1922.] “ Renal Portal’’ System. 159 
ing in full force); (6) allowing for the nature of its réle in the 
bodily economy, the kidney functions in the same way as all 
other glands, and there is no justification for the grotesque idea 
that the kidney glomerulus filters the non-colloids from the blood 
into a space continuous with the outside world (a supposition 
without analogy in any other part of the body in any organism) 
and that a special gland is developed in the walls of the tubule 
to catch as much of this filtrate as is of use to the body as the 
rate of escape of the filtrate allows. The glomeruli are simply 
retia mirabilia, the functions of which are (like those of the 
excessive urine output) and to eliminate the heart beat, and 
which at the same time allow the kidney to be supplied with a 
volume of blood which, relative to the mass of the kidney, is 
probably larger than that supplied to any other organ in the 
body—a supply which it owes to the large calibre of the 
renal artery and its proximity to the aorta. 
e enclosure of the glomerulus by a portion of the tubule wall 
1 have suggested two other purposes which are possibly served 
by, and a proximate cause of, the encapsulation of the glome- 
