymphatic glands are formed. At an early stage in the embryo pig two thoracic ducts are formed, one on either side of the aorta, and the incomplete fusion of these may account for the division often found in man’s duct. In the embryo pig too there have been found two pairs of lymph hearts for a short period.
See A. S. Warthin,Journ. Med. Research, vol. vii. p. 435; F. R. Sabin,Am. Journ. of Anat.i., 1902; and, for literature,Development of the Human Body, by J. P. McMurrich (London, 1906), and Quain’sAnatomy(vol. i., London, 1908).
Comparative Anatomy.—A lymphatic system is recognized in all the Craniata, and in the lower forms (fishes and Amphibia) it consists chiefly of lymph spaces and sinuses in communication with the coelom. In fishes, for instance, there is a largesubvertebral lymph sinussurrounding the aorta and another within the spinal canal. In Amphibia the subvertebral sinus is also found, and in the Anura (frogs and toads) there is a greatsubcutaneous lymph sinus.Lymph heartsare muscular dilatations of vessels and are found in fishes, amphibians, reptiles and bird embryos, and drive the lymph into the veins; they are not known in adult mammals.
In birds the thoracic duct is first recognized, and opens into both right and left precaval veins, as it always does in some mammals. In birds, however, some of the lymphatics open into the sacral veins, and it is doubtful whether true lymphatic glands ever occur. In birds and mammals lymphatic vessels become more definite and numerous and are provided with valves.
Haemolymph glands are present in mammals and birds, but have not been seen lower in the scale, though S. Vincent and S. Harrison point out the resemblance of the structure of the head kidney of certain Teleostean fishes to them (Journ. Anat. and Phys.vol. xxxi. p. 176).
For further details seeComparative Anat. of Vertebrates, by R. Wiedersheim (London, 1907).
(F. G. P.)
Diseases of the Lymphatic System and Ductless Glands.
Lymphadenitisor inflammatory infection of the lymphatic glands, is a condition characterized by hyperaemia of and exudation into the gland, which becomes reader, firmer and larger than usual. Three varieties may be distinguished: simple, suppurative and tuberculous. The cause is always the absorption of some toxic or infective material from the periphery. This may take place in several of the acute infectious diseases, notably in scarlet fever, mumps, diphtheria and German measles, or may be the result of poisoned wounds. The lymphatic glands are also affected in constitutional diseases such as syphilis. Simple lymphadenitis usually subsides of its own accord, but if toxins are produced in the inflamed area the enlargement is obvious and painful, while if pyogenic organisms are absorbed the inflammation progresses to suppuration.
Tuberculous lymphadenitis(scrofula) is due to the infection of the lymph glands by Koch’s tubercle bacillus. This was formerly known as “King’s Evil,” as it was believed that the touch of the royal hand had power to cure it. It occurs most commonly in children and young adults whose surroundings are unhealthy, and who are liable to develop tuberculous disease from want of sufficient food and fresh air. Some local focus of irritation is usually present. The ways in which the tubercle bacillus enters the body are much disputed, but catarrh of the mucous membranes is regarded as a predisposing factor, and the tonsils as a probable channel of infection. Any lymphoid tissue in the body may be the seat of tuberculous disease, but the glands of the neck are the most commonly involved. The course of the disease is slow and may extend over a period of years. The earliest manifestation is an enlargement of the gland. It is possible in this stage for spontaneous healing to take place, but usually the disease progresses to caseation, in which tuberculous nodules are found diffused throughout the gland. Occasionally this stage may end in calcification of the caseous matter, the gland shrinking and becoming hard; but frequently suppuration follows from liquefaction of the caseating material. Foci of pus occur throughout the gland, causing destruction of the tissue, so that the gland may become a single abscess cavity. If left to itself the abscess sooner or later bursts at one or several points, leaving ulcerated openings through which a variable amount of pus escapes. Temporary healing may take place, to be again followed by further breaking down of the gland. This condition, if untreated, may persist for years and may finally give rise to a general tuberculosis. The treatment consists mainly in improving the general health with good diet, fresh air (particularly sea air), cod-liver oil and iron, and the removal of all sources of local irritation such as enlarged tonsils, adenoids, &c. Vaccination with tuberculin (TR) may be useful. Suppuration and extension of the disease require operative measures, and removal of the glandsen massecan now be done through so small an opening as to leave only a very slight scar.
InTabes mesenterica(tuberculosis of the mesenteric glands), usually occurring in children, the glands of the mesentery and retroperitonaeum become enlarged, and either caseate or occasionally suppurate. The disease may be primary or may be secondary to tuberculous disease of the intestines or to pulmonary phthisis. The patients are pale, wasted and anaemic, and the abdomen may be enormously enlarged. There is usually moderate fever, and thin watery diarrhoea. The caseating glands may liquefy and give rise to an inflammatory attack which may simulate appendicitis. Limited masses are amenable to surgical treatment and may be removed, while in the earlier stages constitutional treatment gives good results. Tuberculous peritonitis frequently supervenes on this condition.
Lymphadenoma(Hodgkin’s Disease), a disease which was first fully described by Hodgkin in 1832, is characterized by a progressive enlargement of the lymphatic glands all over the body, and generally starts in the glands of the neck. The majority of cases occur in young adults, and preponderate in the male sex. The first symptom is usually enlargement of a gland in the neck, with generally progressive growth of the glands in the submaxillary region and axilla. The inguinal glands are early involved, and after a time the internal lymph glands follow. The enlargements are at first painless, but in the later stages symptoms are caused by pressure on the surrounding organs, and when the disease starts in the deeper structures the first symptoms may be pain in the chest and cough, pain in the abdomen, pain and oedema in the legs. The glands may increase until they are as large as eggs, and later may become firmly adherent one to another, forming large lobulated tumours. Increase of growth in this manner in the neck may cause obstructive dyspnoea and even death. In the majority of cases the spleen enlarges, and in rare instances lymphoid tumours may be found on its surface. Anaemia is common and is secondary in character; slight irregular fever is present, and soon a great and progressive emaciation takes place. The cases are of two types, the acute cases in which the enlargements take place rapidly and death may occur in two to three months, and the chronic cases in which the disease may remain apparently stationary. In acute lymphadenoma the prognosis is very unfavourable. Recovery sometimes takes place in the chronic type of the disease. Early surgical intervention has in some cases been followed by success. The application of X-rays is a valuable method of treatment, superficial glands undergoing a rapid diminution in size. Of drugs arsenic is of the most service, and mercurial inunction has been recommended by Dreschfeld. Organic extracts have of late been used in the treatment of lymphadenoma.
Glandular Feveris an acute infectious fever, generally occurring in epidemics, and was first described by E. Pfeiffer in 1889. It usually affects children and has a tendency to run through all the children of a family. The incubation period is said to be about 7 days. The onset is sudden, with pain in the neck and limbs, headache, vomiting, difficulty in swallowing and high temperature. On the second day, or sometimes on the first, swelling of the cervical glands is noticed, and later the posterior cervical, axillary and inguinal glands become enlarged and tender. In about half the cases the spleen and liver are enlarged and there is abdominal tenderness. West found the mesenteric nodes enlarged in 37 cases. Nephritis is an occasional complication, and constipation is very usual. The disease tends to subside of itself, and the fever usually disappears after a few days; the glandular swellings may, however, persist from one to three weeks. Considerable anaemia has been noticed to follow the illness. Rest in bed while the glands are enlarged, and cod-liver oil and iron to meet the anaemia, are the usual treatment.
Status lymphaticus(lymphatism) is a condition found in children and some adults, characterized by an enlargement of the lymphoid tissues throughout the body and more particularly by enlargement of the thymus gland. There is a special lowering of the patient’s powers of resistance, and it has been said to account for a number of cases of sudden death. In all cases of status lymphaticus the thymus has been found enlarged. At birth the gland (according to Bovaird and Nicoll) weighs about 6 grammes, and does not increase after birth. In lymphatism it may weigh from 10 to 50 grammes. The clinical features are indefinite, and the condition frequently passes unrecognized during life. In most cases there is no hint of danger until the fatal syncope sets in, which may be after any slight exertion or shock, the patient becoming suddenly faint, gasping and cyanosed, and the heart stopping altogether before the respirations have ceased. The most trifling causes have brought on fatal issues, such as a wet pack (Escherich) or a hypodermic injection, or even a sudden plunge into water though the head is not immersed. The greater number of deaths occur during the administration of anaesthetics, which seem peculiarly dangerous to these subjects. When an attack of syncope takes place no treatment is of any avail.
Virchow, West and Goodhardt have described a form of asthma in adults which they ascribe to a hypertrophied thymus gland and term “thymic asthma.”
Diseases of the Spleen.—Physiological variations and abnormalities and absence of the spleen are so rare as to require no comment. The most usual pathological condition which gives rise to symptoms is that ofwandering spleen, which may or may not be secondary to a wandering left kidney. It may produce symptoms of dragging and discomfort, dyspepsia, vomiting and abdominal pain, and sometimes jaundice (Treves), or the pedicle may become twisted, producing extremely severe symptoms. The treatment is entirely surgical. Abscess in the spleen occasionally occurs, usually in association with infective endocarditis or with general pyaemia. The spleen may be the seat of primarynew growths, but these are rare, and only in a small portion of cases does it share in the metastatic reproduction of carcinoma. Infection of the spleen plays a prominent part in many diseases, such as malaria, typhoid fever, lymphadenoma and leucaemia.
Diseases of the thyroid gland (seeGoitre) andAddison’s disease(of the suprarenal glands) are treated separately.
(H. L. H.)
1It has recently been stated that stomata do not exist in the peritoneum.2For further details of the pelvic glands see “Seventh Report of the Committee of Collective Investigation,”Journ. Anat. and Phys.xxxii. 164.
1It has recently been stated that stomata do not exist in the peritoneum.
2For further details of the pelvic glands see “Seventh Report of the Committee of Collective Investigation,”Journ. Anat. and Phys.xxxii. 164.
LYNCH, PATRICIO(1825-1886) Chilean naval officer, was born in Valparaiso on the 18th of December 1825, his father being a wealthy Irish merchant resident in Chile, and his mother, Carmen Solo de Saldiva, a descendant of one of the best-known families in the country. Entering the navy in 1837, he took part in the operations which led to the fall of the dictator, Santa Cruz. Next, he sought a wider field, and saw active service in the China War on board the British frigate “Calliope.” He was mentioned in despatches for bravery, and received the grade of midshipman in the British service. Returning to Chile in 1847 he became lieutenant, and seven years later he received the command of a frigate, but was deprived of his command for refusing to receive on board his ship political suspects under arrest. The Spanish War saw him again employed, and he was successively maritime prefect of Valparaiso, colonel of National Guards, and, finally, captain and minister of marine in 1872. In the Chile-Peruvian War a brilliant and destructive naval raid, led by him, wasfollowed by the final campaign of Chorrillos and Miraflores (1880), in which he led at first a brigade (as colonel) and afterwards a division under Baquedano. His services at the battle of Chorrillos led to his appointment to command the Army of Occupation in Peru. This difficult post he filled with success, but his action in putting the Peruvian president, Garcia Calderon, under arrest excited considerable comment. His last act was to invest Iglesias with supreme power in Peru, and he returned to his own country in 1883. Promoted rear-admiral, he served as Chilean Minister at Madrid for two years, and died at sea in 1886. Lynch is remembered as one of the foremost of Chile’s naval heroes.
LYNCHBURG,a city of Campbell county, Virginia, U.S.A., on the James river, about 125 m. W. by S. of Richmond. Pop. (1900) 18,891, of whom 8254 were negroes; (1910) 29,494. It is served by the Southern, the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Norfolk & Western railways. Its terraced hills command fine views of mountain, valley and river scenery, extending westward to the noble Peaks of Otter and lesser spurs of the Blue Ridge about 20 m. distant. On an elevation between Rivermont Avenue and the James river are the buildings of Randolph-Macon Woman’s college (opened in 1893), which is conducted by a self-perpetuating board under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and is one of the Randolph-Macon system of colleges and academies (seeAshland, Va.). In Lynchburg, too, are the Virginia Christian college (co-educational, 1903), and the Virginia collegiate and industrial school for negroes. The city has a public library, well-equipped hospitals, public parks and the Rivermont Viaduct, 1100 ft. long and 140 ft. high. Lynchburg is the see of a Protestant Episcopal bishop. Tobacco of a superior quality and large quantities of coal, iron ore and granite are produced in the neighbourhood. Good water power is furnished by the James river, and Lynchburg is one of the principal manufacturing cities of the state. The boot and shoe industry was established in 1900, and is much the most important. In 1905 the city was the largest southern manufacturer of these articles and one of the largest distributors in the country. The factory products increased in value from $2,993,551 in 1900 to $4,905,435 in 1905, or 65.9%.
Lynchburg, named in honour of John Lynch, who inherited a large tract of land here and in 1757 established a ferry across the James, was established as a village by Act of Assembly in 1786, was incorporated as a town in 1805, and became a city in 1852. During the Civil War it was an important base of supplies for the Confederates; on the 16th of June 1864 it was invested by Major-General David Hunter (1802-1886), but three days later he was driven away by General Jubal A. Early. In 1908 the city’s corporate limits were extended.
LYNCH LAW,a term loosely applied to various forms of executing rough popular justice, or what is thought to be justice, for the punishment of offenders by a summary procedure, ignoring, or even contrary to, the strict forms of law. The wordlynching“originally signified a whipping for reformatory purposes with more or less disregard for its legality” (Cutler), or the infliction of minor punishments without recourse to law; but during and after the Reconstruction Period in the United States, it came to mean, generally, the summary infliction of capital punishment. Lynch law is frequently prevalent in sparsely settled or frontier districts where government is weak and officers of the law too few and too powerless to enforce law and preserve order. The practice has been common in all countries when unsettled frontier conditions existed, or in periods of threatened anarchy. In what are considered civilized countries it is now found mainly in Russia, south-eastern Europe and in America, but it is essentially and almost peculiarly an American institution. The origin of the name is obscure; different writers have attempted to trace it to Ireland, to England, to South Carolina, to Pennsylvania and to Virginia. It is certain that the name was first used in America, but it is not certain whether it came from Lynch’s Creek, South Carolina, where summary justice was administered to outlaws, or from Virginia and Pennsylvania, where men named Lynch were noted for dealing out summary punishment to offenders.1In Europe early examples of a similar phenomenon are found in the proceedings of the Vehmgerichte in medieval Germany, and of Lydford law, gibbet law or Halifax law, Cowper justice and Jeddart justice in the thinly settled and border districts of Great Britain; and since the term “lynch law” came into colloquial use, it is loosely employed to cover any case in which a portion of the community takes the execution of its ideas of justice into its own hands, irrespective of the legal authorities.
In America during the 18th and 19th centuries the population expanded westward faster than well-developed civil institutions could follow, and on the western frontier were always desperadoes who lived by preying on the better classes. To suppress these desperadoes, in the absence of strong legal institutions, resort was continually made to lynch law. There was little necessity for it until the settlement crossed the Alleghany Mountains, but the following instances of lynching in the East may be mentioned: (1) the mistreatment of Indians in New England and the Middle Colonies in disregard of laws protecting them; (2) the custom found in various colonies of administering summary justice to wife-beaters, idlers and other obnoxious persons; (3) the acts of the Regulators of North Carolina, 1767-1771; (4) the popular tribunals of the Revolutionary period, when the disaffection toward Great Britain weakened the authority of the civil governments and the war replaced them by popular governments, at a time when the hostilities between “Patriots” and “Tories” were an incentive to extra-legal violence. In the South, lynching methods were long employed in dealing with agitators, white and black, who were charged with endeavouring to excite the slaves to insurrection or to crime against their masters, and in dealing with anti-slavery agitators generally.
In the West, from the Alleghanies to the Golden Gate, the pioneer settlers resorted to popular justice to get rid of bands of outlaws, and to regulate society during that period when laws were weak or confused, when the laws made in the East did not suit western conditions, and when courts and officials were scarce and distant. The Watauga settlements and the “State” of Franklin furnished examples of lynch law procedure almost reduced to organization. Men trained in the rough school of the wilderness came to have more regard for quick, ready-made, personal justice than for abstract justice and statutes; they were educated to defend themselves, to look to no law for protection or regulation; consequently they became impatient of legal forms and lawyers’ technicalities; an appeal to statute law was looked upon with suspicion, and, if some personal matter was involved, was likely to result in deadly private feuds. Thus were formed the habits of thought and action of the western pioneers. Lynch law, not civil law, cleared the western forests, valleys and mountain passes of horse and cattle thieves, and other robbers and outlaws, gamblers and murderers. This was especially true of California and the states of the far West. H. H. Bancroft, the historian ofPopular Tribunals, wrote in 1887 that “thus far in the history of these Pacific States far more has been done toward righting wrongs and administering justice outside the pale of law than within it.” However, the lack of regard for law fostered by the conditions described led to a survival of the lynching habit after the necessity for it passed away. In parts of the Southern states, where the whites are few and greatly outnumbered by the blacks, certain of the conditions of the West have prevailed, and since emancipation released the blacks from restraint many of the latter have been lawless and turbulent. The Reconstruction, by giving to the blacks temporary political supremacy, increased the friction between the races, and greatlydeepened prejudice. The numerous protective societies of whites, 1865-1876, culminating in the Ku Klux movement, may be described as an application of lynch law. With the increase of negro crimes came an increase of lynchings, due to prejudice, to the fact that for some time after Reconstruction the governments were relatively weak, especially in the districts where the blacks outnumber the whites, to the fact that negroes nearly always shield criminals of their own race against the whites, and to the frequent occurrence of the crime of rape by negro men upon white women.
Since 1882 the ChicagoTribunehas collected statistics of lynching, and some interesting facts may be deduced from these tables.2During the twenty-two years from 1882 to 1903 inclusive, the total number of persons lynched in the United States was 3337, the number decreasing during the last decade; of these 2385 were in the South and 752 in the North; of those lynched in the East and West 602 were white and 75 black, and of those in the South 567 were white and 1985 black.3Lynchings occur mostly during periods of idleness of the lower classes; in the summer more are lynched for crimes against the person and in the winter (in the West) for crimes against property; the principal causes of lynching in the South are murder and rape, in the North and West, murder and offences against property; more blacks than whites were lynched between 1882 and 1903, the numbers being 2060 negroes, of whom 40 were women, and 1169 whites, of whom 23 were women; of the 707 blacks lynched for rape 675 were in the South; 783 blacks were lynched for murder, and 753 of these were in the South; most of the lynchings of whites were in the West; the lynching of negroes increased somewhat outside of the South and decreased somewhat in the South. Lynching decreases and disappears in a community as the population grows denser and civil institutions grow stronger; as better communications and good police make it harder to commit crime; and as public sentiment is educated to demand legal rather than illegal and irregular infliction of punishment for even the most horrible of crimes.
See James E. Cutler,Lynch Law(New York, 1905), an admirable and unbiased discussion of the subject; H. H. Bancroft,Popular Tribunals(2 vols., San Francisco, 1887); C. H. Shinn,Mining Camps: A Study in American Frontier Government(New York, 1885); and J. C. Lester and D. L. Wilson,Ku Klux Klan(New York, 1905).
See James E. Cutler,Lynch Law(New York, 1905), an admirable and unbiased discussion of the subject; H. H. Bancroft,Popular Tribunals(2 vols., San Francisco, 1887); C. H. Shinn,Mining Camps: A Study in American Frontier Government(New York, 1885); and J. C. Lester and D. L. Wilson,Ku Klux Klan(New York, 1905).
(W. L. F.)
1The usual explanation is that the name was derived from Charles Lynch (1736-1796), a justice of the peace in Virginia after 1774, who in 1780, toward the close of the War of Independence, greatly exceeded his powers in the punishment of Tories or Loyalists detected in a conspiracy in the neighbourhood of his home in Bedford county, Va. Lynch was a man of influence in his community, was for many years a member of the Virginia legislature, was a member of the famous Virginia Convention of 1776 and was later (in 1781) an officer in the American army. See an article, “The Real Judge Lynch,” in theAtlantic Monthly, vol. lxxxviii. (Boston, 1901).2They have been corrected and somewhat modified by Dr. J. E. Cutler, from whose book the figures above have been taken. Lynching as used in this connexion applies exclusively to the illegal infliction of capital punishment.3For present purposes the former slave states (of 1860) constitute the South; the West is composed of the territory west of the Mississippi river, excluding Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma; the East includes those states east of the Mississippi river not included in the Southern group; the East and the West make up the North as here used—that is, the former free states of 1860.
1The usual explanation is that the name was derived from Charles Lynch (1736-1796), a justice of the peace in Virginia after 1774, who in 1780, toward the close of the War of Independence, greatly exceeded his powers in the punishment of Tories or Loyalists detected in a conspiracy in the neighbourhood of his home in Bedford county, Va. Lynch was a man of influence in his community, was for many years a member of the Virginia legislature, was a member of the famous Virginia Convention of 1776 and was later (in 1781) an officer in the American army. See an article, “The Real Judge Lynch,” in theAtlantic Monthly, vol. lxxxviii. (Boston, 1901).
2They have been corrected and somewhat modified by Dr. J. E. Cutler, from whose book the figures above have been taken. Lynching as used in this connexion applies exclusively to the illegal infliction of capital punishment.
3For present purposes the former slave states (of 1860) constitute the South; the West is composed of the territory west of the Mississippi river, excluding Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma; the East includes those states east of the Mississippi river not included in the Southern group; the East and the West make up the North as here used—that is, the former free states of 1860.
LYNDHURST, JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY,Baron(1772-1863), lord chancellor of England, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1772. He was the son of John Singleton Copley, the painter. He was educated at a private school and Cambridge university, where he was second wrangler and fellow of Trinity. Called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1804, he gained a considerable practice. In 1817 he was one of the counsel for Dr J. Watson, tried for his share in the Spa Fields riot. On this occasion Copley so distinguished himself as to attract the attention of Castlereagh and other Tory leaders, under whose patronage he entered parliament as member for Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight. He afterwards sat for Ashburton, 1818-1826, and for Cambridge university 1826-1827. He was solicitor-general in 1819, attorney-general in 1824, master of the rolls in 1826 and lord chancellor in 1827, with the title of Lord Lyndhurst. Before being taken up by the Tories, Copley was a man of the most advanced views, a republican and Jacobin; and his accession to the Tories excited a good deal of comment, which he bore with the greatest good humour. He gave a brilliant and eloquent but by no means rancorous support to all the reactionary measures of his chief. The same year that he became solicitor-general he married the beautiful and clever widow of Lieut.-Colonel Charles Thomas of the Coldstream Guards, and began to take a conspicuous place in society, in which his noble figure, his ready wit and his never-failingbonhomiemade him a distinguished favourite.
As solicitor-general he took a prominent part in the trial of Queen Caroline. To the great Liberal measures which marked the end of the reign of George IV. and the beginning of that of William IV. he gave a vigorous opposition. He was lord chief baron of the exchequer from 1831 to 1834. During the Melbourne administration from 1835 to 1841 he figured conspicuously as an obstructionist in the House of Lords. In these years it was a frequent practice with him, before each prorogation of parliament, to entertain the House with a “review of the session,” in which he mercilessly attacked the Whig government. His former adversary Lord Brougham, disgusted at his treatment by the Whig leaders, soon became his most powerful ally in opposition; and the two dominated the House of Lords. Throughout all the Tory governments from 1827 Lyndhurst held the chancellorship (1827-1830 and 1834-1835); and in the Peel administration (1841-1846) he resumed that office for the last time. As Peel never had much confidence in Lyndhurst, the latter did not exert so great an influence in the cabinet as his position and experience entitled him to do. But he continued a loyal member of the party. As in regard to Catholic emancipation, so in the agitation against the corn laws, he opposed reform till his chief gave the signal for concession, and then he cheerfully obeyed. After 1846 and the disintegration of the Tory party consequent on Peel’s adoption of free trade, Lord Lyndhurst was not so assiduous in his attendance in parliament. Yet he continued to an extreme old age to take a lively interest in public affairs, and occasionally to astonish the country by the power and brilliancy of his speeches. That which he made in the House of Lords on the 19th of June 1854, on the war with Russia, made a sensation in Europe; and throughout the Crimean War he was a strong advocate of the energetic prosecution of hostilities. In 1859 he denounced with his old energy the restless ambition of Napoleon III. When released from office he came forward somewhat as the advocate of liberal measures. His first wife had died in 1834, and in August 1837 he had married Georgina, daughter of Lewis Goldsmith. She was a Jewess; and it was therefore natural that he strenuously supported the admission of Jews into parliament. He also advocated women’s rights in questions of divorce. At the age of eighty-four he passed the autumn at Dieppe, “helping to fly paper kites, and amusing himself by turns with the writings of the Greek and Latin fathers on divorce and the amorous novels of Eugene Sue.” His last speech, marked by “his wonted brilliancy and vigour,” was delivered in the House of Lords at the age of eighty-nine. He died in London on the 12th of October 1863. He left no male issue and the title became extinct.
SeeLives of the Lord Chancellors of England, vol. viii. (Lords Lyndhurst and Brougham), by Lord Campbell (1869). Campbell was a personal friend, but a political opponent. Brougham’sMemoirs;Greville Memoirs;Life of Lord Lyndhurst(1883) by Sir Theodore Martin; J. B. Atlay,The Victorian Chancellors(1906).
SeeLives of the Lord Chancellors of England, vol. viii. (Lords Lyndhurst and Brougham), by Lord Campbell (1869). Campbell was a personal friend, but a political opponent. Brougham’sMemoirs;Greville Memoirs;Life of Lord Lyndhurst(1883) by Sir Theodore Martin; J. B. Atlay,The Victorian Chancellors(1906).
LYNDSAY, SIR DAVID(c.1490-c.1555), Scottish poet, was the son of David Lyndsay of the Mount, near Cupar-Fife, and of Garmylton, near Haddington. His place of birth and his school are undetermined. It is probable that his college life was spent at St Andrews university, on the books of which appears an entry “Da Lindesay” for the session 1508-1509. He was engaged at court, first as an equerry, then as an “usher” to the young Prince James, afterwards James V. In 1522 he married Janet Douglas, a court seamstress, and seven years later was appointed Lyon King of Arms, and knighted. He was several times engaged in diplomatic business (twice on embassies abroad—to the Netherlands and France), and he was, in virtue of his heraldic office, a general master of ceremonies. After the death of James V., in 1542, he continued to sit in parliament as commissioner for Cupar-Fife; and in 1548 hewas member of a mission to Denmark which obtained certain privileges for Scottish merchants. There is reason to believe that he died in or about 1555.
Most of Lyndsay’s literary work, by which he secured great reputation in his own day and by which he still lives, was written during the period of prosperity at court. In this respect he is unlike his predecessor Gavin Douglas (q.v.), who forsook literature when he became a politician. The explanation of the difference is partly to be found in the fact that Lyndsay’s muse was more occasional and satirical, and that the time was suitable to the exercise of his special gifts. It is more difficult to explain how he enjoyed a freedom of speech which is without parallel even in more secure times. He chastised all classes, from his royal master to the most simple. There is no evidence that he abjured Catholicism; yet his leading purpose was the exposure of its errors and abuses. His aid was readily accepted by the reforming party, and by their use of his work he shared with their leaders throughout many generations a reputation which is almost exclusively political and ecclesiastical.
Lyndsay’s longer poems areThe Dreme(1134 lines),The Testament and Complaynt of the Papynago(1190 lines),The Testament of Squyer Meldrum(1859 lines),Ane Dialog betwix Experience and ane Courteour of the Miserabyll Estait of the World(6333 lines), andAne Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis(over 4000 lines). These represent, with reasonable completeness, the range of Lyndsay’s literary talent. No single poem can give him a chief place, though here and there, especially in the last, he gives hints of the highest competence. Yet the corporate effect of these pieces is to secure for him the allowance of more than mere intellectual vigour and common sense. There is in his craftsmanship, in his readiness to apply the traditional methods to contemporary requirements, something of that accomplishment which makes even the second-rate man of letters interesting.
Lyndsay, the last of the Makars, is not behind his fellow-poets in acknowledgment to Chaucer. As piously as they, he reproduces the master’s forms; but in him the sentiment and outlook have suffered change. His nearest approach to Chaucer is inThe Testament of Squyer Meldrum, which recalls the sketch of the “young squire”; but the reminiscence is verbal rather than spiritual. Elsewhere his memory serves him less happily, as when he describes the array of the lamented Queen Magdalene in the words which Chaucer had applied to the eyes of his wanton Friar. So too, in theDreme, the allegorical tradition survives only in the form. “Remembrance” conducts the poet over the old-world itinerary, but only to lead him to speculation on Scotland’s woes and to an “Exhortatioun to the Kingis Grace” to bring relief. The tenor is well expressed in the motto from the Vulgate—“Prophetias nolite spernere. Omnia autem probate: quod bonum est tenete.” This didactic habit is freely exercised in the longDialog(sometimes called theMonarche), a universal history of the medieval type, in which the falls of princes by corruption supply an object lesson to the unreformed church of his day. TheSatyreis more direct in its attack on ecclesiastical abuse; and its dramatic form permits more lively treatment. This piece is of great historical interest, being the only extant example of a complete Scottish morality. It is in respect of literary quality Lyndsay’s best work, and in dramatic construction and delineation of character it holds a high place in thisgenre. The farcical interludes (in places too coarse for modern taste) supply many touches of genuine comedy; and throughout the play there are passages, as in the speeches of Veritie in the First Part and of Dame Chastitie in the “Interlude of the Sowtar and the Taylor,” in which word and line are happily conceived. TheTestament of the Papyngo(popinjay), drawn in the familiar medieval manner, is another tract for the time, full of admonition to court and clergy. Of his shorter pieces,The Complaynt and Publict Confessions of the Kingis Auld Hound, callit Bagsche, directit to Bawtie, the Kingis best belovit Dog, and his companyeonis, and theAnswer to the Kingis Flytinghave a like pulpit resonance. The former is interesting as a forerunner of Burns’s device in the “Twa Dogs.” TheDeploratioun of the Deith of Queen Magdaleneis in the extravagant style of commemoration illustrated in Dunbar’s Elegy on the Lord Aubigny. TheJusting betwix James Watsoun and Jhone Barbouris a contribution to the popular taste for boisterous fun, in spirit, if not in form, akin to theChristis Kirk on the Greneseries; and indirectly, with Dunbar’sTurnamentandOf ane Blak-Moir, a burlesque of the courtly tourney. Lyndsay approaches Dunbar in his satireThe Supplicatioun in contemptioun of syde taillis(“wide” trains of the ladies), which recalls the older poet’s realistic lines on the filthy condition of the city streets. In Lyndsay’sDescriptioun of Pedder Coffeis(pedlars) we have an early example of the studies in vulgar life which are so plentiful in later Scottish literature. InKitteis Confessiounhe returns, but in more sprightly mood, to his attack on the church.
In Lyndsay we have the first literary expression in Scotland of the Renaissance. His interest lies on the theological side of the revival; he is in no sense a humanist, and he is indifferent to the artistic claims of the movement. Still he appeals to the principle which is fundamental to all. He demands first-hand impression. He feels that men must get their lesson direct, not from intermediaries who understand the originals no more “than they do the ravyng of the rukis.” Hence his persistent plea for the vernacular, nowhere more directly put than in theDialog, in the “Exclamatioun to the Redar, toucheyng the wrytting of the vulgare and maternall language.” Though he is concerned only in the theological and ecclesiastical application of this, he undoubtedly stimulated the use of the vernacular in a Scotland which in all literary matters beyond the concern of the irresponsible poet still used thelingua francaof Europe.