a. [ad. mod.L. corticālis, f. cortex bark: see -AL.]
1. a. Bot. Belonging to the cortex or external part of some member or organ of a plant, as the bark, the rind of a fruit, etc.; spec. belonging to or forming the cortex or outer part of the fundamental tissue. (Opposed to medullary.)
1671. Grew, Anat. Plants, I. ii. § 3. Of the Root … The next Part is the Cortical Body, which, when it is thin, is commonly called the Barque. Ibid., I. App. (1682), 34. Cortical Thorns are such as those of the Rasberry Bush, being not … propagated from the Lignous Body, but … wholly from the Cortical and Skin.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 331. This thallus is formed of a cortical and medullary layer.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner. & Ferns, 520. Nägeli has called this external limiting zone of the bast-layer the cortical sheath, a term corresponding to medullary sheath, used for the internal boundary of the wood.
b. Anat. and Zool. Belonging to or forming the superficial part or investment of an animal body or organ; esp. of the brain, the kidneys, the teeth, the hair. (Opposed to medullary.)
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 302. Assigning the cortical part for generating Spirits, and the seat of Memory.
1741. Monro, Anat. Bones (ed. 3), 160. The cortical Substance at the Base of the Grinders is thinner than in any other Teeth.
1748. Hartley, Observ. Man, I. i. 7. The Nerves arise from the medullary, not the cortical Part.
1874. Carpenter, Ment. Phys., I. ii. § 87. In the Cerebrum they [the Nerve-cells] are spread-out on the surface, forming an external or cortical layer.
1881. Mivart, Cat, 23. The central part of the hair, or pith, is less dense than its rind, or cortical substance.
† 2. fig. External, superficial: cf. CORTEX 1. Obs.
1685. H. More, Paralip. Prophet., 198. The Cortical or literal sense is … most obvious.
1740. Cheyne, Regimen, 136. The literal and cortical Meaning and Use, may be fitted to elementary and initiating persons.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, viii. 141. The spleen will hereafter … I anticipate … be found to be cortical and caducous.
Hence Cortically adv., in relation to, in or upon, the cortex or external part.
1870. Rolleston, Anim. Life, 256. Cortically placed granules.
