OF THE SPLEEN. 269 



as soon as they have passed through the capsule, are divided 

 into exceedingly small twigs, which are distributed to every 

 point of the gland. The arteries, thus minutely divided, trans- 

 mit the redundant blood to the veins, which becoming larger 

 as they approach nearer to the sinuosity of the spleen, at length 

 pass out in branches, which everywhere accompany the arteries 

 that entered it ; these branches uniting form the splenic vein, 

 the blood of which will not coagulate by exposition to the air, 

 like other venous blood (cxxxn). The trunk of the vein then 

 attends that of the artery, receiving veins from the stomach 

 and pancreas, which correspond with the branches given off by 

 the artery ; the vein then passing on joins other veins from 

 the intestines, &c., which transmit their blood by the vena 

 portarum to the liver, for the purpose of secretion. 



SECT. 60. Lymphatic vessels in great numbers may be dis- 

 tinctly seen running everywhere on the external surface of this 

 gland ; insomuch that the spleen of a calf has ordinarily been 



(cxxxn.) According to Mr. Thackrah, a the blood of the vena portae 

 coagulates much quicker, though the clot is softer, than the blood of 

 other veins. Tiedemann and Gmelin b declare that the blood of the 

 splenic vein coagulates like the blood of other organs. Schultz c found 

 a much larger proportion of fatty matter in the dried constituents of 

 the blood of the vena portse, especially in the fibrin, than in those of 

 arterial and venous blood of other parts. Dr. Simon/ from an exami- 

 nation of the portal blood of two horses, concludes that it coagulates 

 more slowly, and contains more haematin and less fibrin than either 

 arterial or common venous blood. In horses shot on account of lameness, 

 in horses dead from disease, in drowned kittens, and in a dog killed by 

 hanging, Mr. Siddall and I found the blood in the splenic vein less per- 

 fectly coagulatedthan in the other veins, butgenerallysomewhatgrumous, 

 and containing a few soft though distinct clots. In one horse, shot in 

 consequence of paralysis, the blood was fluid in the splenic vein, but 

 there were some small red clots in the splenic artery. The blood in the 

 splenic vein was always dark-coloured, not of a brilliant red, as stated by 

 Senac ; e though it was readily brightened by neutral salts, contrary to 

 the experience of Schultz/ In the splenic vein of man, after death from 

 disease, I have frequently seen a clot ; and so has Mr. Evans. g Is not 

 the ordinary firmness of the spleen, some time after death, owing to 

 coagulated blood? 



a Inquiry into the Nature, &c., of the rt Animal Chemistry, tr. for the Syd. 



Blood, ed. 1834, pp. 97-101. Soc. vol. i, pp. 201-4, 8vo, Lond. 1845. 



b Muller's Elements of Physiology, tr. by e Traite du Co3ur, 2d ed. torn, ii, p. 282. 



Dr. Baly, vol. i, p. 572, 1st edit. f Lancet, 1834-5, vol. ii, p. 572. 



c Lancet, 1834-35, vol. ii, p. 573. s Lancet, 1844, vol. i, p. 65. 



