THE SPI^EEN. 



551 



Muller, "De glandul. sec. strnctura pcnitiori;" Wharton Jones in Philo- 

 sophical Transactions, 1848, II. p. 227 ; Verneuil, " Anatomic du Pan- 

 creas," in Oazette Medicale, 1851. — DaC] 



OF THE SPLEEX. 



§ 165. The spleeti, is a so-called blood-vascular gland, ^Yhich is in some 

 way concerned in the renewal of the blood, and probably with the secre- 

 tion of the bile also. It consists of ajib^'ous and serous coat and of a soft 

 2'xircnchjma, the latter being principally composed of reticularly inter- 

 woven solid bands, the splenic trabecula', enclosing a red substance, the 

 splenic pulp. In the latter we find, in addition, many peculiar white 

 corpuscles, the splenic or Malpighian corpuscles, while abundant vessels 

 and a certain number of nerves are distributed through its whole interior. 



§ 166. Coats and Trabecular Tissue. — The peritoneal investment 

 covers the whole surface of the spleen, with the exception of the Jiilus, 

 where, forming a sheath around the vessels and nerves, it passes on to 

 the fundus of the stomach as the ligamentum g astro -lienale, and of the 

 upper extremity, from which it becomes detached, as the lig. phrenico- 

 lienale ; it adheres so closely to the fibrous coat in Man (though not in 

 Ruminants), that it can only be dissected from the organ in fragments. 



The fibrous coat {tunica albuginea sen p)ropria) completely surrounds 

 the surface of the spleen, as a moderately thin and semi-transparent 

 but very strong membrane, and at the /uYus, passes into its interior, like 

 Glisson's capsule, accompanying the vessels in the form of peculiar 

 sheaths, the vagince vasorum. In man, it is composed of common connec- 

 tive tissue, with abundant networks of elastic fibres, whilst in some 

 animals, the Dog, Pig, Ass, Cat (not in the Rabbit, Horse, Ox, Hedge- 

 hog, Guicna-pig, and Bat), I find it to contain smooth muscles in consi- 

 derable numbers.* 



The trabcculcc of the spleen are white, shining, flattened or cylindri- 

 cal fibres, having on an average, a diameter of yo-i" o^ ^ \n'iQ, which 

 are attached in great num- 

 bers to the inner surface of 

 the fibrous coat, and less 

 frequently to the outer sur- 

 face of the sheaths of the 

 vessels, and unite with simi- 

 lar trabcculcc in the interior, 

 into a network which extends 

 through the whole organ. 

 The interstices included in 



Fig. 220. — Transverse section through the middle of an Ox-spleen, washed out, to show 

 the trabeculcE and their arrangement. Natural size. 



* [The existence of these muscles in the ox"s spleen was first pointed out by Dr. Sharpey. 

 See Quain and Sharpey's Anatomy, p. lOSG (Vol. II., p. 498. Am. Ed.)— Tks.] 



Fig. 220. 



