On the pathology of ague & other intermitting disorders, and on the action of quinine as a remedy for them : being a dissertation preparatory to the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the University of Oxford / by Francis Willis.

  • Willis, Francis.
Date:
1864
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the pathology of ague & other intermitting disorders, and on the action of quinine as a remedy for them : being a dissertation preparatory to the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the University of Oxford / by Francis Willis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    dividing as they subdivide and ramifying with them in the dif- ferent viscera. There is the cceliac plexus of the sympathetic surrounding the arterial cceliac axis, and spreading in secondary plexuses, the hepatic, splenic, and coronary, around the corre- sponding arteries ; and these spread again in tertiary plexuses around the branches of their respective vessels, the hepatic furnish- a gastroduodenal plexus. Another division of the solar plexus, the superior mesenteric, accompanies the artery of the same name, and is distributed with it to the colon as well as to the small intestines. If we follow the splenic artery we find that it enters the spleen by six or more branches, and ramifies in its interior ; “ the smaller branches of the arteries terminate in the proper Bubstance of the spleen in small tufts or pencils of capillary ves- sels,”* and “ the splenic plexus of the sympathetic nerve is con- tinued on the splenic artery and its divisions into the substance of the spleen.”f Here, therefore, wo have the apparatus for pro- ducing and removing congestion of the spleen. Paralyse the splenic plexus of the sympathetic nerve, and the tufts of capil- laries in the spleen become dilated; stimulate the nerve, and the vessels are restored to their natural calibre. We have only to suppose that the Ague poison paralyses the splenic plexus, and that Quinine stimulates it, to understand the production of an Ague cake, and the cure of it by Quinine. That the sympathetic nerve does really influence the circulation through the spleen is proved both by anatomical investigation and by direct experi- ment. Kolliker remarks that the arteries of the human spleen are exceedingly muscular, which sufficiently explains, he says, the dilatation and subsequent contraction of the organ observed five or six hours after the ingestion of food noticed by many observers ; and the very presence of muscular elements in a structure implies that it is subject to nervous influence; for although contraction can be excited in muscle by stimulants applied directly to it, there are reasons for believing that under all ordinary conditions the muscular function is discharged only in * Quain’s Anatomy, vol. iii., p. 214. t Ibid, vol. ii., p. 676.