REN. 



239 



while the same fibrous membrane is prolonged 

 continuously through the substance of the 



Fig. 147. 



kidney to the surface ; the septa (c,c,c), which 

 thus divide the kidney into the various closed 



148. 



compartments, occupy the position of the 

 original interlobular fissures in the embryo 

 kidney, and are analogous to the deep layer of 

 the fascia with its interlobular prolongations 



which exist in the kidney of the porpoise.* 

 In this instance the tissue has been condensed 

 and thickened by disease. At d, d there may 

 be seen the rounded openings through which 

 the apices of the medullary cones projected 

 into the calyces. The lobulated character of 

 the surface of the same kidney is represented 

 in fig. 148 ; the depressions correspond with 

 the fibrous septa, and indicate the position of 

 the original interlobular fissures ; the con- 

 vexities correspond with the lobules, and 

 have been rendered prominent by a liquid 

 accumulation in the closed cavities formed, as 

 above described, in the substance of the 

 organ.f Reference will hereafter be made to 

 some other morbid conditions of the human 

 kidney which have peculiar characters im- 

 pressed upon them by these interlobular septa, 

 which are in fact the persistent remains of 

 that interlobular cellular tissue, which is per- 

 manently distinct in certain tribes of mam- 

 malia, while in most animals of this class, as 

 in the human subject, it remains as a distinct 

 and easily recognised tissue only during foetal 

 life. In the completely formed kidney it is 

 blended with and concealed by the surrounding 

 tissues, and manifests its presence as it were 

 indirectly, by the peculiar characters which it 

 impresses on the structure of the kidney as 

 shown by the results of injection or in the 

 course of certain pathological changes. 



MINUTE STRUCTURE. In this division of 

 our subject, we have to consider, in succession, 

 the following structures. 



1st, Thejibro-cellular matrix; 2ndly, The 

 tubes, their course, division, and termination ; 

 Srdly, The Malpighian bodies, their connexion 

 with the blood-vessels, and with the tubes ; 

 4thly, The epithelium, in different parts of the 

 surface over which the urine passes, com- 

 mencing with that of the Malpighian bodies, 

 and terminating with that of the pelvis and 

 ureter. 



The fibro- cellular matrix of the kidney has 

 been well and accurately described by Professor 

 Goodsir. J It exists throughout every part of 

 the renal structure. (Fig. 149, c) represents 



Fig. 149. 



a, b, renal cells from the urine, distended with oil ; 

 c, portion of the fibro-cellular matrix, with one 



* Vide ante, p. 233. 



f The drawings are about one-third the natural 

 size ; the preparation from which they are taken is 

 contained in the Museum of King's College. 



J Monthly Journal of Medical Science, May, 1842 



