On Addison's disease and the function of the suprarenal bodies / by C.A. Mac Munn.

  • MacMunn, Charles Alexander, 1852-1911.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On Addison's disease and the function of the suprarenal bodies / by C.A. Mac Munn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    [Kepriuted for the Author from the British Medical Journal, February 4th, 1888.J ON ADDISON'S DISEASE AND THE FUNCTION OE THE SUPEARENAL BODIES.^ By C. a. MACMUNN, M.A., M.D.Dub., Wolverhampton. No satisfactory explanation has yet been given of the bronzing of the skin and of the peciiliar train of symptoms which frequently accompany disease of the suprarenal bodies, and this is not sur- prising since anatomists and physiologists can give us no idea as to the function of these organs. In this paper I have collected certain bits of evidence which may help to advance the inquiry a stage, even if my arguments should fail to convince the critical. I propose to consider the subject under the following heads: 1, the comparative anatomy and development of the adrenals; 2, their physiological chemistry; 3, theories as to their func- tion ; 4, results of spectroscopic examination of the adrenals and of the urine in Addison's disease; and 5, teachings of patholog5\ Comparative Anatomy and Development of the Su;prarenal Bodies—The great use of the adrenals in the life of animals is proved by their wide distribution among vertebrates; since they are found in mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. In fishes they lie on the anterior or posterior surface of the kid- neys as small paired or multiple bodies, varj'ing in size from that of a pin's head to that of a bean (Eberth).^ In elasmobranchs they form a double row of bodies, arranged segmentally, lying on the right and left of the vertebral column, and consist of a mesoblastic and a sympathetic part. They may be wanting in some teleosteans, but when present they sometimes represent the metamorphosed anterior (lymphoid) part of the kidney, and some- times are closely united with the kidneys. It is probable that in all vertebrates they arise in connection with the pro- or meso- nephros (Wiedersheim).^ In amphibians they form small yellowish granules, and lie either on the ventral side (Anura) or on the inner side (Urodela) of the kidneys, receiving their blood supply both in amphibians and reptiles from the renal-portal vein (Wiedersheim). In reptiles the adrenals are of a bright yellow colour, of an elongated or lobulated form, and lie in close contact with the genital glands (Wiedersheim). In batrachians, saurians, chelo- nians, and birds, the cortical and medullary substances are placed side by side, in rounded heaps or in branched cords or columns (Eberth). In birds the weblike arrangement of the branched cortical and medullary columns is still more distinctly marked (Eberth). In mammals the suprarenal of each side forms a definite and umform mass, lying close to the corresponding kidney, and in it' an ectodermal (that is, sympathetic) medullary, and a mesodermal cortical substance can always be recognised, the two elements here being closely united together (Wiedersheim). TKl\^^\,'^f °''f A*^® Pathological Section of the Birmingham Branch of th« JJntish Medical Association, January 27th, 1688. ^ Strieker's Histology. 3 Comparative Anatomy, Eng. tran., p. 161.