| RefNo | AP/23/10 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Unpublished paper, 'On the structure and functions of the spleen' by Thomas Gordon Hake |
| Creator | Hake; Thomas Gordon (fl 1839) |
| Date | 20 June 1839 |
| Description | Hake records the various opinions of anatomists on structure of the spleen and suggests that so far only vague and premature inductions have been made. It is generally admitted that the fibrous envelope of the spleen is formed of the external fibres of the splenic vein; and that from the internal surface of this envelope fibrous prolongations are continued into the interior of its substance, giving support to a fine cellular membrane, which is continuous with their edges, and variously reflected so as to constitute cells. Hake concludes that a dilatable cellular tissue exists, containing venous blood, between the granules within which the arteries terminate, and the venules on the outer side of the splenic grains. The venous membrane, which is continued from the cells to the cellules, as well as to the venules, becoming more and more attenuated, but without changing its essential structure, gradually loses its tubular form, and resumes its primitive character of cellular tissue. The artery is limited in its distribution within the granules by a cellular structure, which becomes vicarious of it, and determines the function it has to perform. Finally, Hake offers some observations on the probable functions of the spleen. He considers the opinion which supposes the spleen to be distended with arterial blood as being completely refuted by the evidence derived from his research into its structure. He suggests that the spleen may be a diverticulum for venous blood.
Subject: Anatomy / Physiology
Received 20 June 1839 by Samuel Hunter Christie. Communicated by Francis Kiernan.
Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 4 of Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London [later Proceedings of the Royal Society] as 'On the structure and functions of the spleen'. |
| Extent | 39p |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink on paper |
| Digital images | View item on Science in the Making |
| AccessStatus | Open |
| RelatedMaterial | DOI: 10.1098/rspl.1837.0082 |
| RelatedRecord | MC/3/70 |
| RR/1/85 |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA8168 | Christie; Samuel Hunter (1784 - 1865); mathematician | 1784 - 1865 |
| NA1450 | Kiernan; Francis (1800 - 1874) | 1800 - 1874 |