218 OF ABSORPTION AND SANGUIFICATION. 



videcl, augmented the flow. The influence of the nervous system is, however, 

 in all probability only indirect, being due, in Goltz's experiments, to the cir- 

 cumstance that in the uninjured animals the circulation was maintained, 

 whilst in those deprived of their nervous system the vessels of the body gen- 

 erally had lost their tone, and the blood accumulated in the veins of the 

 abdomen and in other parts to such an extent indeed that little blood escaped 

 even when the aorta was divided. In Nasse's experiments, again, the effects 

 of the irritation of the sensory nerves was doubtless to cause contraction of 

 the small vessels. The results of Krause's and Tomsa's experiments like- 

 wise lead to the conclusion that the influence of the nervous system is indi- 

 rect, for whilst To rasa found that irritation of the nerves proceeding to the 

 testicle produced no alteration of the quantity, Ivrause obtained both upon 

 irritation of the mucous membrane of the mouth, that is to say on irritation 

 of the fifth pair of nerves, as well as on excitation of the portio dura, a con- 

 siderable increase in the flow ; the different effect in the two cases being 

 clearly the result of the intermittent pressure of the muscles in the parts 

 traversed by the lymphatics in the one instance, and the entire absence of 

 muscles in the other. 



157. VASCULAR OR DUCTLESS GLANDS. There is reason to believe that 

 the office performed by certain bodies connected with the Sanguiferous 

 system, which possess the essential elements of the Glandular structure with- 

 out any efferent ducts, is to restore to the circulating current any substances 

 which they may withdraw from it ; and there seems adequate ground, there- 

 fore, for the conclusion, that their action, whatever it may be, is subsidiary 

 to the process of Sanguification, being exercised, perhaps, upon that por- 

 tion of the nutrient materials more especially, which did not traverse the 

 Absorbent system when first introduced, but which was directly taken up by 

 the Bloodvessels. The organs 'in question are the Spleen, and the Thymus, 

 Thyroid, and Suprarenal bodies. Of these the Spleen deserves especial 

 notice, on account of its size and its obvious functional importance in the 

 adult ; the others appearing to minister more particularly to the require- 

 ments of the system at the earlier periods of life. 



The minute structure of the Spleen has recently been made the subject of 

 careful research by many excellent microscopic observers; and the follow- 

 ing are the most important points which may be considered to have been 

 established by their labors: 1 



I. The fibrous coat in Man is composed of white fibrous tissue, with an in- 

 termixture of yellow or elastic fibres, and perhaps a few fusiform non-striated 

 muscular fibre-cells ; which, however, are much more numerous in many of 

 the lower animals. The trabecnlar tissue consists of bands and threads of 

 fibrous tissue, which arise from the inner surface of the fibrous envelope, and 



1 See Kolliker, Cyel. of Amit. and Physiol., vol. iv, Art. Spleen; and Mikropkop. 

 Anal., IM. ii, gg 183-189; Sanders, Goodsir's Annals of Anal, and Physiol, No. 1, 

 nnd Edin. Monthly Journal, March, 1852, p. 280; \Vharton Jones, Brit, and For. 

 Med.-Chir. Uevirw, vol. xi, p 32; Huxley, Quart. Journ. of Microscop. Sri., vol. 

 ii, p 74 ; and Tran>l. of Kb'lliker's Manual of Human Histology (Sydenham Society), 

 vol. ii, p. 144; Gray, On the Structure and Use of the Spleen (Astley Cooper Prize 

 K--ay, IS-Vlj; Kcinak, Muller's Archiv, 1852; Leydiu;, Anatomische-Histologische 

 Untersuchungen iilin- Fi-che und Keptilien, 1853; Billroth, Archiv fur Path. Anat., 

 Bd xx, pp. 4() ( .tand .~>2X ; An-hiv f. Anat. nnd Physiolog., 1857, p. 88; Crisp, A Treatise 

 on tin- Spleen, I,s."i7 ; K nwalow.-ky, Virehow's Archiv, 18(31, p. 2t>3 ; Stieda and 

 Schweigger-Siedel, id., P.d. \.\iv, 23, p. 457; Peremeschko, Sii/.un^sher. d. k. Akad. 

 /.\\ AYirn, lid. Iv and Ivi, and Miiller in Gott Naeh., 1862-18(33; \V. Muller, Mono- 

 graph on the Spleen, Leipsie, 18(35, and Strieker's Manual of Histology (Syd. Soc. 

 Trunsl.), vol. i, p. 348. 



