SPLEEN. 



797 



theory which ascribes to the spleen a relation 

 to the lymphatic system, and considers it as 

 in a certain manner a large lymphatic'gland, 

 is utterly devoid of meaning. In this manner 

 there remains as a last resource the view, 

 that changes occur in the blood itself con- 

 tained in the spleen. But what is the na- 

 ture of these changes ? Are blood corpuscles 

 possibly formed in the spleen, as has been 

 already so often supposed ? Certainly not ; 

 for in the most rigorous examination of the 

 blood in the spleen and the larger splenic 

 vessels, just as in the spleen-lymph, no trace 

 whatever of the formation of blood globules 

 can be detected, much less in blood which is 

 exactly reversed, and is exhibiting, as I might 

 say, at every step the plainest and most lively 

 indications of a dissolution and decomposition. 

 Let us recall to mind the details already 

 given of the condition of the blood globules 

 in the spleen. Upon the facts there men- 

 tioned, in the year 1847 * I founded the con- 

 jecture that the blood corpuscles undergo 

 solution in the spleen, and that their colouring 

 matter is employed in preparing the colouring 

 matter of the bile ; a conjecture which seems 

 to me preferable to all those which have 

 hitherto been offered concerning the function 

 of the spleen. If the fact be made out that 

 new blood globules are continually arising 

 from the cells of the chyle, it is just as certain 

 that the blood globules must also slowly dis- 

 appear in order to make room for those newly 

 arising. And if it be considered that nobody 

 has yet seen the least trace of a solution of 

 blood globules in any other organ, and that, 

 on the contrary, 1 have found in the spleen 

 a healthy organ, in which, in all four classes 

 of vertebrate animals, blood corpuscles are 

 almost constantly undergoing decomposition, 

 even in uncommon quantities, it will, I think, 

 be conceded to me that I have some grounds 

 for setting forth the hypothesis here given. 

 It is, indeed, as yet not altogether settled 

 whether the changes of the blood seen by 

 me are normal or abnormal ; but, as was 

 previously remarked, so long as their patho- 

 logical nature is not proved with certainty, I 

 must continue to regard them as physiological 

 and pertaining to healthy life. But this is 

 not saying that they occur in all creatures in 

 the method described above. It is highly 

 possible that blood globules undergo disso- 

 lution in the spleen without previously form- 

 ing the cells containing blood corpuscles : an 

 opinion which is corroborated by the blood 

 globules described above as occurring in 

 the blood of the splenic vein of the dog and 

 fresh-water perch : these contained crystals of 

 haematine or some kindred substance, and 

 were evidently near their destruction. In- 

 deed, it is even possible that such a direct 

 mode of dissolution may be the rule in some 

 animals, perhaps even in many. And although 

 I have regarded the spleen as an organ in 

 which the blood corpuscles undergo disso- 

 lution, yet I have not maintained therewith 



* Loc. cit. S. 135. 



that it is in all animals the only organ in 

 which any thing of this kind occurs : it would 

 therefore in no way militate against my 

 theory if it should ever turn out that in the 

 kidneys of fishes, the vessels of which are 

 arranged so peculiarly, a constant and physio- 

 logical solution of blood globules obtained. 

 The following circumstances also speak for 

 my hypothesis. That in no other way can 

 any reasonable account be given of the 

 changes of the blood in the spleen. Further- 

 more, that it elucidates the relation of the 

 spleen to the portal system of veins ; since ac- 

 cording to it, the dissolved blood corpuscles 

 are subservient to the formation of the bile, 

 the colouring matter of which is so nearly 

 allied to that of the blood. Finally, that, as 

 will be more fully stated below, the patho- 

 logical facts are proportionally in unison 

 with it. 



On all these grounds I am therefore in- 

 clined to defend the hypothesis first set forth 

 by me of a destruction of the blood g^bules 

 in the spleen ; and the more so, that J. Be- 

 clard has lately maintained, that the blood of 

 the splenic vein is always poorer in blood cor- 

 puscles than that of the other veins. He has 

 stated this in a memoir which was laid be- 

 fore the Academic des Sciences in Paris on 

 the 17th January, 1848, and published in the 

 "Archives generates de Medicine" of Oc- 

 tober to December, 1848. Since J. Beclard's 

 results are an important support to my hypo- 

 thesis, I have permitted myself to communi- 

 cate here the most important of them. Bc- 

 clard has analysed the blood from the lower 

 branch of the splenic vein, and that from the 

 jugular vein, in fourteen dogs and two horses. 

 In most of the instances of the analysis, 

 (1.) the water, (2.) the blood corpuscles 'and 

 fibrine, and (3.) the albumen and salts, were 

 separated from each other ; and only in the 

 horses were the blood corpuscles and fibrine 

 obtained separately. A deficiency of the 

 blood globules and fibrine was always present 

 in the splenic vein, which diminution out of a 

 1000 parts of blood, amounted to the fol- 

 lowing quantities in the sixteen cases. 

 16-54 15-94 8-51 



37-11 19-67 13-06 



19-43 20-80 14-91 



12-82 10-88 9-40 



13-92 16-06 



13-60 14-78 



On an average of the sixteen cases, the de- 

 ficiency amounted to 16'08 parts. As regards 

 the albumen, on the contrary, there was a 

 constant increase of this constituent in all the 

 sixteen cases, in an average of 13-02 parts. 

 Finally, in the two analyses in which the 

 quantity of fibrine was certified, there was the 

 extraordinary increase in its quantity in the 

 blood of the splenic vein of 0'3 and 0'5 parts. 

 Beclard deduces the same conclusion from 

 these facts which I have drawn from my micro- 

 scopical examinations ; namely, that the blood 

 corpuscles normally undergo dissolution in 

 the spleen ; and 1 regard this conclusion as 

 neither more nor less correctly deduced than 



