The Chromaphil Tissues and the Adrenal Medulla. 



503 



observations, laying stress on the point that these chromaphil cells are 

 common and typical elements of the mammalian sympathetic system. 

 Kohn's view is that what is ordinarily called the cortex of the adrenal is 

 in reality the only part which ought to be called adrenal at all, while the 

 medulla is simply the " paraganglion suprarenale," a group of what he calls 

 " chromaHine Zellen," which has become included in the adrenal. 



Zuckerkandl* in 1901 found in the retroperitoneal space at the origin of 

 the inferior mesenteric artery a pair of large chromaphil bodies which he 

 calls " Nebenkorper des Synipathicus." These he found constantly in the- 

 embryo and in the new-born human subject. Biedl and Wieself have 

 demonstrated that extracts prepared from them have precisely the same- 

 powerful effect upon the blood pressure as have extracts of the medulla of 

 the adrenal. 



The extra-capsular chromaphil material is still very imperfectly known- 

 to many writers on the physiology and pathology of the adrenals. Thus 

 EollestonJ in this relation refers to Zuckerkandl's bodies, the carotid body,' 

 the coccygeal body, and some cells in the pituitary. Now the coccygeal 

 body does not contain chromaphil cells,§ nor does the pituitary, so far as 

 I am aware. Zuckerkandl's description applies only to the human subject, 

 and indicates, as we have seen, a ^azV of chromaphil bodies in the retro- 

 peritoneal region of the abdomen. But in the dog and other animals there 

 is to be found a very striking mass (or more correctly a " strip ") of chromaphil 

 tissue (the "paraganglion aorticum abdominale " of Kohn). This is 

 unpaired, and may be called the " abdominal chromaphil body." The 

 existence of this important body is probably unknown to many physiologists 

 and anatomists. Kohn|| has given an excellent account of this body and the 

 other chromaphil tissues in the human subject, and also in the cat and the 

 rabbit, but his paper does not deal with these structures in the dog. In 

 regard to the general anatomy of the chromaphil bodies in the dog the 

 present communication cannot lay claim to any originality, for Kohn has 

 been kind enougli not only to explain to me how to find the bodies, but also 

 to send me illustrative preparations. 



The present paper will, I hope, be useful to experimenters and others, 



inasmuch as it is the only account in the English language of the chromaphil 



structures, and as it records the results of the examination of a large number 



* ' Verhandl. d. Anatom. Ges.,' Bonn, 1901, 15 Vers. ; 'Anat. Anz.,' Erganzungsh. z. 

 1901, Bd. 19, pp. 95—107. 



t ' Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol.,' 1902, Bd. 91. 

 X ' Lancet,' 1907, vol. 2, p. 875. 

 § Stoerk, 'Arch. f. mikr. Anat.,' 1903, Bd. 69. 

 II ' Arch. f. mikr. Anat.,' 1903, Bd. 62. 



