266 SITUATION AND STRUCTURE 



SECT. 50. From the spleen being in contact with the dia- 

 phragm, and not fixed to the sides of the abdomen, its situation 

 will be continually varying in the act of respiration, which will 

 occasion much difficulty to determine at all times the exact 

 situation of it. 



SECT. 51. A spleen weighing nine ounces most commonly 

 measures about six inches long and four inches broad. 



SECT. 52. In a well-formed chest, in a state of the deepest 

 expiration, from the cartilaginous margin of the thorax to the 

 highest lateral part of the diaphragm, generally measures about 

 six inches ; therefore, supposing this to be the standard in the 

 utmost expirations, the upper end of the spleen will ascend so 

 high up as the lower edge of the eighth rib, and in this state 

 the inferior part will be opposite to the lower edge of the tenth 

 rib, or the whole of the spleen will be contained between the 

 eighth and tenth ribs. In the deepest inspirations it never 

 descends below the cartilaginous margin of the chest, unless it 

 be preternaturally enlarged. Thus, by attending to the state 

 of respiration, we may be able to form a good judgment of the 

 situation and extent of this viscus ; but if we wish to deter- 

 mine it with greater exactness, let the arm be raised as high 

 as possible, and a line drawn from the inferior angle of the 

 scapula, parallel to the spinous processes of the vertebrae dorsi; 

 the whole of the spleen will be contained within the line drawn, 

 and be found to occupy the space between the eighth and tenth 

 ribs in a state of expiration ; but in a deformed chest, or the 

 chest of a woman whose ribs are pressed in by stays, it may 

 differ considerably. In a woman whose ribs had been pressed 

 in by stays, but not more than is ordinarily found, from the 

 cartilaginous margin of the eleventh rib to the centre of the 

 diaphragm, measured six inches and a half. The spleen 

 weighed nine ounces two drachms and a half, and measured 

 five inches and three quarters in length, three inches and 

 seven eighths in breadth, and one inch seven eighths in thick- 

 ness ; the upper edge was opposite to the upper edge of the 

 eighth rib, and the lower part was opposite to the upper edge 

 of the eleventh rib ; thus the whole spleen in this subject was 

 placed between the eighth and eleventh ribs. And this will in 

 females, I fancy, be found to be the general standard. 



SECT. 53. The spleen has generally been described of a dark, 



