832 PHYSIOLOGY OF DIGESTION AND SECRETION. 



from 11 to 18 or 29 mgm.* (2) It has been supposed to be an 

 organ for the destruction of red corpuscles. This view is founded 

 chiefly on microscopical evidence, according to which certain 

 large ameboid cells in the spleen ingest and destroy the old red 

 corpuscles, and partly upon the fact that the spleen tissue seems to 

 be rich in an iron-containing compound. (3) It has been sug- 

 gested that the spleen is concerned in the production of uric acid. 

 This substance is found in the spleen, as stated above, and it was 

 shown by Horbaczewsky that the spleen contains substances from 

 which uric acid or xanthin may readily be formed by the action of 

 the spleen-tissue itself. Later investigations f have shown that 

 the spleen, like the liver and some other organs, contains special 

 enzymes (adenase, guanase, and xanthin oxydase), by whose action 

 the split products of the nucleins may be converted to uric acid, 

 and it is possible, therefore, that this latter substance may be 

 formed in the spleen. 



1906. 



* Grossenbacher and Asher, "Zentralblatt f. Physiol," No. 12, 1908. 



t Consult Jones and Austrian, "Zeitschrift f. physiol. Chem.," 48, 110, 



