650 



SPLAY 



SPLINTS 



in tlie Miocene period, is now very scanty ; except 

 for the polar willow and a couple of berry-bushes, 

 it constate principally of saxifrages and mosses. 

 The reindeer were, from markings on their ears 

 (said by Nordenskinld to be due to the cold), be- 

 lieved to come hither for the summer only! The 

 arctic fox and polar bear are the only other land 

 animals that frequent the islands, though there are 

 vast swarms of sea-fowl of various kinds (gulls, 

 petrels, the eider-duck, wild geese, rotches, the snow- 

 bunting, and others ), several of which make these 

 islands their breeding-quarters. The sea-waters 

 round the coasts are exceptionally rich in marine 

 fauna. During the 16th and 17th centuries large 

 fleets of whalers from the North Sea countries and 

 from Russia used to make these islands their head 

 quarters during the summer. But the whales have 

 been almost exterminated, and the seals are 

 rapidly approaching the same condition owing 

 to reckless slaughter. The only frequenters of 

 the group now are Norwegian walrus hunters 

 and Swedish scientific explorers, who since 1858 

 have been unwearied in their efforts to obtain full 

 information about the islands of the archipelago. 

 There are no permanent inhabitants ; but at times 

 hardy Russian and Norwegian hunters have stayed 

 one and occasionally more winters on the group. 

 The Spitzbergen islands were discovered by Barents 

 in 1590, and have lieen made the starting-point of 

 Attempts to reach the North Pole. Here in 1801 and 

 1804 NordmwtdAld measured an arc of meridian. 

 Sir M. Coiiway explored the main island in 1896. 



See Lord Dufferin's Letters from High Latitude! 

 < 1857 ) ; Kropotkine's paper in Encji. Brit. ; and Sir W. 

 M. Con way, The First Crofting of Spittbergen ( 1897 ). 



Splay. See CHAMFER. 



Spleen. This organ, present in vertebrates 

 from the fishes upwards, has no doubt very import- 

 ant functions to perform, but about these we know 

 as yet very little indeed. It is of the size and 

 shape of a rather long halfpenny bun, and is situ- 

 ated in the left hypochondriac region, clasping 

 by its flat surface the cardiac portion of the 

 stomach (see figure at article ABDOMEN). Unlike 

 the liver and pancreas, it has no duct and manu- 

 factures no juice, l>eing connected with the rest 

 of the body by its blood-vessels, nerves, and lym- 

 phatics : these enter the organ at its hylns and 

 ramify within it. The spleen is invested by a 

 <-apsule consisting chieily of muscular tissue, and 

 from tliis capsule muscular processes called traliec- 

 nhe run into the interior of the organ supporting 

 ite delicate pulp. As one would expect from its 

 structure, the organ can expand and contract, and 

 this it does from a variety of causes for instance, 

 after a meal the organ expands, reaching ite 

 maximum in aluml five hours, then contracting 

 again. In diseased conditions it may expand to 

 several times its normal si/.e. wliich would not be 

 possible were ite capsule of lilirous tissue like those 

 in i it her glands. The blood-vessels enter the spleen, 

 and the arteries become invested by curious masses 

 <>t tissue called adenoid, and these little masses, 

 the splenic corpuscles, are of alxxit the size of 

 millet seed, and quite visible to the naked eye on 

 cutting open the organ. 



If the spleen of a man or an ox be cut open it 

 will appear of a soft pulpy consistence ami deep 

 crimson in colour, with little white patches, these 

 splenic corpuscles, scattered through it, On putting 

 the spleen under a running jet of water the soft 

 fpleen pulp infiltrated with blood will lie washed 

 away, leaving behind the tough capsule, the 

 branching traliecnlie, and the bbod-VMMb with 

 some of these splenic corpuscles attached to them. 

 The blood-vessels end in the tissue of the spleen, 

 nod those that terminate within the splenic bodies 



do so in the usual way, passing into true capillaries. 

 Within the spleen pulp, however, which forms the 

 chief part of the organ, the arteries open directly 

 into tin- loose tissue forming the pulp, so that the 

 blood percolates through this before leaving the 

 organ by the veins. The blood thus becomes inti- 

 mately associated with this pulpy tissue, and 

 becomes modified by it, as we shall see. It is 

 highly probable that the chief use of the spleen is 

 to modifv the blood passing through it, and hence 

 it is spoken of as a Mood -gland, in contradistinc- 

 tion to a digestive gland, which pours ite secretion 

 into the digestive tract, and aids the processes 

 which go on there. It is very probable that the 

 spleen has the power of arresting and destroying 

 the old worn out red blood corpuscles as they pass 

 through it, for within the spleen itself evidence of 

 their destruction is found in the large quantity 

 ever present of iron and other bodies, which would 

 result from their dissolution. Moreover there is 

 Miniig reason for supposing that the active agent* 

 in this destruction are the cells present in the 

 spleen pulp, some of which are generally found 

 with bite of the red blood -corpuscles, and pig- 

 mented masses derived from them, within their 

 bodies. But the spleen not only destroys blood- 

 corpuscles ; it forms new ones, and these are poured 

 out of the pulp into the splenic vein, and are 

 carried off in the general circulation. Most of 

 these new corpuscles appear to be of the white 

 variety, for an abnormally large number of these 

 are by some olmervers found in the splenic vein, 

 these white corpuscles changing, aided by the 

 spleen itself, into red ones. 



There is little doubt that in a general way the 

 spleen is a blood-modifying gland, and in disease* 

 such as splenic leucocv -t hernia it l>ecomes enor- 

 mously enlarged, and produces large numbers of 

 white corpuscles. In intermittent fever it is also 

 enormously enlarged, forming the ague-cake. It 

 may, however, be excised, even in the case of 

 man, without producing fatal consequences, the 

 lymphatic glands enlarging and the lione marrow 

 undergoing changes, probably to enable them to 

 compensate for the loss of the other organ. 



The spleen was long supposed to lie the seat of 

 some of the less amiable emotions envy, malice, 



. 



Spleen wort, any fern of 

 See FERNS, Vol. IV.' p. 590. 



the genus Asplenium. 



Splenic Fever. See ANTHRAX. 



Splicing. See KNOTS. 



Splint, or SPLENT, is a l>ony enlargement on 

 the horses leg^ between the knee and fetlock, 

 usually appearing on the inside of one or both 

 fore-legs, frequently situated between the large 

 and small canon Inmcs, depending upon concussion, 

 anil most common in young horses th.it have been 

 rattled rapidly along hard roads before their bones 

 are consolidated. When of recent and rapid 

 growth, the splint is hot and tender and causes 

 lameness, especially noticeable when the horse is 

 trotted along a hard road. A piece of spongio- 

 piline saturated with cold water should 1* applied 

 to the splint, kept in position with a light linen 

 bandage, and wetted with cold water or a refriger- 

 ant mixture even' hour. Perfect rest must be 

 enjoined for ten days or a fortnight. When the 

 limb is cool and free from tenderness, the swelling, 

 which will still remain, may l>e greatly reduced by 

 some stimulating applications, such as the oint- 

 ment of the red iodide of mercury, the common fly- 

 blister, or the firing-iron. For the eplint-bonea, 

 see HORSE, Vol. V. p. 790. 



Splints, in Surgery, are certain mechanical 

 contrivances for keeping a fractured limb in ite 

 proper position, and for preventing any motion of 



