GLANDS. 117 



extremities of the convoluted tubes of the kidney, demonstrating, in 

 opposition to the statements of Toynbee, Miiller, Gerlach, Bidder, 

 and others, "that the convoluted nriniferous tubes terminate by 

 forming an expanded extremity, or capsule, which embraces the 

 Malpighian tuft, or coil of capillaries." (p. 401.) 



" This difference of opinion, even among such high authorities, 

 may probably be accounted for, inasmuch as it is very difficult, by 

 employing the usual means of examination, to obtain any minute 

 portion of the organ which will show the tube connected to the 

 Malpighian body. Moreover, in examining any thin section of the 

 kidney (as is usually done) for this purpose, it is to be remembered 

 that the Malpighian body is always embraced in a ring of the fibrous 

 matrix, and that at the neck of the tube, or its commencement of 

 expansion into the capsule, is its weakest part, and where it is most 

 easily, and indeed almost always, torn across, especially when trac- 

 tion is made upon it, as is usually done, in tearing out the specimen 

 with needles. On the contrary, by using scrapings of the organ (as 

 recommended) agitated in water, which softens and removes many 

 of the adhering portions of the matrix, which last holds and confines 

 the Malpighian body, this can be washed out, and not unfrequently 

 with the convoluted tube attached to it." (See plates 15, 16, 19, 

 20, 21, and 22.) p. 404. 



In relation to the 'fibrous matrix ' of the kidney, mentioned in 

 the last quotation, nothing is said in the text. It is the more impor- 

 tant to supply the omission, as this histological element of the organ 

 plays a most important part in many of its diseased conditions. It 

 was first described by Dr. John Goodsir, Professor of Anatomy, 

 Univ. of Edinburgh, in the Monthly Journal of Medical Science, 

 May, 1842 (see also Johnson on Diseases of the Kidney, Lond. ] 852, 

 pp. 16, 321). Its existence has been doubted by some high authori- 

 ties, but the demonstrations contained in Dr. Isaacs' paper, and the 

 numerous views which he gives of appearances presented under the 

 microscope by his ingeniously prepared specimens, place all doubt at 

 rest, and constitute him the highest authority on the subject. 



The following quotations contain the essential points which he 

 has demonstrated ; but for a thorough knowledge of the subject, a 

 perusal of his paper with its admirable illustrations is necessary. 

 " I have never satisfactorily succeeded in exhibiting it (the matrix) 



