STATISTICS. 



801 



In such instances, there is little appearance 

 of any thing morbid beyond the increase of 

 size. The contained blood is usually very 

 dark, and the spleen shares the deepening of 

 colour. By long duration, the capsule of the 

 organ and the fibrous tissues generally, be- 

 come somewhat thickened, but in other re- 

 spects the texture is little altered. In the 

 second class, in which the swelling is pro- 

 bably produced by a peculiar state of the 

 blood (dyscrasia), and is certainly associated 

 with a class of blood diseases, the texture of 

 the organ is usually much altered. The size of 

 the spleen is often astonishingly increased, so 

 that it possesses a volume of from 100 to 300 

 cubic inches, and a weight of 10-20 Ibs. The 

 increase includes, besides blood, a considerable 

 quantity of a fibrinous material, the nature of 

 which, and its relations to the healthy organ, 

 are at present little known. The colour and 

 consistence are of every possible gradation ; 

 from greyish to deep brownish red, or from 

 a soft, friable mass, to a dense, firm, and 

 almost fibrous texture. There is a general 

 relation of these changes to the date and 

 duration of the swelling ; thus in acute or 

 recent cases, the organ is usually soft and of 

 a dark colour, while by long continuance, or 

 in chronic diseases, its consistence is greatly 

 increased, and its colour, as well as that of 

 the contained blood, is much paler or greyer 

 than natural. Atrophy of the spleen, or slow 

 and permanent diminution of its size, is much 

 more infrequent than the preceding converse 

 condition. It is associated with similar 

 varieties of colour and consistence. 



Inflammation of the spleen. The peritoneal 

 surface of the organ shares in the diseases of 

 this structure generally, and an inflammation 

 of this part of the serous membrane not un- 

 frequently accompanies the enlargements pre- 

 viously mentioned. The exsudation and re- 

 sults are no way peculiar. Concerning in- 

 flammation of the parenchyma of the spleen 

 little can at present be said. The large and 

 numerous veins which it contains are liable 

 to inflammation, the secondary being the 

 more frequent form of phlebitis which affects 

 them. 



As regards other morbid products, organ- 

 ised and unorganised, the spleen offers no- 

 thing deserving a special notice. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. M. Malpighi, De Liene, in 

 Exercitationibus de Viscerum Structura, Lond. 

 1669. 12. F. Ruijsch, De Glandulis, Fibris, Cellu- 

 lisque Lienalibus, Epist. Anat. Quart. Opera omnia. 

 A. V. Leeuwenhoek, Microscopical Observations on 

 the Structure of the Spleen, Phil. Transact. 1706, 

 p. 2305. T. Douglass, Observations on the Glands 

 in the Human Spleen, Phil. Transact. 1714, p. 499. 

 W. Stuckeley, Of the Spleen, its Description and 

 History, Uses and Diseases, Lond. 1722. B. 8. 

 Albums, De Liene, in Anotat. Academ. lib. vii. 

 cap. 14. p. 84. De Lasone, Histoire Anatomique de 

 la Kate, Me'moires de 1'Academ. de Paris, 1754. T. 

 Licutaud, Observation sur la Grosseur Naturelle de 

 la Kate, Mem. de 1'Acad. de Paris, 1788. W. New- 

 son, Experimental Inquiries, Lond. 1776 ; et Opus 

 Posthumtun, Lugd. Bot., 1786. L. et T. P. Asso- 

 lanti, Recherches sur la Rate, Paris, 1801. A. Mores- 

 cli!, Del vero e pr'mario Uso della Milza nell 'Uomo 



VOL. IV. 



e in tulti gli Aaimsli V.-rf.l.r ui YMlkr^ 1803. 

 Benj. Rusli, An Iifqm'ry'into the f unction's of the 

 Spleen, &c., Philadelphia, 1806. Ecerard I/,,,,.;-, 

 On the Structure and Uses of the Spleen, Philos. 

 Transact, for 1808, p. 45. ; further Experiments ou 

 the Spleen, p. 133. ; Experiments, &c., ibid. 1811. 

 C. F. Heusinger, Ueber den Bau und die Verrichtung 

 der Mils, Eisenach, 1817. F. Tiedemann und L. 

 Gtnclin, Versuche liber die Wege, auf welchen Sub- 

 stanzen aus dem Magen und Darin im Blut gelan- 

 gen, iiber die Verrichtung der Milz und die gehei- 

 men Harnwege, Heidelberg, 1820. T. Hodgkin, On 

 the Uses of the Spleen, Edinb. Med. and Surg. 

 Journ., 1822, p. 83. Dobson, Lond. Med. and Phys. 

 Journal, 1830, Oct. G. C. Holland, Physiology of 

 the Foetus, Liver, and Spleen, London, 1831. T. 

 Miiller, Ueber die Structurder eigenthiimlichen Kor- 

 perchen in der Milz einiger pflanzenfressender Siiu- 

 gethiere, Mull. Arch., 1834. T. C. H. Giesker, Spleno- 

 logie, oder anatomisch-physiologische Untersuchnn- 

 gen iiber die Milz, Zurich, 1835. M. T. Evans, Lond. 

 Kdinb. and Dubl. Phil. Mag., 1833. Nov. Schwager- 

 Bardekben, Observations Microscopicae de Glandu- 

 larum Ductu Excretorio carentium Structura, &c. 

 Berol. 1841. Th. v. Hessling, Untersuchungen iiber 

 die weissen Kb'rperchen der menschlichen Milz, 

 Regenzburg, 1842. /. Reid, Lond. and Edinb. 

 Monthly Journ., 1843. Apr. Fr. Oesterlen, Beitrage 

 zur Physiologic des gesunden und kranken Orga- 

 iiismns, Jena, 1843, pp. 41 52. E. Huschke, Lehre 

 von den Eingeweiden und Sinnesorganen, Leipzig, 



1844. Schlemm, Berliner Worterbuch der medicin. 

 Wissenschaften, Band xxiii. Th. 435. Ch. Poelmann, 

 Memoire sur la Structure et les Fonctions de la Rate, 

 Annales et Bulletin de la Societe de Medecine de 

 Gand, 1846, Dec. C. Handheld Jones, On the Yel- 

 low Corpuscles of the Spleen, Lond. Med. Gazette, 

 1847, Jan. John Simon, On the Thymus Gland, Lond. 



1845. A. Kolliker, Ueber den Bau und die Verrich- 

 tungen der Milz, in Mittheilungen der Zuricher 

 naturforschenden Gesellschaft, 1847. A. Ecker, 

 Ueber die Veranderungen welche die Blutkb'rper- 

 chen in der Milz erleiden, in Zeitschrift fiir rationelle 

 Medicin, Band vi. 1847. C. B. Heinrich, Die Krank- 

 heiten der Milz, Leipzig, 1847. T. Landis, Beitrage 

 zur Lehre iiber die Verrichtungen der Milz, Zurich, 

 1847. Gerlach, Ueber die Blutkorperchenhalten- 

 den Zellen der Milz, in Zeitschrift fur rationelle 

 Medicin, Band vii. 1848. T. Beclard, Recherches 

 experimentales sur les Fonctions de la Rate et sur 

 celles de la Veine Porte, Archives Generales de Me- 

 dicine, Paris, 1848, Oct. Nov. Dec. 



(Albert KolWcr.)* 



STATISTICS, MEDICAL. The Sta- 

 tistical Method; the Numerical Method. La 

 Methode Numerique. It is to be regretted 

 that the use of numbers in any branch of 

 scientific inquiry should have seemed to need 

 a special name ; for the name has given rise 

 to prejudices and misconceptions which could 

 never have attached to the thing signified. 

 There is no science which has not sooner or 

 later discovered the absolute necessity of re- 

 sorting to figures as measures and standards 

 of comparison ; nor is there any sufficient 

 reason why physiology and mr-dicine should 

 claim an exemption denied to every other 

 branch of human knowledge. On the con- 

 trary, they belong in an especial manner to 

 the class of sciences which may hope to de- 

 rive the greatest benefit from the use of num- 



* The Editor is indebted to his friend Dr. Brinton, 

 for the translation of the article on the normal 

 anatomy of the spleen from the German MSS. of 

 Professor Kolliker, and for the sketch of the abnor- 

 mal anatomy. 



3 F 



