THE SPLEEN. 87 



Inorganic constituents of the liver. Oidtmami 1 found I'l per cent, 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 . 43 '3 7 

 Sulphuric acid . 0'9 



Silicic acid . . 0'27 



Chlorine . . 2 -5 



Manganese, lead, copper traces. 



F. Kriiger and Lenz 2 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 694 to 77'5, the solids, from 31 -6 to 22 - 5, of which 

 oO'l to 21*6 consist of organic, and from I'l 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/glycogen, 8 inosite, 9 scyllite, 10 cerebrin, 11 

 cholesterin, lecithin, and jecorin. 12 Various fatty acids (formic, acetic, 

 butyric) described by Scherer 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. 14 



The proteids of the spleen. G our lay 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 16 

 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. Bestandtheile der Leber," Linnich, 1858. 



2 Ztschr.f. Biol, Miinchen, 1895, Bd. xxxi. S. 392. 3 Ibid., S. 400. 



4 Oidtmann, loc. cit. 



5 Hirschler, ZtscJir. f. physiol. Chem., Strassburg, Bd. xi. S. 41. 



6 Scherer, Ann. d. Ohem.., Leipzig, Bel. cvii. S. 314 ; Stadeler, ibid., Bd. cxvi. S. 102 ; 

 Neubauer, Ztschr. f. anal. Chem., Wiesbaden, Bd. vi. S. 33 ; Gorup-Besanez, Ann. d. 

 Chem., 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, Centralbl. f. d. 

 med. Wissensch., Berlin, 1876, No. 5. 



9 Cloetta, Scherer. 



10 Frerichs and Stadeler, Mitth. d. Zurich, natur. Gesellsch., 1855. 



11 Hoppe-Seyler. 12 Baldi, Arch. f. Physiol. , Leipzig, Suppl., 1887, S. 100. 



13 Verha-ndl. d. phys.-med. Gesellsch. zu Wilrzburg, Bd. ii. S. 323. 



14 Oidtmann gives the following percentages: Soda, 35-45; phosphoric acid, 18-30; 

 sulphuric acid, 1-5-2 '5; potash, 9-17; oxide of iron, 7-16; silica, 0'2-0'7 ; lime, 7; 

 chlorine, 0'5-1'3 ; 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. 



15 Journ. Physiol., Cambridge and London, 1894, vol. xvi. p. 23. 



16 Ann. di chim. e difarm., 1895, vol. xxi. 



