114 DR. ELIAS MBTSCHNIKOPF. 



Bacelli's observation, that fresh spleen pulp can dissolve 

 coagulated milk,^ supports this view. The well-known fact 

 that many animals can exist for some time after excision 

 of the sjtleen harmonises completely with the view that this 

 organ plays no important physiological part in healthy 

 life, being merely a weapon against septic bodies (such as 

 bacteria germs especially). It would be interesting to test 

 the relative power of resistance to disease germs in animals 

 with the spleen excised, and uninjured individuals of the same 

 species ; though we must remember that other organs, for 

 example, lymphatic glands and marrow, may to a less extent 

 have the same prophylactic power. 



Since my researches into the phenomena of inflammation 

 among Invertebrates led me to believe that the whole process 

 was primitively nothing more than a collection of phagocytes 

 assembled to devour the exciting object, I was anxious to see 

 how far the Vertebrates justified this view. I found the most 

 suitable object for investigation was the caudal fin of Triton 

 and other amphibians. By touching a point of the tail with a 

 small piece of nitrate of silver, and then washing with 

 salt solution, it is easy to watch in detail the inflammatory 

 changes. 



The well known alterations in the capillaries are much less 

 marked in Triton than in the frog ; probably because, the 

 vessels being so much thinner, the large corpuscles can pass 

 through them with greater ease. On the other hand, the 

 Triton larva is a most favorable object for the study of the 

 changes in the connective-tissue cells which collect round the 

 inflamed spot, and eat up the exciting particles. I have seen the 

 branched connective-tissue cells, for example, eat up blood- 

 corpuscles, carmine granules, and particles of pigment. In cases 

 where the cells take up only small amounts of foreign matter, 

 they retain their stellate appearance, the only visible changes 

 being in some of the finer pseudopodia; when, on the other 

 hand, there are large masses to be devoured, the fine processes 



' " Studien ueber die Fuuktioiien und die Patiiologie der Milz," ' Virchow's 

 Arcliiv/ Bd. 51, 1870, p. 141. 



