The physiology and pathology of the spleen / by Charles S. Roy.

Date:
[1881]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physiology and pathology of the spleen / by Charles S. Roy. 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 blood pressure. Very frequently the combination of the Traube- Hering contractions of the spleen and the “ specific splenic ” contractions results in an “ interference ? curve being described by the instrument which records graphically the changes in volume of the organ. Stimulation either of the central end of a cut sensory nerve or of the medulla oblongata causes a rapid contraction of the spleen. The paths by which such vaso-constrictor influences may travel from the cerebro- spinal centres are various. As has been shown, stimulation of the peripheral ends of both splanchnics and of both vagi causes a rapid contraction of the spleen. After section of these four nerves (the vagi in the neck and the splanchnics at their point of passage through the diaphragm) stimulation of a -sensory nerve still causes a contraction of the spleen, showing that vaso-constrictor influences may pass from the cerebro-spinal centres to the spleen by some other route or routes than by the nerves named. It is not my intention, however, to give a resume of the contents of the foregoing pages, and I will only remark in con- clusion, that the fact that section of the principal nerves which convey vasomotor influences from the cerebro-spinal centres to the spleen has so little effect on the rhythmic contractions and expansions of the organ, would seem to indicate that these latter are regulated and maintained by some mechanism contained in the spleen itself.