The lymphatic system is responsible for keeping the body fluids, the blood fluid and cerebrospinal fluid, in order. The total amount of fluid accounts for approximately 60 per cent of our total body weight. But the lymph has yet another important and vital function. Not unlike a police force, the lymph cells (lymphocytes) must combat and destroy all invading organisms that enter and endanger the body tissue. We are referring here to bacteria, which are more or less injurious or dangerous, depending on the type. For example, if you cut yourself, or a rusty nail penetrates the skin, millions of bacteria enter the body through the wound as if through a broken trap door. The fine, outer lymph vessels are perhaps not strong enough to resist the intruders and the bacteria continue their advance into the nodes of a centre. The centre then calls up the defences; the vessels expand and we feel a swelling in the area of the armpit or the groin, for example. The swelling can become as large as a hen’s egg. If the lymphocytes, phagocytes, wandering cells, and whatever other names the defence forces may have, cannot handle their task, the lymphatics become inflamed and swollen. They become very sensitive to pressure and can be seen as red lines. This condition is called blood poisoning (septicaemia, toxaemia), even though the toxins are actually still contained in the white bloodstream of the lymphatic system. In fact, if all toxins and bacteria were passed on to the red bloodstream, no one could survive his childhood because of the many poisons that would enter the blood.
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