SUPEAEENAL CAPSULES. 413 



lobular arteries, receiving capillaries from the cortical substance, and 

 also the straight veins of the pyramids, which commence in a beautiful 

 plexus {vjj, fig. 29 G) around the orifices of the tubuli on the surface of 

 the papilljfi. The venous trunks then proceed, in company with the 

 arteries, through the cortical septula between the pyramids, to the sinus 

 of the kidney. Joining together, they escape from the hilus, and 

 ultimately form a single vein, which lies in front of the artery, and 

 ends in the inferior vena cava. 



lymphatics. — The lymphatics of tne kidney are numerous, con- 

 sisting of a superficial set forming a plexus in the fibrous capsule, and 

 of deep lymphatics which issue from the hilus with the blood-vessels. 

 According to the researches of Ludwig and Zawaryldn, there appears to 

 be a network of freely intercommunicating lymphatic spaces between 

 the tubules, in communication both with the lymphatics of the surface 

 and those which issue with the blood-vessels at the hilus. These spaces 

 are similar to those previously found by Ludwig and Tomsa in the 

 testicle. They are most abundant in the cortical substance. 



Herves. — The nerves which have been traced into the kidneys are 

 small. They come immediately from the renal plexus and the lesser 

 splanchnic nerve, and contain filaments derived from both the sympa- 

 thetic and cerebro-spinal systems. They may be traced accompanying 

 the arteries as far as their finer branches, but it is uncertain how they 

 end. 



Intertubular Stroma. — Between the tubules and vessels of the 

 kidney, although they are disposed closely together, a small amount of 

 interstitial substance of the nature of connective tissue is found. It 

 has a fibrous character in the vicinity of the chief ramifications of the 

 blood-vessels. Fibres are likewise described by Ludwig and Zawarykin 

 as passing around the Malpighian corpuscles, and others by Henle, 

 coiling around the tubes of the medullary substance. The stroma is 

 more marked in the cortical substance, where it consists mainly of con- 

 nective tissue corpuscles, than in the greater part of the medullary ; 

 but according to Henle it is very abundant towards the apices of the 

 papillce. It is much more abundant in animals than in man, and in 

 the human kidney is more apparent in the young than in the adult, and 

 also much richer in corpuscles (fig. 294) ; in this respect resembling 

 the connective tissue generally. 



Among n-r'ding.-: on the kidney, the following may be here ref en-ed to : — Bowman, 

 in Philos. Trans. 1842 ; Henle, Zur Anatomie der Nieren. Gottmgen. 1862, and in 

 his Handbuch : Ludwig and Zawarykin, in Wiener Acad. Sitzungsbericht. vol. 

 xlviii. 1864 ; Chrzonszczewsky, in Virchow's Archiv. xxxi. 1864 ; Schweigger- 

 Seidel, Die Nieren des Menschen und der Saiigethiere, Halle, 1865 ; Southey, 

 in St. Bartholomew's Hosp. Eeports, 1865 ; Heidenhain Arch. f. Miki-. Anat. x. 

 1874. Also, on the stroma, Beer, Die Bindesubstanz d. menschlichen Nieren, 

 Berlin, 1859. 



SUPRARENAL BODIES. 



The suprarenal bodies or capsules, or suprarenal glands (capsulm 

 atraUlarim seu renes succenturiati of old anatomists), are two flattened 

 bodies, each of which has a somewhat crescentic or bent triangular 

 shape, and surmounts the corresponding kidney (fig. 299). The iqypcr 

 border, convex and thin, is often considerably elevated in the middle so 



