1812 



lit MAN ANATOMY. 



Irv 



excretory ducts, seem to justify the inclusion of the coccygeal body, at least, pro- 

 ually, among the organs of internal secretion, as suggested by Walker. 



THE AORTIC BODIES. 



These temporary organs were described by Zuckerkandl ' a few years ago and 

 are also known as the bodies of Zuckerkandl. According to their discoverer, as 

 found in the new-born child, they are a pair of small narrow bodies that lie upon the 

 anterior surface of the abdominal aorta, opposite the origin of the inferior mesenteric 

 ig. 1537), in close relation with the aortic plexus of the sympathetic nerves. 

 Although usually separated, in about 15 percent, of the bodies examined, in which 

 tlu-y were invariably present, the bodies were joined by an isthmus into a horseshoe- 

 shaped organ of varying dimensions. 



FIG. 1537. The right body is usually the larger, 



with an average vertical length of 1 1.6 

 mm. the corresponding dimension of 

 the left body being 8. 8 mm. The ex- 

 tremes of length for the right body 

 are from 8-20 mm., and of the left 

 one from 3-15 mm. The width is 

 about one-fifth of the length, and the 

 thickness something less. The sur- 

 face of the little organ is smooth and 

 its color light brown. Whilst its 

 consistency is about the same as that 

 of the neighboring lymph-nodes, the 

 body is softer than the adjacent sym- 

 pathetic ganglia. The aortic bodies 

 are essentially organs of fcetal life or 

 at most of early childhood, and in 

 the adult they are represented by 

 mere atrophic remains (Zucker- 

 kandl). 



The structure of the aortic 

 body includes a fibrous capsule, which 

 is prolonged into the interior as con- 

 nective tissue strands that accompany 

 the numerous blood-vessels entering 

 the organ. The arteries, minute 

 twigs from the aorta, the inferior 

 mesenteric and sometimes the sper- 

 matic, break up into a rich capillary 

 net-work whose wide meshes are 

 filled with closely packed cells of 

 varying size. These are polygonal, 



spherical or cuboidal in form and distinguished in many cases by exhibiting 

 the peculiar color reaction. ,,fter treatment with the chrome-salts, entitling them 

 to I,,- ,-lassrd as , hromamne cells. According to the observations of Zucker- 

 kandl, the uenetic relations of the sympathetic ganglia, the medulla of the supra- 



RAB \ 



ftp 



lei 



Aortic boli,s,,t n<-iv-tx>rii child : AM/.'. l.A ff, right 

 nil left aortic lx.<li<-s ; ,;, aorta ; ini, inferior n,- 



iiiiKin iliac ; ;, . inferior cava ; 

 'pathetic plexus ; 

 , ureter. ,-rkandl.) 



nd til-- aortic mdrs are HUM intimate, since these various structures are 



derivatives ol a continuous primary cell mass. In consideration of this association 



ami the constant presence Of the distinctive chromatnne cells, it is highly probable 



hat the aortic bodies are to IK- regarded, along with the medullary portion of the 



arotod bodies, as appendages or paraganglia of the sympathetic. 



'\Vrluihllungender Anatom. Gesellschaft, 1901. 



