CIRCULATORY SYSTEM. 135 



contributes to the supply of white blood-corpuscles. 

 The broken-down red corpuscles iound in this organ 

 have led to the further idea that the spleen is a 

 graveyard for the worn-out red corpuscles of the 

 blood. Leucocytes are supposed to feed upon this 

 detritus and then migrate to the liver, where it is 

 elaborated into the bile pigment of that organ. 



Anything that causes an enlargement of the lymph 

 nodes usually causes an enlargement of the spleen. 

 Like these nodes the spleen is capable of enormous 

 distention, due to the abundance of elastic con- 

 nective-tissue fibers. This is particularly so in 

 typhoid fever, where the spleen has been known to 

 weigh fifteen or twenty pounds. 



On account of the rich blood supply an injury to 

 the spleen causes severe hemorrhage, which the 

 pulpy condition of the organ renders difficult to 

 check, as a suture usually does not hold. In such 

 accidents the whole spleen has been removed with- 

 out fatal results. Extirpation of the spleen is also 

 justified in certain diseases of that organ 



