THE ADRENAL BODIES 241 



Mulon is of the opinion that in the adrenal cortex a complex 

 lecithalbumin, elaborated by the activity of mitochondria, is 

 poured into the blood-stream. This lecithalbumin he regards 

 as the internal secretion of the adrenal cortex. 



There are four views as to the function of the adrenal cortex : 



1. That it is related to growth and development, especially 

 of the sexual organs. 



2. That it has an antitoxic function. 



3. That it plays some part in the elaboration of the adrenin 

 which is found in the medulla. 



4. That the enormous development of the adrenal cortex in 

 the human embryo is connected with the highly developed 

 brain of man. 



It is now tolerably certain that there is an intimate connec- 

 tion between sex characters and the adrenal cortex. Most of 

 the evidence on this point is of a clinical nature. 



Wooley and Bullock and Sequeira reported that tumours 

 or hypertrophies of the adrenal body are sometimes associated 

 with precocious development of the reproductive organs. 



Glynn has given an excellent account of the tumours and 

 rests of the adrenal cortex with their relationships to sex 

 abnormalities. The following is a brief abstract of his classi- 

 fication : 



A. Benign tumours. Cortical. Group 1. Diffuse hyper- 

 plasia passing into 



Group 2. Adenomata, which may be bilateral. The cells 

 contain a considerable amount of fat, and their arrangement 

 is like that of the zona fasciculata. 



B. Malignant tumours. Cortical. Group 1. Sarcomata : 

 round-celled often lymphosarcoma, i.e., small cells with an 

 alveolar arrangement. These are common in children ; espe- 

 cially males between the ages of two and three. 



Group 2. Hypernephroma or mesothelioma, a tumour 

 having large polyhedral epithelial cells, recalling the structure 

 of the adrenal cortex. 



Hyperplasia of the adrenal gland or of accessory adrenals is 

 frequently associated with pseudohermaphroditism. The great 



pletely chromated in the same time that is required to chromate a large lipoid 

 droplet. Ciaccio's technique is, however, a valuable method for the study of 

 the fatty substances in the tissues, though it gives only a rough distinction 

 between neutral fats and lipoids. 



