112 HALLER AND THE FRENCH ANATOMISTS ON THE SPLEEN. 



these, as well as his other observations, he decided, that 

 the pulpy substance did not consist entirely of vessels, but was 

 an additional and different structure. 



He also suggested, that as the brain and muscular fibres were 

 so covered by blood-vessels in the injected preparations of 

 Ruysch, that they appeared to be composed entirely of vessels, 

 when in fact they consisted of a different substance, so the 

 pulpy substance of the spleen was covered or obscured by the 

 blood-vessels which passed through it, without constituting its 

 whole substance. 



He confirms the account of Malpighi respecting the Whitish 

 Vesicles or Follicles, and states, that in a majority of cases they 

 are not to be discovered without a particular preparation ; but 

 that they are generally made obvious by long maceration of the 

 spleen in water. In his opinion they are the most essential part 

 of the organ. 



Notwithstanding these investigations of M. De La Sone, the 

 question respecting the structure of the spleen remains not com- 

 pletely decided even to this day. 



Haller, who was perfectly well acquainted with the subject, 

 inclined to the opinion of Ruysch ; while Sabatier adopted 

 completely the opinion of De La Sone. 



It appears from the statement of Gavard, that Desault did not 

 admit the existence of the transparent bodies ; although he 

 believed that the pulpy substance of the spleen consisted 

 of cells which resembled those of the cavernous bodies of the 

 penis. 



Boyer, whose descriptions of the animal structure appear to 

 have been formed with scrupulous exactitude, admits the exist- 

 ence of transparent bodies ; sometimes so small' as to be scarcely 

 visible, and sometimes as large as the head of a pin. He 

 observes, that the best method of examining them is to place a 

 very thin slice of the spleen between the eye and a strong light, 

 when the transparency of these bodies occasions the slice of the 

 spleen to appear as if perforated. 



As to the general structure of the pulpy substance, he avows 

 himself unable to decide respecting it ; but observes that upon 



