376 STRUCrUUE AND USES OF THE SPLF.EA'. 



also some liquid in it, and in tliis case the whole quantity 

 Natbythft that escaped must hare exceeded two ounces. On examin- 

 ing the external covering of the stomach, and along the 

 course of the vasa brevia, where the absorbents usually 

 pass, none were discovered, so that these vessels were not 

 at that time carrying any liquid. 

 The spleen tur- The spleen was turgid, unusually large, and its external 



gul with an surface very irregular : when cut into, small- cells were every 

 aqueous fluul. / o ? ■> j 



where met with containing a watery fluid, and occupying a 

 considerable portion of its substance. This appearance, 

 which T had never seen before, made me inquire, if it had 

 been taken notice of by others, and endeavour to ascertain 

 the circumstances, under which it is produced. The- fol- 

 lowing statement contains the information, which I have 

 received on this subject. 

 Malpifhi's no- Malpighi appears to be the first anatomist, who bad any 



tion of the particular knowledge of the structure of the spleen. He 

 ?pleen. a o i 



describes its capsule, and a network which pervades every 



part of the substance. He mentions a number of small 



glands, which are hollow, and surrounded by arterial zones, 



but he had never been able to trace any venal branches into 



them. He believed, that there was a cellular structure in 



the spleen containing red blood, interposed between the ar.. 



teries and veins ; this led him to adopt a theory, that the 



network was muscular, and by its action propelled the 



blood, so that there was a systole and diastole in the spleen, 



as in the heart. 



Stukely. Stukely, in hisGulstonian lecture, has very closely copied 



Malpighi, without giving any additional information. 



Cuvier. Cuvier, the latest writer on this subject, in his Lemons 



d'Anatomie comparee, corrects the errour of Malpighi re- 

 specting the nature of the network, which he states to be 

 composed of elastit ligament, and says, that there are small 

 corpuscles, the use of which is unknown, and which dis. 

 appear when the blood vessels are minutely injected. 



The corpuscles j^ ^he course of the present investigation, I have examined 



of Cuvier, or ^ , , , , ,. . 



glands of Mai- the spleen after death, under the ordinary circum.stanccs, 



paghi, contain ^^^ jjj^y^ found the appearances described by Cuvier. I 

 a fluid, after . , / . ^ ^ r 



drinking large- have also examined it frequently immediately after the sto- 



^7- mach had received unusual quantities of liquids, and in thai 



state 



