GLANDS. 483 



which and the supra-renal capsule one would hence be dis- 

 posed to suspect a degree of affinity. 



SPLEEN. 



The spleen consists of a fibro-elastic capsule which sends 

 down from its inner surface septa, which penetrate the 

 organ in all directions, and divide it into compartments ; of 

 an immense assemblage of blood-vessels which compose its 

 chief substance, and which impart to it the character and ap- 

 pearance of an erectile tissue ; and, thirdly and lastly, of a 

 small quantity of secreting structure, consisting of nuclei 

 only, and which appears to lie in the intervals between the 

 blood-vessels. (See Plate LXIL fig. 2.) 



The above comprehends all that can be readily made out 

 of structure in the spleen : the examination, however, of 

 this organ is by no means satisfactory or easy on account of 

 the impossibility of fully injecting it, a difficulty which arises 

 from causes but imperfectly understood. 



Dr. Julian Evans, however, describes a very elaborate 

 structure and arrangement of the tissues in the spleen, as will 

 be seen from the perusal of the following abstract of his paper 

 taken from the 3d edition of Carpenter's " Principles of 

 Human Physiology." 



" According to the account of Dr. Julian Evans *, whose 

 researches appear to have been more successful than those 

 of any other anatomist, the spleen essentially consists of a 

 fibrous membrane, which constitutes its exterior envelope, 

 and which sends prolongations in all directions across its 

 interior, so as to divide it into a number of minute cavities or 

 Iacuna3 of irregular form. These splenic lacunae communicate 

 freely with each other, and with the splenic vein ; and they 

 are lined by a continuation of the lining membrane of the 

 latter, which is so reflected upon itself, as to leave oval or 

 circular foramina by which each lacuna opens into others, or 



* Lancet, April 6th, 1844. 



