DUCTLESS GLANDS. 351 



ley, 1 and many others. Recently, a very elaborate account 

 of their minute anatomy has been given by M. Grandry. 2 

 The parts examined by M. Grandry were taken from an 

 executed criminal, aged nineteen years, before they had un- 

 dergone any alteration, and were placed immediately in 

 chromic acid. We do not. propose to discuss fully all the 

 minute details or the mooted questions in the anatomy of 

 these parts, for these have very little physiological interest ; 

 and we refer the reader to the authorities just cited for a 

 more complete account of their histology. It is sufficient 

 for us to know that they have no excretory duct, and that 

 their structure resembles that of the other ductless glands. 



Cortical Substance. The cortical substance is divided 

 into two layers. The external is pale yellow, and is com- 

 posed of closed vesicles, rounded or ovoid in form, contain- 

 ing an albuminoid fluid, cells, nuclei, and fatty globules. 

 This layer is very thin. The greater part of the cortical 

 substance is of a reddish-brown color, and is composed of 

 closed tubes. On making thin sections through the cortical 

 substance, previously hardened in chromic acid and ren- 

 dered clear by means of glycerine, numerous rows of cells 

 are seen, arranged with great regularity, and extending, 

 apparently, from the investing membrane to the medullary 

 substance. On studying these sections with a high mag- 

 nifying power, it is evident that the cells are enclosed in 

 tubes measuring from 10 1 00 to -3^-5- of an inch in diameter. 

 Harley is of the opinion that these tubes are not simply 

 bounded by fibrous processes from the external coat, but 

 are lined by a structureless membrane. 3 This view is 

 confirmed by the more recent observations of M. Grandry, 

 made upon perfectly fresh specimens from the human sub- 



1 HARLEY, Histology of the Supra-Renal Capsule*. The Lancet, London, 1858, 

 vol. L, pp. 551, 576. 



4 GRANDRY, Memoire sur la structure de la capsule surrenale de Fhomme et de 

 qudques animaux. Journal de Canatomie et de la physiologic, Paris, 1867, tome 

 iv.j pp. 225, 389. 



3 Loc. cit. 



