270 INTERNAL SECRETION 



have shown that tumours and hypertrophy of the suprarenals are 

 associated with pubertas praecox ; and it is believed by many that 

 the suprarenals, and the cortex more especially, exercise an in- 

 fluence upon the genital glands and upon the somatic and psychic 

 development of the individual during puberty. In Addison's 

 disease (Kyrle) and in congenital hypoplasia of the suprarenals 

 (Tandler), there are extensive changes in both the generative por- 

 tion and the interstitial cells of the testicles. According to Elliott 

 and Tuckett, there is no relationship between the suprarenals and 

 the reproductive glands. 



The occurrence of hypertrophy of the suprarenal cortex and 

 of tumours of different kinds is by no means rare. Epithelial new- 

 formations may proceed from the cortical substance of the supra- 

 renal and also ifrom the accessory interrenal tissue. Of these, the 

 most important are the renal hypernephroma, described by Grawitz 

 under the name of struma suprarenalis ; tumours of the female 

 genitals, proceeding from Marchand's accessory suprarenals ; and 

 epithelial tumours of similar structure in other parts of the body. 

 All these pathological findings have as yet, ho\vever, supplied 

 no explanation of the function of the suprarenal cortex. 



The physiology of the interrenal system is at present confined 

 to the investigation of its chemical composition and the more 

 minute study of its structure and of the structural changes which, 

 under special conditions, are observed in the suprarenal cortex. 

 The physiology of the interrenal system as it stands to-day is 

 chiefly the histo-physiology of the suprarenal cortex. 



HISTOLOGY OF THE SUPRARENAL CORTEX. 



The connective tissue sheath of the suprarenal is connected 

 with the centre of the organ by means, partly of thickish strands 

 conveying the nerves and blood-vessels, and partly by delicate 

 connective tissue lamellae which radiate from the periphery to the 

 centre. A short distance from the capsule, these strands and 

 lamellae become connected by cross and oblique anastomoses, and 

 by this means the outer cortical zone is defined. Since Arnold's 

 time this layer has been called the zona glomerulosa. These con- 

 nective tissue processes, some of which are vertical, while others 

 are joined together by means of a portion which curves outwards, 

 enclose long fan-shaped portions, 20, 40 and 60 microns in 

 breadth, which are again divided into smaller roundish spaces by 

 means of transverse processes. It is in these rounded spaces thai 

 the parenchyma cells are situated. In the median portion of the 

 cortex, the radial arrangement of the connective tissue strands 

 become more open, enclosing parallel spaces in which isolated 

 connective tissue septa conveying capillaries are arranged trans- 

 versely and diagonally (zona fasciculata, Arnold). In the internal 

 portion of the cortex, the connective tissue processes become still 



