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LEFT SPITZBEBGEN 32 SPOFFORD, HARRIET PRESCOTT ton to seize the German coal fields, which were thenceforth worked in the interests of Great Britain. In 1919 the Supreme Council in Paris granted Norway suzer- ainty over the archipelago, American holdings were sold to Europeans. SPITZKA, EDWARD ANTHONY, an American physician, born in New York, in 1876. He was educated in the Col- lege of the City of New York and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons. From 1904 to 1906 he was demonstrator of anatomy; from 1906 to 1914 professor of general anatomy at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia; acting also from 1911 to 1914 as director of the Daniel Baugh Institute of Anatomy, Philadel- phia. In the latter year he began the private practice of medicine in New York, specializing in nervous and mental diseases. He has made exhaustive stud- ies of the brains of eminent men, as well as those of criminals. He was a mem- ber of several scientific societies, and during the World War served with the Medical Reserve Corps, reaching the rank of lieutenant-colonel. SPLEEN, one of the abdominal glands at the left side of the body, close to the stomach and pancreas. It is somewhat oval-shaped and concave internally, where it is divided by a fissure named the hilum. Here blood-vessels enter and leave the organ, and the nerves also en- ter. The upper extremity of the spleen is thick; the lower which is in contact with the colon, is more pointed. The average length of the spleen is 5 inches, its breadth 3 or 4 inches, and its thick- ness 1 or V/o inches Its weight is about seven ounces. The spleen is a mesh- work of fibers or trabeculje, supporting a soft matter named the spleen pulp. Microscopically examined, the latter is found to consists of blood corpuscles in a state of disintegration. The spleen substance also includes certain small round bodies, attached to the sheaths of the blood-vessels of the spleen, and named Malpighian or splenic corpuscles. During digestion the spleen increases in size, but under starvation it decreases, and the Malpighian bodies disappear. The spleen is supplied with blood by the splenic artery; its nerves are derived from the right pneumogastric nerve, and from the left semilunar ganglia. This organ may be excised from man and other animals without impairing the health. Most of the diseases of the spleen occur as secondary affections in connection with other diseases, such as ague and leucocythasmia. Amyloid de- generation of the spleen is frequently associated with a similar disease in the liver or kidneys. The spleen is enlarged and increased in density, and it feels to the touch like wax. Splenitis or inflam- mation of the spleen is rare in this coun- try, but is common in tropical malarial districts and is usually associated with ague. The symptoms are pain in the left side, in the hypochondriac region, and considerable tumefaction. The hy- pertrophied spleen may encroach on the stomach, and by upward pressure disturb the heart's action, or it may extend downward into the pelvic region. The diffuse inflammation may terminate by resolution, but pus may form or the spleen may become gangrenous. Tume- faction generally subsides rapidly; but more or less hypertrophy may remain. Atrophy of the spleen is a much less frequent affection. SPLICE. See Knots. SPLUGEN, an Alpine pass in the Grisons, Switzerland; at an altitude of 6,946 feet; connects the valley of the Farther Rhine with that of a tributary of the Adda; and has been used for crossing the Alps since the time of the Romans. The existing road, 24 miles long and 14y2 feet wide, was made by the Austrian Government in 1812-1822. It is protected against avalanches by several galleries and refuges. SPOFFORD, AINSWORTH RAND, an American librarian; born in Gilman- ton, N. H., Sept. 12, 1825. He was a journalist to 1861, when appointed chief assistant librarian of the Congressional Library, and was librarian in 1864-1897, when he became again chief assistant. He was famed for a comprehensive and accurate knowledge of books and their contents, and besides many essays and articles on historical, literary, and scien- tific subjects for the current journals published: "The American Almanac," for several years; and, with others, edited "Library of Choice Literature" (10 vols. Philadelphia, 1881-1888); "Library of Wit and Humor" (1884) ; and "A Prac- tical Manual of Parliamentary Rules" (1884) ; and wrote "A Book for All Readers" (1900). He died Aug. 11, 1908. SPOFFORD, HARRIET PRESCOTT, an American author; born in Calais, Me., April 3, 1835; was graduated at the Putnam Free School, Newburyport, Mass., in 1852. In 1859 she published "In a Cellar" in the "Atlantic Monthly." This story made her reputation, and thereafter she became a regular con- tributor to the chief periodicals of the country. Among her publications are: