S P L 



ferrated.— One of the moft common fpecies, at lead in Eng- 

 land, growing chiefly on rotten cow-dnng on moilt turfy- 

 heaths in the Ipring, ripening fruit in fummer. It feems no 

 lefs frequent in other parts of Europe. This is larger than 

 S.fphxricum, annual hke that, but diltinguithed by the nar- 

 rower ferrated leaves, iiouteTjlalh, and efpecially the large 

 purple pear-(haped receptacles, each crowned with a little 

 llender tawny capfule. 



S. Turnerianum, Dickf. Crypt, fafc. 4. ^. t. lO. f. II. 

 Fl. Brit. n. 1 1. Engl. Bot. t. 1x16, is, we fear, but a fmall, 

 or ftarved, variety of the laft. 



S. -vafculofum. Ciimfon Globular Gland-mofs. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1572. Hedw. Sp. Mufc. 53. Crypt, v. 2. 44. 

 t. 15. — Receptacle blood-red, nearly globular. Leaves fpa- 

 tulate, bluiitifh, entire. — Native of turfy bogs near Uplal, 

 and in other parts of Sxveden. About the height of the 

 laft, but diftinguilhed by its blunt entire leaves, and the 

 globular form, greater fize, and deep rich hue of its recep- 

 tacle. This fine fpecies has alfo been found in Germany, 

 but not in Britain. 



S. rubrum. Red Umbrella Gland-mofs. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 1572. Hedw. Sp. Mufc. 56. Crypt, v. 2. 51. t. 18. (S. 

 n. i; Montin Dill. 8. t. i. f. 2. Mufcus norwegicus, um- 

 braculo ruberrimo infignitus ; Petiv. Muf. 11. t. i. f, 70. 

 Dill. Mufc. 547. t. 83. f. 9.) — Receptacle orbicular, con- 

 vex, red. Leaves ovate, partly toothed. — Native of Nor- 

 way, Finland, Ruffia, and molt parts of Siberia. Thejlem, 

 like moll of the rcit, is fimple, leafy, about an inch high. 

 Upper and floral leaves ferrated. Fruit-Jlali about fix inches 

 long, ereft, red, bearing a fmall cylindrical capfule, which 

 is fubtended by a moft beautiful, large, and conlpicuous re- 

 ceptacle, like an inverted cup, half an inch wide, of a rich 

 crimfon, finely reticulated, and certainly one of the moft 

 curious produftions in thi; whole natural order. 



S. luteum. Yellow Umbrella Gland-mofs. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 1572. Hedw. Sp. Mufc. 56. Crypt, v. 2. 48. t. 17. (S. 

 n. 2; Montin DilT. 9. t, i. f. i.) — Receptacle orbicular, 

 flattifti, deflexed, yellow. Leaves obovate, entire. — Native 

 of bogey woods in Lapland and Weltbothland. This vies 

 with the laft in magnitude and Angularity, but the receptacle 

 is pale yellow, and though deflexed, fcarcely convex. By 

 Hedwig's figures, as well as the Linnsean fpecimens, this 

 part feems to be fmall and green till the capfule is fully 

 formed, after which it expands and aflumes its proper 

 colour. 



SPLAIT-Shoulder. See Shoulder. 



SPLANCHNICA, a name given to medicines appro- 

 priated to difeafes of the bowels. 



SPLANCHNOLOGY, formed from trr-Ka-yxioi, intejlme, 

 and Xoyo;, difcourfe, m Anatomy, a dilcourfe on, or explica- 

 tion of, the vifcera. 



Sarcology is divided into three parts, viz. fplanchnology, 

 myology, and angciology ; of thcfe, fplanchnology is that 

 which treats of the internal parts, and particularly of the 

 viicera. 



SPLEEN, in Anatomy and Phyjtolo^y, (j-irX>i», lien, la 

 rate,) a body about tlie fize of a fmall fill, of a texture 

 rather rtfembling that of glands, fituated in the left hypo- 

 chondriac retjion of the abdomen, between the jjrreat end 

 of the llomach, and that portion of the diaphragm which 

 lines the concavity of the tenth and eleventli ribs. 



Tiie organ is ufiially fing'.e ; but occafionally one, two, 

 or more fmall Iccoiidary fpleens 1 lienes fuccenturiati'), of a 

 round or oval figure, about the fize of hazel-nuts, of a 

 texture cxitlly fimilar to the principal one, are found near 

 its anteriiir end, in the great omentum, conntfted by the 

 latter and by their blood-veflels to the principal fplccn. 



S P L 



It has been allerted that the fpleen has been in fome 

 cafes entirely deficient. It may have been greatly dimi- 

 niflied by difeafe, or confumed by fuppuration ; but we 

 have no fuflicient teftimony of its entire abfence as a defeA 

 of original formation. 



Every thing belonging to the fpleen is irregular, and its 

 figure is remarkably fo. Ulually the outline defcribed by 

 its circumference is elliptical : it reprefenls, indeed, on the 

 whole, the feftion of an ellipfoid carried through the axis. 

 Its largeft furface is convex, like the fuperficies of an egg ; 

 the margin oval, with two ends, and a longer and (horter 

 axis. The convex lurface of the organ, then, is the moft 

 extenfive, rifing in the middle, and floping towards a com- 

 paratively thin edge : this is rather broader towards the 

 back part, and grows narrower, terminating in an obtufe 

 point in front. The oppofite afpeft is concave, and divided 

 into two furtaces by a flight notch running along its long 

 axis, at which the blood-veflels enter, and to which the 

 omentum is affixed. Both ends of the fpleen are obtufe : 

 the pollerior or fuperior is thicker, the inferior or anterior 

 thinner. Sometimes the fpleen is more rounded, or more 

 triangular. Often the edge is notched in one or more 

 places, and more or lefs deeply. 



The fituation of the fpleen varies, as well as its figure. 

 We may, however, Itate generally, that in a healthy fubjeA 

 of the ordinary formation, it will be found in the upper and 

 back part of the left fide of the abdomen, covered by the 

 falfe ribs, lying between the back of the great end of the 

 ilomach and the diaphragm in fuch a way, that it Is not 

 vifible on opening the abdominal cavity until the Ilomach 

 is drawn afide. Its convexity correfponds to the concavity 

 of the diaphragm, and of the tenth and eleventh ribs ; its 

 concavity to the great end of the Ilomach : one end is 

 turned backwards ; the other forwards. 



In this fituation it is clofely tied to the ftomach by its 

 blood-veilels, which fend branches to that organ ; and by 

 the great omentum, which is attached to its notch, and to 

 the neighbouring portion of the ftomach. There are, 

 befides, certain folds of peritoneum, connecting it to the 

 furrounding parts. One of thefe, ligamentum verticale, 

 or fufpenforium licnis, or phrenico-fplenicum, pafles from 

 the lower part of the diaphragm to the upper end of the 

 fpleen. Another, ligamentum mefocolicum, or gaftro-fple- 

 nicum, pafles from the mefocolon, ftomach, and oefophagus, 

 to the pofterior part of the notch. A fold of peritoneum 

 may alfo h^ I'ecn going from the fpleen to the left renal 

 capfule and kidney. 



The changes of place in the ftomach arc attended with 

 correfponding alterations of the fpleen. When the fonncr 

 is full, the fpleen is fituated nearly tranfverfely, with one 

 end turned backwards, and the other forwards, with its 

 concavity touching the colon in front, and the renal capfule 

 behiiid. As the ftomach becomes empty, the pofition of 

 the fpleen is more perpendicular ; with its ends upwards 

 and downwards. The motions of the diaphragm are 

 ncceflarily accompanied with change of pofition in the 

 fpleen. When that mufcle defcends, it pulhcs the ftomach 

 and fpleen downwards and forwards, thrufting them from 

 under the ribs ; they are brought back again to their former 

 place by the re-aftioii of the abdominal mufcles. 



When it is enlarged, it pafles out of the hypochondrium, 

 and can be felt in the umbilical region, or even tlie hypo- 

 gaftric : it has defcended as low as the groin or bladder. 

 In cafes of tranfpifed vifcera, it has partaken the inverfion 

 with the other thoracic and abdominal organs. 



The fize of the fplccn, like other circumftances belonging 

 to this organ, is fubjcft to much variety. Soemmcrriug 



llato 



