4 INTRODUCTION 



sidered the adrenals, thymus, and thyroid to be of functional 

 importance only in the embryo, while Riegel suggested that 

 the adrenals were responsible for the secretion of fat into the 

 abdominal cavity. 



Morgagni first noted the existence of accessory adrenal 

 bodies in man, an observation already made in the dog by 

 Hartmann. Morgagni also noted the relatively large size of 

 the adrenals in the fetus and deduced that their function was 

 limited to intra-uterine life. He believed that the adrenals 

 filtered a fluid from the blood into the receptaculum chyli and 

 thoracic duct in order to ensure the patency of these vessels 

 during fetal life when no chyle was being derived from the 

 gastro-intestinal tract. 



Winslow gave an accurate anatomical description of the 

 adrenals. Nevertheless, subsequent writers failed to adjust 

 their concepts of the physiological function of the glands to 

 the anatomical facts. Thus Boerhave thought that the glands 

 diluted the blood leaving the kidney. Haller 263 also disre- 

 garded Winslow's description. 



With the 19th century began the study of the comparative 

 anatomy of the adrenals. Meckel 448 , whose friend, Cuvier, put 

 at his disposal the vast zoological collection of the Royal Gar- 

 dens at Paris, examined and described the adrenals of many 

 species. He described the variations in birds and mammals 

 but missed the glands in the reptilia. He noted too the "ab- 

 sence" of the glands in anencephalic monsters 447 and suggested 

 that the adrenals were related to the reproductive system. 

 Retzius, in 1819, first described the adrenal homologues in the 

 Selachian fishes and Stannius 584 , in the teleost fishes. Rathke 

 in 1825 described the true nature of the glands in the amphibia, 

 and Nagel 464 first recognized the adrenal glands in the birds. 



Bergmann in 1839 first noted the relation of the adrenal 

 medulla to the nervous system. Meckel 448 , Johannes Miiller, 

 and Rokitansky 535 finally disposed of the idea that the adrenals 

 were related to the kidneys. 



