BOOK V. 



OF THE URINARY ORGANS. 



THE Urinary Organs, (Organa Uropoietica) being destined 

 to secrete and convey the urine out of the body, consist in the 

 Renal Capsules, the Kidneys, the Ureters, the Bladder and the 

 Urethra. 



Of the Kidneys. 



The Kidneys (Renes) are two glandular bodies for the secre- 

 tion of the urine, fixed one on either side of the spine. They 

 are in the back part of the lumbar regions, have their internal 

 edges inclining very slightly forwards, and extend from the 

 upper margin of the eleventh dorsal to the lower margin of the 

 second lumbar vertebra: the right, however, is ten or twelve 

 lines lower than the left, owing to the thick posterior margin 

 of the right lobe of the liver, which presses it downwards. The 

 kidneys are covered in front by the peritoneum and the lumbar 

 portions of the large intestine, but in such a manner as to be 

 separated from them, in corpulent subjects, by a surrounding 

 layer of fat; behind, they repose upon the lower part of the 

 great muscle of the diaphragm, upon the quadrati lumborum, 

 and upon the upper end of the psoae magni muscles. 



The kidney is a hard solid body, of a brown colour; in shape 

 it is a compressed ovoid, excavated on the margin which it 

 presents to the spine, and bears a very strong resemblance to 

 the common kidney bean. Its flat surfaces present forwards 



