SECT. 1 9 1.] THE SUPRARENAL CAPSULES. 42 T 



Briffhfsehe Nierenkrankheit, 1851. A. Lang, De adipe in urina ct renibu 

 gontento. Dorp., 1852, Diss. V. Ellis, On the Muscular Structures in the 

 Urinary and certain of the Generative Organs, Med. Chir. Trans., 1857, p. 327. 

 Virchow, Bern. u.d. Oirculationsverh. in den Nieren, Archiv.fur pathol.Anat. 

 XII., p. 310. C.E. Isaacs, On the Minute Anatomy of the Kidney ',from the New 

 York Journal, in Schmidt's Jahresber., 1857, p. 155. A. Ecker's Icon. Phys., 

 Tab. VIII. — Besides the foregoing, the well-known Handbooks of Anatomy 

 should be consulted, especially those of Henle, Muller, and myself; also the 

 writings of Yai i.min and Eathke on the Development of the Gland (Rathke, 

 Abh. z. Entir.. II., p. 97. J. Muller, Dc Gland sec. struct.) ; and lastly, 

 Reichert, in the Jahresberichte of 1846 and 1849. 



Of the Suprarenal Capsules. 



§ 191. The suprarenal capsules, glandulae suprarenales, are 

 double organs, which in structure are most nearly allied to the 

 vascular glands. Their function is entirely unknown. Each supra- 

 renal capsule possesses a pretty firm but thin investment of con- 

 nective tissue, which surrounds the whole organ, and is connected 

 by numerous processes with the proper parenchyma. This is com- 

 posed of a cortical and medullary substance. The former, subst. 

 corticalis, is rather dense, %" to \'" thick, tearing slightly in the 

 direction of the thickness, and presenting, when torn, a fibrous 

 appearance. Its colour is for the most part whitish-yellow or 

 yellow, usually passing, however, in the innermost third, into 

 brownish-yellow or brown, so that we distinguish upon section 

 two layers, an exterior, broad, lighter layer, and an interior nar- 

 row, dark edge. The medullary substance is, in its normal con- 

 dition paler than the cortex, being greyish-white with a reddish 

 tinge; still, when its numerous veins are filled with blood, it may 

 assume a darker and more venous colour. Its consistence is less 

 than that of the cortex, yet not so very much so as is. usually 

 believed. In amount it is very inconsiderable, being no more 

 than 4"' to \"' thick at the borders and at the superior external 

 extremity of the organ, increasing to 1"' or even 1^'" in the mid- 

 dle and at the inferior internal half. In man, the cortical sub- 

 stance separates in the dead body extremely readily from the 

 medullary substance, and the suprarenal capsule then contains a 

 cavity which may occupy the entire organ. In this cavity there 

 is contained a dirty grumous material mingled with blood, and 

 coming from the half-disintegrated brown layer of the cortex. 

 Along with this, unaltered medulla is also found, but this, too, in 

 rarer cases, is likewise broken down. 



