Henry Gray (18251861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.
of the kidney be made from its convex to its concave border, it will be seen that the hilum expands into a central cavity, the renal sinus, this contains the upper part of the renal pelvis and the calyces, surrounded by some fat in which are imbedded the branches of the renal vessels and nerves. The renal sinus is lined by a prolongation of the fibrous tunic, which is continued around the lips of the hilum. The renal calyces, from seven to thirteen in number, are cup-shaped tubes, each of which embraces one or more of the renal papillæ; they unite to form two or three short tubes, and these in turn join to form a funnel-shaped sac, the renal pelvis. The renal pelvis, wide above and narrow below where it joins the ureter, is partly outside the renal sinus. The renal calyces and pelvis form the upper expanded end of the excretory duct of the kidney.
The kidney is composed of an internal medullary and an external cortical substance.
The medullary substance (substantia medullaris) consists of a series of red-colored striated conical masses, termed the renal pyramids, the bases of which are directed toward the circumference of the kidney, while their apices converge toward the renal sinus, where they form prominent papillæ projecting into the interior of the calyces.
The cortical substance (substantia corticalis) is reddish brown in color and soft and granular in consistence. It lies immediately beneath the fibrous tunic, arches over the bases of the pyramids, and dips in between adjacent pyramids toward the renal sinus. The parts dipping in between the pyramids are named the renal columns (Bertini), while the portions which connect the renal columns to each other and intervene between the bases of the pyramids and the fibrous tunic are called the cortical arches (indicated between A and A in Fig. 1127). If the cortex be examined with a lens, it will be seen to consist of a series of lighter-colored, conical areas, termed the radiate part, and a darker-colored intervening substance, which from the complexity of its structure is named the convoluted part. The rays gradually taper toward the circumference of the kidney, and consist of a series of outward prolongations from the base of each renal pyramid.
Minute Anatomy.The renal tubules(Fig. 1028), of which the kidney is for the most part made up, commence in the cortical substance, and after pursuing a very circuitous course through the cortical and medullary substances, finally end at the apices of the renal pyramids by open mouths, so that the fluid which they contain is emptied, through the calyces, into the pelvis of the kidney. If the surface of one of the papillæ be examined with a lens, it will be seen to be studded over with minute openings, the orifices of the renal tubules, from sixteen to twenty in number, and if pressure be made on a fresh kidney, urine will be seen to exude from these orifices. The tubules commence in the convoluted part and renal columns as the renal corpuscles, which are small rounded masses of a deep red color, varying in size, but of an average of about 0.2 mm. in diameter. Each of these little bodies is composed of two parts: a central glomerulus of vessels, and a membranous envelope, the glomerular capsule (capsule of Bowman), which is the small pouch-like commencement of a renal tubule.
The glomerulus is a lobulated net-work of convoluted capillary bloodvessels, held together by scanty connective tissue. This capillary net-work is derived from a small arterial twig, the afferent vessel, which enters the capsule, generally at a point opposite to that at which the latter is connected with the tubule; and the resulting vein, the efferent vessel, emerges from the capsule at the same point. The afferent vessel is usually the larger of the two