THE SPLEEN. 87 
Inorganic constituents of the liver. — Oidtmann 1 found l'l percent, of 
inorganic material in the liver, of which potassium phosphate, as in 
many other organs, is the most abundant. His numbers per cent, are : — 
Potash . . . 25-17 
Soda . . . 14-17 
Lime . . . 3'62 
Magnesia . . 0-19 
Iron oxide . . 2 - 75 
Phosphoric acid . 4 3 "3 7 
Sulphuric acid . 0'9 
Silicic acid . . 027 
Chlorine . . 2'5 
Manganese, lead, copper traces. 
F. Kriiger and Lenz - found that the liver cells of the calf contain about 
70 per cent, more calcium than in the ox. During the foetal period there are 
two maxima and two minima in the amount of calcium, which varies inversely 
with that of iron. In the liver cells of adult men, Kriiger and his assistants 3 
found 2-38 of sulphur, 1*28 of phosphorus, and 0"77 of iron per cent. In new- 
born children the three numbers are respectively 5*56, 1*54, and 0'314. 
The spleen. — The percentage of water in the adult human 
spleen varies from G94 to 77 - 5, the solids, from 3T6 to 22-5, of which 
30*1 to 21'6 consist of organic, and from Id to 0*9 of inorganic, matters. 4 
During life the spleen is alkaline. Acidity sets in after death, due 
to the formation of sarcolactic acid. 5 
The organic constituents of the spleen are proteids and haemoglobin, 
xanthine, 6 hypoxanthine, uric acid, 7 glycogen, 8 inosite, 9 scyllite, 10 cerebrin, 11 
cholesterin, lecithin, and jecorin. 12 Various fatty acids (formic, acetic, 
butyric) described byScherer 13 are, no doubt, derived during the process 
of distillation from the proteids. Leucine and tyrosine, which are 
absent from the fresh organ, are often found as a result of putrefactive 
changes (Hoppe-Seyler). The inorganic constituents are very like those 
found in the liver, except that sodium are more abundant than 
potassium salts. 1 * 
The proteids of the spleen. — Grourlay 15 found that the proteids which 
can be extracted from fresh spleen resemble those found in lymphoid 
structures ; the most important of these are a cell globulin coagulating 
at 49°-50° C, and a nucleo-proteid coagulating at 57-60° C. Bottazzi 10 
confirms these observations in the main. The nucleo-proteid can be pre- 
pared either by Wooldridge's or the sodium chloride method, and, like that 
obtained from other cellular organs, produces intravascular coagulation. 
1 "Die anorg. Bestancltheile der Leber," Linnich, 1858. 
2 Ztschr.f. Biol., Miinchen, 1895, Bd. xxxi. S. 392. 3 Ibid., S. 400. 
4 Oidtmann, loc. cit. 
5 Hirschler, Ztschr. f. physiol. Chem., Strassburg, Bd. xi. S. 41. 
6 Scherer, Ann. d. Ghem., Leipzig, Bd. cvii. S. 314 ; Stadeler, ibid., Bd. cxvi. S. 102 ; 
Neubauer, Ztschr. f. anal. Chem., Wiesbaden, Bd. vi. S. 33 ; Gorup-Besanez, Ann. d. 
Ghem., Leipzig, Bd. xcviii. S. 1 ; Cloetta, ibid., Bd. xcix. S. 289. 
7 Scherer, Gorup-Besanez, Cloetta. 
8 Hoppe-Seyler, "Med. Chem. Untersuch.," Bd. iv. S. 495; Abeles, C'cntralbl. f. d. 
med. Wissensch., Berlin, 1S76, Xo. 5. 
9 Cloetta, Scherer. 
10 Frerichs and Stadeler, Mitth. d. Zurich, natur. Gesellsch., 1855. 
11 Hoppe-Seyler. u Baldi, Arch.f. Physiol., Leipzig, Suppl.', 1887, S. 100. 
n Verha/ndl. d. phys.-med. Gesellsch. :u WUrzbv/rg, Bd. ii. S. 323. 
14 Oidtmann gives the following percentages: — Soda, 35-45; phosphoric acid, 18-30 ; 
sulphuric acid, l-5-2 - 5; potash, 9-17; oxide of iron, 7-16; silica, 0'2-0"7 ; lime, 7; 
chlorine, - 5-l - 3 ; manganese, copper, lead, traces. For a comparison of the percentage of 
sulphur and phosphorus in the hepatic and splenic cells at different ages, see F. Kriiger, 
Ztschr.f. Biol., Miinchen, 1895, Bd. xxxi. S. 400. 
13 Journ. Physiol., Cambridge and London, 1894, vol. xvi. p. 23. 
16 Ann. di chim. e difarm., 1S95, vol. xxi. 
