OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHEMICAL ACTIVITY OF THE SPLEEN

Abstract

The administration of small doses of nitrobenzol to dogs by stomach tube causes a production of methemoglobin in the circulating blood. Either the formation of this substance is hastened or its removal is retarded or both reactions are affected by splenectomy. The authors regard the splenic function of blood-destruction as of the greater importance in this reaction and postulate yet another function of the spleen, namely, the active reduction of methemoglobin to hemoglobin.