DUCTLESS GLANDS. 335 



ment of fibrous bands, or trabeculae, by which it is divided 

 into innumerable communicating cellular interspaces. 2. 

 Closed vesicles ( Malpighian bodies), attached to the walls 

 of the blood-vessels. 3. A soft, reddish substance, contain- 

 ing numerous cells and free nuclei, called the spleen-pulp. 



Fibrous Structure of the Spleen (Trabeculce). From the 

 internal face of the investing membrane of the spleen, and 

 from the fibrous sheath of the vessels (capsule of Malpighi) 

 are numerous bands, or trabeculse, which, by their inter- 

 lacement, divide the substance of the organ into irregularly- 

 shaped, communicating cavities. These bands are from -^ 

 to -^ of an inch broad, and are composed, like the proper 

 coat, of ordinary fibrous tissue with elastic fibres and a few 

 smooth muscular fibres. They pass off from the capsule of 

 Malpighi and the fibrous coat at right angles, very soon 

 branch, interlace, and unite with each other, becoming 

 smaller and smaller, until they measure from -g-J-g- to -fa 

 of an inch. 1 The smaller bands are cylindrical, and it is 

 in these that the muscular tissue can be demonstrated with 

 the greatest facility. As we should expect from the very 

 variable size of the trabeculae, the dimensions as well as the 

 form of the cavities are exceedingly irregular. This fibrous 

 net-work serves as a skeleton or a support for the softer and 

 more delicate parts. 



Malpighian Bodies. In the very elaborate work on the 

 spleen, by Malpighi, is a full account of the closed follicles, 

 which have since been called the Malpighian bodies. 3 They 

 are sometimes called the splenic corpuscles or glands. They 

 are in the form of rounded or slightly ovoid corpuscles, about 

 -^j- of an inch in diameter, consisting of a delicate membrane, 

 generally homogeneous, but sometimes faintly striated, with 

 semifluid contents. In their form, size, and structure, they 



1 SAPPET, Traite cTanatomie, Paris, 1857, tome iii., p. 323. 



8 MALPIGHI, De Liene, Opera Omnia, Lugd. Batav., 1687, tomus ii., p. 300. 



