THE SPLEEN. 143 



consisting of a small quantity of a clear, nentral fluid, coagulable 

 by heat, and therefore albuminous ; of many, rounded, larger 

 and smaller (from 0003 — 0-006'"), pale cells, which usually 

 possess a single nucleus and become granulated 

 by the action of water and of a varying J lg * 

 number of free nuclei. Beside these cells, *£(§#€% 

 which frequently contain single fat granules Mgm < ©/ 

 and offer the most distinct evidence that in S@51> !§|) 

 the Malpighian corpuscles a constant develop- 

 ment of cells is going on, we occasionally meet with blood- 

 corpuscles, either free or in cells and, as I am inclined to 

 believe from a single observation in the spleen of a Cat, with 

 fine blood-vessels, as in Peyer's follicles (see § 155). 



The Malpighian corpuscles are completely closed and are 

 not connected with the lymphatics, although this has been 

 asserted by different authors — among the moderns by Huschke, 

 Gerlach, Polmann and Schaffner. Anatomically, they are per- 

 fectly similar to the follicles of Peyer's patches and of the 

 solitary glands, described above and very closely agree with 

 those of the tonsils and lymphatics, whence they may for the 

 present be denominated gland-like follicles. 



[Malpighian corpuscles have been discovered in all the 

 Mammalia which have hitherto been examined and also occur 

 in Birds. Among the scaly Amphibia they were found by 

 Joh. Muller in one of the Chelonia and by myself in the Blind- 

 worm, where the corpuscles were surrounded by an exceedingly 

 elegant network of capillaries. In Frogs and Toads they are, 

 according to Oesterlen, to be met with now and then; but I 

 have not yet succeeded in finding any trace of them in the 

 naked Amphibia, nor in the fresh-water fishes. Leydig, how- 

 ever, has observed them in the Plagiostomata (Beitrage zur 

 Anat. der Rochen und Haie). Joh. Miiller's supposition that 

 the Malpighian corpuscles exist in all Vertebrata, is therefore 

 not borne out, a fact which is not without weight in considering 

 their physiological import. In a few Mammals the Malpighian 

 corpuscles contain, though not constantly, the same forms of 



Fig. 230. Contents of a Malpighian corpuscle from the Ox: a, small; b, large, 

 cells ; e, free nuclei. 



