CHYLE, LYMPH, TRANSUDATIONS AND EXUDATIONS. 131 



The pulp of the spleen, when fresh, has an alkaline reaction 

 but quickly turns acid, due partly to the formation of free paralac- 

 tic'acid and partly perhaps to glycero-pliosphoric acid. Besides 

 these two acids there have been found in the spleen also volatile 

 fatty acids, as formic, acetic, and butyric acids, as well as succinic 

 acid, neutral fats, cholesterin, traces of leucin, inosit (in ox-spleen), 

 scyllit, a body related to inosit (in the spleen of plagiostoma), 

 glycogen (in dog-spleen), uric acid, yuanin, hypoxanthin, xanthin, 

 adenin (KRONECKER), smdjecorin (BALDI). 



Among the constituents of the spleen the deposit rich in iron, 

 which consists of ferruginous granules or conglomerate masses of 

 them, and closely studied by NASSE, is of special interest. These 

 iron grains developed by the changing of the red corpuscles, and 

 which also occur in old thrombi, are chiefly produced when stag- 

 nant blood-corpuscles are not dissolved, and they may be formed 

 either extra-cellular or intracellular when the blood-corpuscles of 

 the colorless cells are taken up. This deposit does not occur to the 

 same extent in the spleen of all animals. It is found especially 

 abundant in the spleen of the horse. NASSE on analyzing the grains 

 (from the spleen of a horse) obtained 839.2 p. m. organic and 160.8 

 p. m. inorganic substances. These last consisted of 566-726 p. m. 

 Fe 2 3 , 205-388 p. m. P 2 6 , and 57 p. m. earths. The organic sub- 

 stances consisted chiefly of proteids (660-800 p. m.), nuclein, 52 

 p. m. (maximum), a yellow coloring matter, extractive bodies, fat, 

 cholesterin, and lecithin. 



In regard to the mineral constituents it is to be observed that 

 the amount of iron is strikingly large, and further that the amount 

 of sodium and phosphoric acid is smaller than that of potassium 

 and chlorine. The amount of iron in new-born and young ani- 

 mals is small (LAPICQUE), in adults more appreciable, and in old 

 animals sometimes considerable. NASSE found nearly 50 p. m. in 

 the dried pulp of the spleen of an old horse. 



The quantitative analyses of the human spleen by OIDTMANN 

 give the following results : In men he found 750-694 p. m. water 

 and 250-306 p. m. solids. In that of a woman he found 774.8 p. m. 

 water and 225.2 p. m. solids. The quantity of inorganic bodies 

 was in men 4.9-7.4 p. m., and in women 9.5 p. m. 



In regard to the pathological processes going on in the spleen 



