288 Dynamic Theory. 



greatly in size and weight. Its weight will average about 3 ounces, but 

 it is, in some cases, no more than \\ ounces, in others as much as 6 

 ounces. (Owen, Oomp. Anatomy.) 



The Spleen varies in size more than any other organ in the body ; and 

 this not only in different subjects but in the same at different times, as 

 ascertained by percussion. Its size is from 5x3x1 inch to 5-^- x 4 x 1 J-, 

 in health. Its weight may Vary from 6 to 12 ounces, but in certain 

 fevers it is much enlarged, often weighing 18 or 20 pounds. " Small, 

 detached, roundish nodules are occasionally found in the neighborhood 

 of the spleen, similar to it in substance. These are commonty named 

 accessory or supplementary spleens ( splenculi lienculi ). One or two 

 most commonly occur, but a greater number, and even up to twenty- 

 three, have been met with. They are small rounded masses varying 

 from the size of a pea to that of a walnut. The}^ are usually situated 

 near the lower end of the spleen, either in the gastro splenic omentum 

 or in the great omentum." ( Quain's Anatomy, 2-639.) 



The proper position of the Kidneys is on either side of the backbone 

 opposite the lowest dorsal and the highest two or three of the lumbar 

 vertebrae, the right one a little the lowest. But thej r vary in position, 

 sometimes being found even in the pelvis. They vary in shape, some- 

 times one being very small and the other proportionally enlarged. ' 'In- 

 stances are now and then met with in which the two kidneys are joined 

 by their lower ends across the front of the great blood vessels and ver- 

 tebral column. The conjunct organ has usually the form of a horse- 

 shoe. Sometimes two united kidneys are situated on one or other side 

 of the vertebral column in the lumbar region, or, but much more rarely, 

 in the cavity of the pelvis. In other very rare cases three glandular 

 masses have been found, the supernumerary organ being placed either in 

 front or on one side of the vertebral column or in the pelvic cavity. ' ' ( Quain. ) 



Sometimes the development of the Liver is arrested and it retains the 

 rounded form it has in the foetus, and sometimes it does not divide into 

 lobes as it should. On the other hand, it is sometimes found divided 

 into several lobes ; in one case as many as twelve. Some of the lower 

 animals have such a liver. ' ' A detached portion, forming a sort of ac- 

 cessory liver, is occasionally found appended to the left extremity of 

 the liver by a fold of peritoneum containing blood vessels." In some 

 cases there is no gall bladder, but instead there is a dilation of the liver 

 duct somewhere along its course, or in the liver itself. In some cases 

 the gall bladder is irregular in shape, or partly divided, either crosswise 

 or longitudinally. ' < Direct communications, by means of small ducts 

 ( named hepato- cystic) passing from the liver to the gall bladder, exist 

 regular^ in various animals ; and they are sometimes found as an un- 

 usual formation in the Human subject." (Quain.) 



