SPLEEN. 



785 



have all undergone a transition into colour- 

 less cells, or the Malpighian corpuscles con- 

 tain effused blood. By pondering upon these 

 circumstances, one might almost come to the 

 idea of regarding the cysts of fishes as Mal- 

 pighian corpuscles, or the Malpighian cor- 

 puscles of mammals as false aneurisms of the 

 splenic arteries ; but in my opinion either of 

 these views would be altogether erroneous. 

 For although blood is often present in the 

 Malpighian corpuscles, yet this appearance is 

 much too seldom to allow of our explaining their 

 contents as arising out of altered blood. And 

 as regards the cysts of fishes, they are alto- 

 gether absent from many fishes, and, where 

 they are present, often undergo a cretifica- 

 tion, or are changed into concretions ; while 

 they occur in other organs, as for instance in 

 the kidneys : facts which have little confor- 

 mity with the constant occurrence of the Mal- 

 pighian corpuscles. In others of the fishes 

 previously mentioned, no vesicles can be re- 

 cognised in the spleen ; on the contrary, in 

 many genera, the blood corpuscles obtained 

 in different conditions of their metamorphosis 

 are seated together in roundish heaps of a 

 more or less definite outline, and of a size 

 which equals that of the vesicles : these are 

 evidently nothing else than extravasations of 

 blood. The numerous circumscribed red or 

 brown points which occur in the spleen pulp 

 of all fishes, are nothing but the self-decom- 

 posing blood globules ; and they are, as above 

 mentioned, either free or arranged in masses 

 which are included in vesicles. In the scaly 

 reptilia, birds, and mammals, it is very dif- 

 ficult to state with certainty in what part of 

 the spleen the formation of the cells which 

 contain the blood corpuscles and their meta- 

 morphosis occurs. At first I thought of the 

 hollow interspaces with which the vein of the 

 spleen begins ; only these spaces, as will be 

 shown hereafter, do not in the least obtain in 

 the human subject in the form which has been 

 hitherto attributed to them. Or the branches 

 of the veins, which are always large, might 

 easily be regarded as the locality, provided 

 that the occurrences above mentioned be not 

 regarded as extravasations. With regard to this 

 question direct observation teaches us as fol- 

 lows. In the capillaries and arteries of the 

 spleen in mammalia no changes of the blood 

 corpuscles exist ; so that the only question is, 

 whether the blood corpuscles, which con- 

 stantly occur in the spleen-pulp, and here un- 

 dergo their metamorphoses, are situated in the 

 commencements of the veins; or whether 

 they occupy spaces newly formed by the ex- 

 trusion of the blood. Much may be adduced 

 in support of the first of these views. Thus, 

 it is scarcely possible to suppose that extra- 

 vasations of blood in such extraordinary quan- 

 tity constantly occur in the spleen ; 'then it 

 may also be mentioned that pigmentary gra- 

 nule-cells, such as are developed in the spleen 

 from the blood, may also be found in blood- 

 vessels exterior to the spleen, which seems to 

 speak for their being situated within the ves- 

 sels in the case of the spleen itself. I have 



VOL. IV. 



myself formerly found scattered pigment-cells 

 in human blood * which I can now only re- 

 gard as granule-cells from the spleen. Ecker 

 has also seen f in the splenic veins of the 

 calf, cells containing blood corpuscles like 

 those in the spleen. And, lastly, Meckel J 

 has also found black pigment- cells in the 

 blood of a woman whose spleen abounded in 

 them. Finally, we may recollect, that in the 

 amphibia the cells in question are certainly 

 situated in the vessels. But, on the other side, 

 it must not be forgotten that in the spleen 

 of fishes metamorphoses of the extravasated 

 blood take place, and that also portions of 

 the extravasations enter the vessels, and that 

 it is possible the pigment-cells in the blood 

 may thus originate ; finally, that the masses 

 of blood in the spleen-pulp are scarcely de- 

 fined with the sharpness which they would 

 possess even in veins with very delicate coats. 

 In this state of things it is much better to 

 abstain from giving a definite decision ; or if 

 one be absolutely required, to attribute the 

 metamorphoses of the blood in the spleen of 

 mammals to both the localities mentioned. 



The changes of the blood globules in the 

 spleen are not exactly similar in all circum- 

 stances, either as regards the quantity of the 

 cells thus changed, or the degree of metamor- 

 phosis which they undergo. In fishes, all the 

 blood globules, without exception, may be 

 recognised as decomposing; yet the quantity 

 of these varies, i. e. the number and size of 

 the vesicles and masses previously described 

 varies in a considerable degree in different in- 

 dividuals and species, although no very de- 

 finite laws have as yet been found out. 

 Reptilia exhibited the following peculiarity. 

 In newly-caught individuals, the cells con- 

 taining blood corpuscles were very numerous 

 and distinct ; but in those which had fasted 

 one, two, or three days, they occurred in 

 exceedingly small quantity ; while, finalty, by 

 a longer duration of the fasting (a week or 

 more), they exhibited themselves in very 

 great number, and of extraordinary distinct- 

 ness ; while at the same time the spleen 

 became large, dark red, and very rich in the 

 normal blood corpuscles. When newts which 

 had fasted a week were fed, the cells previ- 

 ously existing, and the unchanged blood cor- 

 puscles, vanished, since they were changed 

 into colored granule -cells, and only on the 

 sixth day after the feeding did such cells re- 

 appear ; but in three days afterwards almost 

 all of these had again experienced a meta- 

 morphosis into granule-cells. In mammalia 

 I have, in a series of cases, seen the decom- 

 positions of the blood corpuscles in as little 

 as five, six, and more hours after eating, while 

 immediately after the reception of food, or 

 after a day's fasting, I have failed to observe 

 it. At my advice, Landis instituted experi- 



* See also Fahrner, De Globulorum Sanguinis 

 origine : Turici, 1845, p. 26. fig. 143. 



f Zeitschrift fur Rationelle Medicin, Band vi. 

 S. 264. 



t Zeitschrift fur Psychiatric, 1847, S. 22. 



Beitrage zur Lehre iiber die Verrichtungen der 

 Milz : Zurich, 1847. 



3E 



