FUNCTIONS OF THE SPLEEN. 371 



ilis, the spleen becomes turgid, and in some of these diseases it 

 remains swollen for some time. In a remarkable disease, leuco- 

 cythsemia, in which the white blood cells are greatly increased 

 in number, and the red ones are comparatively diminished, the 

 spleen, in company with the lymphatic glands, is often found to 

 be profoundly altered and diseased, and commonly immensely 

 enlarged ; but, on the other hand, advanced amyloid degeneration 

 of the spleen may occur without any notable alteration taking 

 place in the number or properties of the blood corpuscles. 



The spleen may be removed from the body without any marked 

 changes taking place in the blood or the economy generally. It 

 is said that if an animal whose spleen is extirpated be allowed 

 to live for a certain time, the lymphatic glands increase in size, 

 or become swollen. 



In attempting to assign a definite function to the spleen, all the 

 foregoing facts must be carefully reviewed, and the peculiarity of 

 its (1) structure, (2) chemical composition, (3) the changes the blood 

 undergoes while flowing through it, (4) the variations in blood 

 supply which follow normal and pathological changes in the 

 economy, and (5) the absence of effect following its extirpation, 

 must all be borne in mind. 



Its structure teaches us that it is intimately related to 

 lymphatic glands. The Malpighian bodies are simply lymph 

 follicles, and the pulp may he regarded as a sinus like that 

 of a lymph gland, with this difference, that it is traversed 

 by blood instead of lymph. The cell elements found in it 

 indicate that not only white cells are rapidly generated, but 

 also that these cells have some peculiar relationship to haemo- 

 globin, as they are often found to contain some. The varieties 

 in size, form, and general appearance of the red corpuscles can 

 be accounted for by either their destruction or their formation 

 occurring in this organ. 



Its chemical composition also shows that certain special changes 

 go on in the pulp, and that probably stages of the construction 

 or destruction of haemoglobin are here accomplished may be 

 inferred from the peculiar association of iron with albuminous 

 bodies. 



