968. CONTINUATION CONCERNING THOSE WHO CONSTITUTE THE PROVINCE OF THE RENAL CAPSULES The function of the succenturiate glands is universal in the fetus, because they perform the function of many viscera which in the meanwhile lie dormant. Afterwards they perform the office of attracting the purer blood when it is about to circulate, lest it should be absorbed by the spermatic vessels, and by a shorter circle pour it into the [vena] cava, and so into the heart. It then vivifies the blood from this region also, just as the cerebrum vivifies it from the upper region. This is the case so long as the spermatic vessels, or the genital organs, are [not] acting powerfully. But when these members do act powerfully and snatch away the better parts of the blood, then the renal capsules are deprived of this vital blood, and thus the purer serum is snatched away from them.