534 



APPENDIX. 



Pituitary Gland. 



THE pituitary body, inasmuch as it presents the usual cha- 

 racteristics of glandular structures, would be more accurately 

 denominated the pituitary gland, a term which conveys its 

 real nature. 



The pituitary gland, in the absence of an excretory duct 

 unless indeed the infundibular process attached to it is to 

 be considered as such would appear to be allied to the 

 vascular glands, while in some other respects it resembles 

 the ganglia of the sympathetic, which also are glandular 

 organs. 



It consists of two lobes, an anterior and a posterior, which 

 differ from each other in size, colour, and consistence ; the 

 former is considerably the larger of the two, is of a yellowish 

 grey colour, and of much firmness and density ; while the 

 latter is grey and soft, and scarcely differs in consistence 

 from the grey matter of the cerebrum. 



As the two lobes differ in colour and consistence, so are 

 they somewhat different in structure also; the anterior or 

 denser lobe is made up of numerous granular cells, very 

 various in form and size, and many of which are in some 

 cases of very considerable dimensions ; these cells lie in 

 meshes of fibrous tissue which separate and parcel them out, 

 each of the larger cells occupying separately an entire mesh. 

 (Plate LXIX. Jig. 8.) The posterior lobe differs from the 

 anterior in the smaller size of its cells, and the less amount 

 of fibrous tissue which enters into its composition. 



The pituitary gland is connected with the brain by means 

 of the infundibulum, the small extremity, of which is attached 



