468 ANATOMY IN A NUTSHELL. 



lumbar. The right kidney is a little lower than the left one on account of the 

 liver being above the kidney on the right side. The scar, or the point where 

 the vessels enter and leave the kidney is on the inner border, about its middle. 

 Its vessels bear this relation to one another, the renal vein, renal artery, and the 

 ureter, from before backward. The kidney is entirely stripped of peritoneum. 

 It has above and in front of it the suprarenal capsule which has something to 

 do with the pigmentation of the body and is considered by some as belonging 

 to the sympathetic nervous system. The kidney has the following dimensions, 

 four and three-fourths by two and one-half by one and three-fourths inches. 

 It weighs from four to six ounces. Its nerve supply is from the renal plexus 

 which comes from the solar plexus. Its blood supply is the renal, suprarenal, 

 spermatic, and Lumbar. The right renal vein contains the purest blood in the 

 body. 



The outer portion of the kidney is called cortex, while the interior is called 

 medullary portion. The kidney in the fetus and someof the lower animals looks 

 like a bunch of grapes; it is made up of individual lobes; the point where these 

 lobes coalesce entirely disappears in the adult kidney, giving the appearance 

 of one solid body. The physiolological kidney consists of the uriniferous tubules. 

 These are about one-half million in number and would be fifteen miles in length 

 if placed end to end. This uriniferous tubule consists of (1) a capsule or head, 

 (2) neck, (3) spiral portion, (4) descending portion, (5) loop, (6) ascending 

 portion, (7) distal spiral portion, (8) convoluted portion, (9) irregular portion, 

 (10) arched portion, and (11) a descending portion. (Plate CCLXV.) The 

 capsule, or Malpighian body, takes from the blood the water and lesser salts, 

 while the rest of the tube takes the more important salts from the blood. The 

 medullary portion of the kidney consists of Malpighian pyramids, eighteen or 

 twenty In number, with the apex towards the hilum of the kidney. The apex 

 consists of infundibula, and the infundibula make the calices, the calices form 

 the pelvis and the pelvis opens into the ureter. Between these pyramids is 

 cortex, the same as the cortex of the outer portion of the kidney, but has a 

 special name, called the column op Bertin. That part of the uriniferous 

 tubules consisting of a straight portion and the two spiral portions form what 

 is called the medullary ray, or the pyramids of Ferrein, the base of the 

 pyramid is on the base of the Malpighian pyramid and the apex is towards the 

 periphery. The uriniferous tubules in the cortex form what is called the 

 labi rinth. 



The relations of the right kidney. 



Above. — Suprarenal capsule. 



Ix Front. — (1) Suprarenal capsule, (2) Liver, (3) Duodenum, (4) As- 

 cending colon, (5) Jejuno-ileum. 



Bihim). (1) The last rib, (2) Diaphragm, (3) Quadratus lumborum, 

 (4) Psoas magnus. (Plate VIII.) 



The relations of the left kidney. 



Above. — Suprarenal capsule. 



In Front. — (1) Suprarenal capsule, (2) Spleen, (3) Stomach, (4) Pan- 

 creas, (5) Splenic flexure, (6) Descending colon, (7) Jejuno-ileum. 



