II. On the structure and uses of the spleen

Abstract

In bringing forward a fact of so much importance, as a communication between the cardiac portion of the stomach and the circulation of the blood, through the medium of the spleen, I shall not take up the time of the Society by offering any preliminary observations, but state the circumstances which led to the discovery, and the experiments by which the different facts have beep ascertained. During the investigation of the functions of the stomach, (in which I have been lately engaged,) it was found that while digestion is going on, there is a separation between the cardiac and pyloric portions, either by means of a permanent or muscular contraction. This fact placed the process of digestion in a new light, and led me to consider in what way the quantities of different liquors, which are so often taken into the stomach, can be prevented from being mixed with the half digested food, and interfering with the formation of chyle.