THE SPLEEN. 65 



ments I have seen it only a little smaller than the liver; its tex- 

 ture in this case is soft and easily lacerated. 



It is fixed in its place by three lines of reflection or processes 

 of peritoneum, called ligaments, whose names indicate^their 

 places of attachment. They are the Gastro-Splenic Ligament 

 or Omentum, which passes from the stomach to the spleen, and 

 in which are the vasa brevia of the stomach ; the Splenico- 

 Phrenic Ligament, which goes from the spleen to the dia- 

 phragm ; and the Splenico-Colic Ligament, which passes from 

 the spleen to the colon. These reflections, by being continued 

 over the spleen, give it a complete peritoneal coat, which is 

 raised up with more difficulty than the corresponding membrane 

 of any other viscus of the abdomen, and is commonly thrown 

 into very small inequalities or wrinkles. 



The internal or proper coat of the spleen is a grayish, com- 

 pact, extensible, and elastic membrane, the use of which is evi- 

 dently to sustain the natural shape of the organ, and to support 

 its parenchymatous structure. It sends in processes to accom- 

 pany the blood vessels, and from its internal face there proceeds 

 a multitude of lamellae and of fibres, which traverse it's cavity 

 in every direction, and reduce it into a cellular condition, not 

 unlike the spongy structure of bones. 



The spleen, in proportion to its size, is furnished to a remark- 

 able degree with blood. The largest branch of the ccsliac ar- 

 tery runs to it along the superior margin of the pancreas, form- 

 ing numerous serpentine flexures, and distinguished for its thick- 

 ness; it divides into several trunks for penetrating into the 

 spleen, and enters by the foramina in the fissure. The veins 

 come out by a number of trunks equal to what the artery is di- 

 vided into; they assemble then into a single trunk, which at- 

 tends the artery along the pancreas, and is remarkable for the 

 tenuity and extensibility of its coats. The splenic vein is des- 

 titute of valves, and empties into the vena portarum. The spleen 

 has also lymphatic vessels; and is furnished with nerves from 

 the solar plexus. 



Of the Intimate Structure of the Spleen. The Splenic artery 

 having penetrated into this organ, is divided and subdivided into 

 a radiating succession of very fine branches, which, according 

 to the injections of Ruysch, do not anastomose with each other; 

 in consequence of which, one part is sometimes finely injected 



7* 



