BRITISH ANATOMISTS ON THE SPLEEN. 113 



examining the cut surface of the spleen, you perceive black 

 liquid blood flow from the vessels ; if you then scrape this sur- 

 face, you may express easily a species of sanies different from 

 that which flows from the vessels, which, after exposure, be- 

 comes red, and resembles coagulated Wood ; whether this is con- 

 tained in the capillary vessels, or in the cavties of this organ, 

 he acknowledges himself unaWe to determine. 



Notwithstanding the sendments of these French gentlemen, 

 many of the British anatomists, who are entitled to great atten- 

 tion on account of their skill in minute injections, have adopted 

 the ideas of Ruysch. Among these are to be mentioned the 

 late Dr. F. Nicholls. and many of the anatomists of London, 

 as well a? the second Professor Monro, of Edinburgh. There 

 are, however, two remarkable exceptions to this account of the 

 British anatomists. The late Mr. Falconer, who wrote a dis- 

 sertation on the situation and structure of the spleen, which 

 contains the sentiments of the late truly respectable Mr. Hew- 

 son,* after stating that the organ was extremely vascular, so 

 that when injected it appeared like a mere congeries of vessels, 

 makes this unequivocal assertion — that there are innumerable 

 cells dispersed throughout the whole substance of it, which are 

 so small that they are only to be discovered by the aid of a 

 microscope ; and are to be seen after steeping a thin piece of 

 spleen, the blood-vessels of which have been minutely injected, 

 in clear water during a day, and changing the water frequently. 

 He also adds, that the ultimate branches of the arteries and 

 veins form a beautiful net-work on each cell ; and that these 

 cells are sufficiently distinguished from the irregular interstices 

 of the cellular substance, by their round figure and their great 

 regularity. 



Sir Everard Home, in his papers on the structure and uses 

 of the spleen, confirms the account of the vesicles in this organ ; 

 and adds that these vesicles are occasionally seen in a distended 

 and in a contracted state. That when distended they are twice 

 as large as when contracted, and are distinguishable by the 



♦ See Experimental Inquiries, vol. iii. 

 10* 



