A curious discussion, persisted in since antiquity, is as to the supposed influence of the spleen on the ability of couriers.

For ages runners have believed that the spleen was a hindrance to their vocation, and that its reduction was followed by greater agility on the course.

With some, this opinion is perpetuated to the present day.

In France there is a proverb, "Courir comme un derate." To reduce the size of the spleen, the Greek athletes used certain beverages, the composition of which was not generally known; the Romans had a similar belief and habit Pliny speaks of a plant called equisetum, a decoction of which taken for three days after a fast of twenty-four hours would effect absorption of the spleen.

The modern pharmacopeia does not possess any substance having a similar virtue, although quinin has been noticed to diminish the size of the spleen when engorged in malarial fevers.
Strictly speaking, however, the facts are not analogous.