Gray and his mysterious spleen
I was moving a bookcase the other day when my copy of Gray's Anatomy fell out and narrowly missed me.
I am sure you will have heard of Gray's Anatomy. There is a popular American medical drama called Grey's Anatomy, spelled with an 'e'. It is a clever title since Gray's Anatomy is one of the most famous medical books.
Generations of medical students have pored over its pages since it was written in 1858. It covers in immense detail every structure of the human body, all in glorious medical Latin.
Henry Gray the author trained at St George's Hospital in London and at the early age of 25 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He wrote his famous book at the age of 31. Sadly, at the age of 34, while looking after a nephew who had smallpox, he contracted the disease and died. At the time he was studying the anatomical effects of infectious diseases on various organs of the body.
One of his other great works was a dissertation On the Structure and Use of the Spleen. This was an extremely useful paper, since the function of the spleen had been a mystery to doctors. In medieval times it had been thought that the spleen concentrated certain vital body fluids or humours, and that an excess of them could result in various types of mental aberration. Anger was one such emotion, hence the expression 'to vent one's spleen.' It was also thought that it could be associated with depression.
Of course, nowadays we know that the spleen has nothing whatever to do with the emotions. It is an important organ of the reticulo-endothelial system – part of the body's immune system. The liver is also part of this system.
The spleen is an organ about the size of a large fist, in the upper left of the abdomen, although it cannot usually be felt, since it is just under the rib cage. It removes old red blood cells from the circulation and also produces and keeps a reserve of these precious red cells in case the body suddenly needs them.
Glandular fever usually causes a reversible enlargement of the spleen. Malaria can enlarge it incredibly, to as much as nine kilos! Surprisingly, it is not essential to life, but if one has had a splenectomy, there is a potential risk of pneumonia. For this reason, people who have had their spleen removed may be offered a vaccine.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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