328 
SPLENIC DISEASE. 
and for a time storing them up, to be gradually introduced 
into the blood, according to the demands of the general 
system. 
“ Then, again, it seems probable that, as Hewson originally 
suggested, the spleen, and perhaps to some extent the other 
vascular glands, are, like the lymphatic glands, engaged in 
the formation of the germs of subsequent blood-corpuscles. 
For it seems quite certain that the blood of the splenic vein 
contains an unusually large amount of white corpuscles. 
There is reason to believe, too, that at the spleen many of 
the red corpuscles, those probably which have discharged 
their office and are worn out, undergo disintegration ; for in 
the coloured portion of the spleen-pulp an abundance of such 
corpuscles, in various stages of degeneration, are found, 
while the red corpuscles in the splenic venous blood are said 
to be relatively diminished.” 
The functions of the liver may be briefly stated as an 
excretor of hydro carbons, purification of the blood of the 
portal system, converting the saccharine and amylaceous 
principles of the food into glucose, or its glucogenic function, 
fitting it for the process of respiration and the production of 
animal heat ; but the function with which we are at present 
most concerned is its action on the albuminous matters, albu- 
minose conveyed from the alimentary canal by the blood of 
the portal vein, and which requires to be submitted to its influ- 
ence before it can be assimilated by the blood.* Judging from 
the condition of the animals which fall victims, the tendency 
to plethora so generally manifested, and the nitrogenous 
nature of the food supplied, it is fair to assume that the 
organic elements are in excess in the blood, in consequence 
of which the organ gets overworked, the cells enlarge and 
seem to contain oil-globules, varying in amount from a few 
granules to a large mass, hence its largeness and softness, the 
blood is retarded in its passage through it, the spleen becomes 
overgorged, its functions interfered with, and the capsule gets 
unnaturally distended, without the power of contraction. 
We can readily understand why, if the functions of the liver 
be inactive or overdone, the spleen will become distended and 
its function suspended, the blood will suffer by being retarded 
in these organs ; the changes so essential to its proper elabo- 
ration and renewal will be arrested, endosmotic changes will 
take place from the cells into the surrounding medium, de- 
composition of the organic elements takes place in the spleen, 
the circulating blood becomes loaded with effete matter, and 
is no longer able to nourish the tissues ; in short, the blood 
# M. Bernard. 
