Page:Reflections upon ancient and modern learning (IA b3032449x).pdf/266

 The Spleen was as little understood as the Pancreas; and for the same Reasons: Its Anatomy was unknown, and its Bulk made it very remarkable; something therefore was to be said about it: And what no Body could positively dis-prove, might the easier be either received or contradicted. The most general Opinion was, that the grosser Excrements of the Chyle and Blood were carried off from the Liver, by the Ramus Splenicus, and lodged in the Spleen, as in a common Cistern: But since the Circulation of the Blood has been known, it has been found, that the Blood can go from the Spleen to the Liver, but that nothing can return back again into the Spleen. And as for its Texture, (r) Malpighius has discovered, that the Substance of the Spleen, deducting the numerous Blood-Vessels and Nerves, as also the Fibres which arise from its Second Membrane, and which support the other Parts, is made up of innumerable little Cells, like Honey-Combs, in which there are vast Numbers of small Glandules, which resemble Bunches of Grapes; and that these hang upon the Fibres, and are fed by Twigs of Arteries and Nerves, and send forth the Blood there purged, into the Ramus Splenicus, which carries it into the Liver;