Capsule
The word
capsule (from the Latin
capsula, a small box), has many similar meanings in English:
- In BOTANY
a capsule is a type of dry fruit
as in the poppy, iris,
foxglove, etc.
''See Capsule
(fruit).
- In MEDICINE
the word capsule is used for a small gelatinous case enclosing
a dose of medication.
- Capsules, meaning a metal cap or cover on bottles and
jars as on wine bottles,
were historically made of lead, and protected the cork
from being gnawed away by rodents
or infested with cork weevil. Because of research showing that trace amounts
of lead could remain on the lip of the bottle, lead capsules were slowly
phased out, and by the 1990s, most capsules were made of aluminum foil or
plastic.
- In ANATOMY
the term capsule is used to denote a cover or envelope
partly or wholly surrounding a structure. Every diarthrodial joint possesses
a fibrous or ligamentous capsule, lined with synovial membrane, attached
to the adjacent ends of the articulating bones. The term is particularly
applied to the sac which encloses the crystalline lens of the eye;
to Glisson's capsule, a thin areolar coat of fibrous tissue lying inside
the tunica serosa of the liver; to the glomerular capsules in the kidney
substance; to the suprarenal capsules, two small flattened organs in the
epigastric region; and to the internal and external capsules of the brain.
- See also: time
capsule
