SUPRA-RENAL CAPSULES. 



831 



In man the cortical substance appears to 

 be composed of an innumerable quantity of 

 completely shut glandular vesicles, which are 

 united into a mass by the ensheathing coats 

 previously mentioned. At the first glance 

 one might easily imagine that they were not 

 gland-vesicles, but tubes which, lying close to 

 each other, take a radiating course from the 

 centre towards the periphery. It is only at 

 either margin of the cortical substance that 

 the individual small roundish vesicles can be 

 verified. By more careful examination, we 

 can assure ourselves (as was first stated by 

 Ecker) that this tubular appearance is only 

 apparent, and that it is caused by the glan- 

 dular vesicles being arranged in rows, so as to 

 cover each other like the tiles of a roof. In 

 this manner the vesicles of a row, especially 

 when they are filled with dark contents, appear 

 like a tube, with a blind termination at each 

 extremity. The observation just mentioned 

 can be best made if the preparation be treated 

 with a dilute solution of an alkali. It will be 

 thus seen that these vesicles of the supra- 

 renal capsules are surrounded by and con- 

 structed of a fine, structureless, transparent 

 membrane, to the thickness of which we are 

 unable to assign any measurement, and which, 

 even by the use of the highest magnifying 

 pow ers of the microscope, appears as only a 

 simple line. This structureless membrane, 

 which modern observers have shown to be 

 a constituent of all glands with the single 

 exception of the liver, we shall indicate by 

 the name of the " membrana propria" It is 

 especially distinguished by the fact, that it is 

 not attacked by the dilute alkalies, as caustic 

 potash, and ammonia, but preserves exactly 

 its original appearance ; while the contents of 

 the gland are in general completely dissolved 

 by these agents. The use of these applica- 

 tions cannot be too much recommended in 

 examining the glands, as for instance those of 

 the stomach, intestine, &c. a fact which has 

 been taught me by repeated experiments. 

 The gland-vesicles of the human supra-renal 

 capsules exhibit considerable differences of 

 size; besides which, their form is wont to 

 vary in some degree. The smaller vesicles 

 are roundish, and have a diameter of 8 to 

 12-lOOOths of a line; the larger of these, 

 which seem elongated, have a length of 18 to 

 25-1000ths of aline, with a breadth of 10 to 

 15-lOOOths. The smallest of these vesicles 

 occur in the greatest numbers at the limits of 

 the medullary substance ; while, on the con- 

 trary, the larger and more elongated vesicles 

 generally occupy its middle. The glandular 

 contents, which are surrounded by the vesicles, 

 appear, by a low magnifying power, as a dense 

 pap-like mass, which seems to be white by 

 reflected, and dark by transmitted light, and 

 consist of granules. Nevertheless on the 

 application of a powerful lens four consti- 

 tuents maybe distinguished; namely, (I) 

 very fine molecules, (i) fatty granules, (3) 

 nuclei, and finally, (4) cells in different stages 

 of their development. 



(1) The fine elementary granules constitute 



by far the great mass of the contents. They 

 are dissolved by alkalies, but alcohol and 

 ether do not effect their solution, and they are 

 little dissolved by acetic acid ; so that they 

 would thus seem to consist of an albuminous 

 substance, or of a so-called protein-com- 

 pound. They are immeasurably minute, 

 and in this respect resemble the pulverulent 

 molecules which cause the white colour of 

 the chyle.* Their quantity in the gland- 

 vesicles is so large that they render viscous 

 their fluid contents. It is only on the appli- 

 cation of water, that they aggregate them- 

 selves into masses or flocculi : previously to 

 this they pervade the viscid fluid with the 

 greatest uniformity. We will select for them 

 the name of pulverulent molecules. 



2. The fatty granules are usually met with 

 in considerable quantity, and sometimes they 

 are very numerous. As may readily be ima- 

 gined, they are of very different diameters, and 

 range gradually from the smallest granules, 

 through larger ones, to small drops of fat. 

 The yellow colour of the cortical substance is 

 due to this constituent. 



3. The nuclear structures appear united 

 into a granular mass. They have an average 

 size of 3 to 4-1000ths of a line, a form which 

 is usually roundish and less frequently oval, 

 and they belong to the variety of the so-called 

 "granular" nuclei; i.e. to those which are 

 formed of a granular mass, and are not vesi- 

 cular. The substance of these nuclei is in- 

 soluble in dilute acids, but is completely dis- 

 solved by the application of potash. Ecker 

 has made the interesting observation, that in 

 the embryo the granular nuclei are no longer 

 to be met with, but that their nuclei are ra- 

 ther vesicles ; that is, that they possess a wall, 

 which encloses a more or less fluid mass, in 

 which are contained one or two small punc- 

 tiform nucleoli. The same condition also 

 obtains in the nuclei of other embryonal 

 tissues. 



4-. Part of these nuclei are experiencing a 

 transition to cell development, so as to form 

 a constituent of perfect cells. The metamor- 

 phosis to the cell-form begins by a part of 

 the finely granular mass arranging itself 

 around a nucleus. Little clusters are thus 

 formed, each of which contains a nucleus. 

 The outer surface of such a mass then 

 becomes hardened, so that the most super- 

 ficial molecules form a wall or shell, the 

 cell-membrane ; thus the cluster becomes 

 a cell. So that from the fine pulverulent 

 molecules proceed both the cell and the 

 cell-membrane. In conformity with this state- 

 ment, a microscopic examination of the ex- 

 pressed contents of the gland-vesicles reveals 

 nuclei, surrounded by irregular flocculi of fine 

 granular substance (b, fig. 542.), and other 

 nuclei, around which this latter Mibstance has 

 formed itself into a well-defined, round, or 

 oval mass of 6 to 9-1000ths of a line in dia- 

 meter (c,fig. 542.). Finally, other masses 



* Compare with this the experiments of II. lUiil- 

 Icr, in Hcnle uml I'feuffer's Zeitschrift fiir ratio- 

 nclle Mcdizin, 1845, iii. S. 299. 



