GLANDS. 143 



the parenchyma of the organ by delicate processes, or 

 trabeculse, given off from its internal surface. 



On making a section completely through the body 8 rtical 8Ubfitafl ' 

 of the organ it is found to consist of two distinct sub- 

 stances, of which one forms its cortical portion, and 

 the other its centre. The first, or cortical substance, 

 one-half a line to a line in thickness, is of a soft, solid 

 consistence and brownish color, being of a somewhat 

 deeper tint externally than internally. In the fibril- 

 lated tissue which forms its basis are a number of 

 elongated cavities filled with large cells (from yoth 

 to irVth of a line in diameter) and very much infil- 

 trated with fat. 



The fibrillated element of its central or medullary 

 substance is more delicate than that of its outer por- 

 tion, and the cells which it contains resemble exactly 

 the multipolar or caudate cells of the nervous gan- 

 glia. The numerous nerves with which the supra- 

 renal capsule is supplied penetrate this substance, and 

 unite, as Leydig has demonstrated, with the prolon- 

 gations of these nerve cells. We haye'a right, then, 

 in accordance with these facts, to regard this organ 

 as a nervous centre, and to consider its cortical layer 

 as simply a protecting membrane, for the very con- 

 siderable amount of fatty infiltration of its cellular 

 element seems to indicate an arrest of its functional 

 activity.* 



* In one of the most aggravated instances of hysterical temperament 

 that I have ever encountered, the patient, a maiden lady, died, at the age 

 of 84, of cancer. The cancerous deposit involved both supra-renal cap- 

 sules, which were each as large as the closed fist; the right, which was 

 somewhat the larger, having imbedded itself firmly in the under surface 

 of the liver. There was also a cancerous mass in the posterior wall of 



