THE ADRENAL BODIES 123 



6. Tabular Statement of Chief Facts in Comparative 

 Anatomy of the Adrenals 



The table l on page 126, modified from Poll, will render 

 clear the chief facts in the comparative anatomy of the 

 adrenal system. 



In concluding this section we would call special attention to 

 Figs. 37 and 38, which give in a diagrammatic form a com- 

 parison of the adrenal representatives in Elasmobranch fishes 

 and in mammals respectively. 



C. Development of the Adrenals 



Balfour expressed the view that "in Elasmobranch fishes 

 we thus have (1) a series of paired bodies, derived from the 

 sympathetic ganglia, and (2) an unpaired body of meso- 

 blastic origin. In the Amniota these bodies unite to form the 

 compound suprarenal bodies, the two constituents of which 

 remain, however, distinct in their development. The meso- 

 blastic constituent appears to form the cortical part of the 

 adult suprarenal body, and the nervous constituent the medul- 

 lary part." This hypothesis has been fully supported, and 

 the observations leading to it have been completely confirmed 

 by all subsequent work upon the embryology of the adrenals. 

 In the various classes of vertebrates there have been numerous 

 observations, all of them clearly pointing out the totally distinct 



1 In the table, the term " cortical system " has been substituted for " inter- 

 renal system " employed by Poll. Each of the alternative terms has a certain 

 and a similar disadvantage, inasmuch as it refers to an anatomical arrange- 

 ment which is not universal throughout vertebrates, but confined to a single 

 group the term "inter-renal" being only applicable to Elasmobranchs, 

 the term " cortical " being only applicable to mammals. But it seems on the 

 whole preferable to vise the word " cortical," because it refers to the arrange- 

 ment in mammals which will long continue to serve as the standard of com- 

 parison in the organology of the adrenal system. 



Further, as announced previously, it is proposed to use the term " chroma- 

 phil " instead of " chromaffin " or " phseochrome." There is no doubt that 

 in some respects " phaeochrome " is the best word, but " chromaphil " is 

 only a slight modification of the original " chromophil " employed by Stilling, 

 and was suggested to me by Sir Edward Sharpey Schafer. 



It is a pity that we cannot for the " cortical " cells use some name which 

 would describe their staining reaction, or the chemical nature of their contents. 

 But the literature of the comparative anatomy of the adrenals is already 

 overburdened with a complicated and abtruse nomenclature, so perhaps it 

 is best to be content with the term "cortex." 



