On the influence of physical agents on life / by W.F. Edwards ; translated from the French, by Dr. Hodgkin and Dr. Fisher.
- Date:
- 1832
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On the influence of physical agents on life / by W.F. Edwards ; translated from the French, by Dr. Hodgkin and Dr. Fisher. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![the office of the spleen to elaborate venous blood, and thus to assist the liver in the formation of bile. My prin- cipal reasons for doubting the accuracy of this suspicion, consists, first, in the fact, that whilst the production of venous blood necessarily attends the process by which every part of the body is nourished and warmed, it is in itself rather unfriendly than salutary, requiring the most uninterrupted provision for its removal: secondly, in the fact, that the supply of venous blood does not appear to be essential to the functions of the liver, since the vena portse has been found passing directly to the cava.] Amongst the objects which yet remain for our investiga- tion, after the persevering research of a vast host of acute anatomists and physiologists who have adorned this coun- try and the Continent of Europe up to the present day, the uses of the spleen may, I believe, still be numbered. In entering on the consideration of this subject, Haller has said, In meras hie conjecturas demergimur obscuriores quam fere alio in viscere. When I recollect the names of those who have already been engaged in this investigation, I am almost induced to fear that I shall be accused of pre- sumption in attempting to meddle with it; but, on the other hand, I am tempted into a field, so far cleared by their labours. It is, I apprehend, perfectly needless for me here to say any thing of the structure or situation of the spleen ; but, before attempting to explain the office which, I conceive, this viscus is destined to perform, I may, perhaps, be al- lowed hastily to glance at the theories which have already been advanced. Some of them are, however, almost too ridiculous to deserve notice. One while it was considered the seat of melancholy, then of merriment; while soma have held that it was connected with generation. Aristotle G G](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2195477x_0473.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
