VASCULAR GLANDS SUPRARENAL BODIES. 



223 



Fir,. 95. 



suprarenal bodies of oxen, found, amongst other chemical constituents, 

 iuosite, with hypoxanthin, taurin, probably leucin, and an alkaline color- 

 ing matter. The suprarenal bodies are 

 more highly supplied with nerves than 

 any other glaudlike structure in the 

 body. Kolliker counted no less than 

 thirty-three branches proceeding to one 

 of these bodies, derived from the sym- 

 pathetic, pueumogastric, and phrenic 

 nerves, and which, after passing through 

 the cortical, formed a dense plexus in 

 the medullary portion. In both parts, 

 multicaudate ganglion-cells are present. 



160. Though Brown-Sequard 1 found 

 that ablation of the Suprarenal Capsules 

 was uniformly fatal, yet Phillipeaux, 2 

 Harley, 3 and Gratiolet 4 have shown that 

 this effect is rather attributable to hsem- 

 orrhage and the unavoidable injury to 

 the nerves, and especially to the semi- 

 lunar ganglia, attendant upon the oper- 

 ation, than, as Brown-Sequard believed, 

 to the retention of some poisonous sub- 

 stance in the circulation, which it is the 

 office of these bodies to remove. Of late 

 years much importance has been attached 

 to the study of the diseases of these 

 organs, from the observation of Dr. Ad- 

 dison, that such cases are frequently as- 

 sociated with the deposition of pigment 

 in the skin, causing it to assume a deep 

 bronze color. Harley, Parkes, 5 and many 

 others have, however, shown that bronz- 

 ing of the skin may be present and yet 

 the suprarenal capsules be healthy; whilst 

 Dr. Kirkes, 6 Davy, and others have re- 

 corded cases in which disease was present 

 in one or both of these organs, yet no 

 bronzing of the skin occurred. Further 



inquiry is therefore requisite to determine whether the disease of the cap- 

 sules and the discoloration of the skin really stand in the relation of cause 

 and effect. 



161. The development of the Suprarenal bodies also has been studied by 

 Mr. Gray (loc. cit.). 7 They arise in the mesoblast before the seventh day of in- 

 cubation, as two separate masses of blastema, situated between the upper end 

 of the Wolffian bodies and the sides of the aorta ; being totally independent 



Mikroskop. Anal. ; Henle, Handbueh der System. Anat., Bd. ii, 1866, p. 561 ; also 

 Gulliver's Appendix to Gerber's Anat., p. 103, and Fisrs. 266 and 267; Holm, Mole- 

 schott's Untersuch., 1867, Bd. x, p. 456; Arnold, Virehow'.s Archiv, 1866; Eberth, 

 in Strieker's Human and Comp. Histology, vol. ii, 1872, p. 110. 



Vertical section of Suprarenal Capsule of 

 Man: 1, cortex; 2, medulla; a, capsule; 6, 

 layer of external cell masses; c, columnar 

 layer (Zona fasciculata); d, layer of the in- 

 ternal cell masses; e, medullary substance; 

 /, section of a vein. 



2 Cnmptos RendHS, 1856-57. 

 4 Comptes Kendus, 1856. 



1 Journal de la Phys., vol. i, 1858, p. 160. 

 3 Med.-Chir. Kev., 1858, vol. i, p. 209. 



5 Med. Times and Gaz., 1858, p. 564. 



6 Ih., 1857, p. 35; 1859, p. 30. 



7 For a good account of the development of the suprarenal capsules see A. v. 

 Brunn, in Schultze's Archiv, Band viii, 1872, p. 618. 



