152 SPECIAL HISTOLOGY. 



demonstrated, I must maintain their physiological nature and 

 regard the disintegration of blood-corpusles in the spleen as a 

 normal occurrence. 1 ] 



§ 169. 



Vessels and nerves. — As they enter the organ, the relatively 

 very large splenic artery and the still larger splenic vein, are 

 accompanied by those processes of the fibrous membrane, which 

 have been referred to as the vascular sheaths. In Man these 

 processes form complete investments around the vessels and 

 nerves, somewhat after the fashion of the capsule of Glisson, 

 so that the arteries and nerves especially, can be readily isolated, 

 while the veins, which on the side opposite to the artery are 

 more intimately connected with the sheath, are less easily se- 



1 [With respect to the " blood corpuscle-holding cells," the reader will do well to 

 consult Remak's very valuable and elaborate paper, ' Ueber runde Biutgerinnsel und 

 iiber Pigment kugel haltige Zellen,' in Midler's 'Archiv,' for 1852, and Mr. Wharton 

 Jones's article on the same subject in the • British and Foreign Med. Chir. Review,' 

 for 1853, to which we have already referred. Having carefully studied them, he 

 will, we think, arrive very much at our own conclusion, that as the question now 

 stands, the very existence of " blood corpuscle-holding cells" must be considered as 

 highly problematical. 



Mr. Wharton Jones found the blood of the splenic vein to contain nucleated cor- 

 puscles and fibres identical with those of the pulp, together with free nuclei similar 

 to those of the nucleated corpuscles ; on the occurrence of which, he considers the 

 statements as to the abundance of colourless corpuscles in the blood of the splenic 

 vein are founded. Some of these elements were traced as far as the vena porta, 

 but in the hepatic veins they had mostly, though not entirely, disappeared. He 

 appears to be inclined to draw the conclusion tbat some of the venous radicles of the 

 spleen are connected with the pulp in the same way as the hepatic ducts with the 

 parenchyma of the liver, and that the materials thus derived by the blood from the 

 spleen may concur in fitting it for the secretion of bile. Moleschott (' Ueber die 

 Entwickelung der Blutkorperchen,' Midler's 'Archiv,' 1853) gives some curious re- 

 sults obtained by extirpating the liver and spleen of Frogs. Normally, the cardiac 

 blood of Frogs contains about 8 red corpuscles to 1 colourless ; after extirpation of 

 the liver, the proportion is 2 — 3 red corpuscles to 1 colourless. The blood of the 

 spleen of Frogs contains, normally, six times fewer red corpuscles in proportion to 

 1 white, than that of the heart. After extirpation of the liver, there are 1 — 6 

 colourless corpuscles to 1 red corpuscle in the splenic blood. When the spleen 

 alone has been extirpated, the proportion of red corpuscles is slightly increased. 

 Moleschott concludes that the liver favours the metamorphosis of colourless into red 

 corpuscles. However, we must confess that the results of the individual experiments, 

 from the average of which his conclusions are drawn, vary so widely as to throw 

 some doubt on the latter. — Eds.] 



