i8o6 HUMAN ANATOMY. 



therefore, are supernumerary. The bodies, on the contrary, situated within the 

 broad Hgament, or in intijiiate relations with the epididymis, are probably developed 

 from the atrophic tubules of the Wolffian body, and hence must be regarded as inde- 

 pendent structures. It is said that the suprarenal bodies are sometimes wanting. 



PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS : THE SUPRARENAL BODY. 



Honorrhage into the suprarenal body in new-born infants has been observed 

 (post mortem) in a number of cases. Various opinions as to its cause have been 

 expressed. They have been summed up (Hamill) as follows : (i) weakness of the 

 vessel-walls, normal or abnormal ; (2) traumatism, especially during labor, from 

 pressure 'of the hands in making traction in delivery by the lower pole, and from 

 the frictions and flagellations used to resuscitate the apparently dead-born; (3) 

 asphyxia from delay in the establishment of respiration at birth ; (4) acute fatty 

 degeneration of the vessel-walls ; (5J fatty degeneration of the tissues of the organ ; 

 (6) firm contraction of the uterine muscles, the resistance of the parts traversed, 

 and consequent compression of the inferior vena cava between the liver and the 

 vertebral column, thereby producing congestion and hemorrhage into the non- 

 resistant tissues of the suprarenal gland; (7) convulsions; (8) syphilis; (9) cen- 

 tral vasomotor influence from cerebral lesions ; (10) mechanical squeezing of blood 

 into the part during the process of labor ; (11) too early ligation of the cord ; (12) 

 arrest of the circulation through the umbilical artery from compression of the cord 

 or separation of the placenta ; (13) thrombosis of the renal vein or inferior vena 

 cava; (14) infection. 



Hamill concludes that the first of these seems to be the fundamental anatomical 

 element favoring the occurrence of hemorrhage, that in still-born children prolonged 

 and difficult labor is the exciting cause, and that in those dying later some form of 

 infection is responsible. 



In cases of tumor of the suprarenal body the following symptoms have been 

 noted (Mayo Robson) : («) shoulder-tip pain, probably explained by the fact that 

 a small branch of the phrenic nerve passes to the semilunar ganglia ; {b) pain radi- 

 ating from the tumor across the abdomen and to the back, not along the genito-crural 

 nerve ; {c) marked loss of flesh ; {d) nervous depression with loss of strength ; 

 {c) digestive disturbance, flatulence and vomiting ; {f) presence of a tumor beneath 

 the costal margin, right or left, at first mo\^able with respiration, but soon becoming 

 fixed ; it can be carried into the costo-vertebral angle posteriorly, and can be pushed 

 forward into the hollow of the palpating hand in front of the abdomen. 



Bronzing of the skin is not usual unless both suprarenals are affected. 



THE ANTERIOR LOBE OF THE PITUITARY BODY. 



The pituitary body (hypophysis), although usually described in connection with 

 the brain, to the base of which it is attached by a stalk continued from the infun- 

 dibulum (Fig. 976), consists of two entirely distinct parts which differ both in their 

 genesis and structure. These are the so-called anterior and posterior lobes. The 

 latter, being derived from the diencephalon, is appropriately described with the brain 

 (page 1 130) ; the former, derived as an outgrowth from the roof of the primitive oral 

 cavity, in view of its probable function as an organ of internal secretion, may be 

 here considered, since in certain respects it resembles the thyroid body. 



The anterior lobe, which constitutes the major part of the entire hypophysis, is 

 kidney-shaped and receives the infundibular process in a hilum-like depression on its 

 posterior surface. It increases in size until about the thirtieth year, when it meas- 

 ures in the transverse direction about 12 mm., in the sagittal about 7 mm., and in 

 the vertical 5 mm. The anterior lobe of the hypophysis is light grayish red in 

 color, the po.sterior appearing grayish white. It is surrounded by a well-marked 

 fibrous capsule which forms, even where the two lobes are in contact, a distinct 

 investment. In the anterior part of the lobe, on either side of the mid-line, a con- 

 densation of the connective tissue marks the position of large blood-vessels. Fine 

 processes extend from the capsule inward and form a delicate net-work, rich in capil- 



