THE SUPRARENAL SYSTEM 297 



Toujan found that cortical extract, which had been so com- 

 pletely freed from medullary substance that it ceased to give a 

 chromium reaction, contained a vasotensor substance which did 

 not react to ferric chloride. He regards this cortical product as 

 a crude precursor of adrenalin and gives to it the name of pro- 

 adrenalin ; he identifies it with the granules which are histo- 

 logically demonstrable in the cortical cells, and which are com- 

 bined with a body of fatty nature. He found that, after twenty- 

 four hours in a thermostat, the specific action of cortical extract 

 is very much more intense than that of fresh extract, and he 

 considers this sufficient proof of the formation of adrenalin from 

 the crude substance which he discovered in the cortex. 



The results communicated by Toujan are in need of further 

 confirmation. H. Poll, who expected to be able to confirm " these 

 remarkable findings," reports as follows : " Proadrenalin and 

 adrenalin, cortical extract and medullary extract, all react to most 

 tests; they respond in the same way to oxidizing substances 

 (Battelli's iodine method), they produce glycosuria, contraction of 

 the unstriated muscle fibres, and mydriasis of frogs' eyes." In 

 regard to the latter, Poll mentions that the reaction was effected 

 by Ehrmann ; in the other instances he does not make it clear 

 whether the experiments were his own or not. 



In regard to the glycosuria test, it must be mentioned that 

 Landau also believed that glycosuria originated with a substance 

 present in the suprarenal cortex. In opposition to the well- 

 founded view that adrenalin is present in the medullary substance 

 and in extracts of other portions of the adrenal system, Landau 

 suggests the possibility that adrenalin obtained by Takamine's 

 method is derived from the suprarenal cortex. He states that, 

 after the intravenous injection of cortical extract, death followed 

 rapidly, the same symptoms and post-mortem signs being ob- 

 served as after the injection of medullary substance and of 

 adrenalin. Landau's statements do not, however, bear analysis. 



The only exact proof, up to the present, of the formation of 

 adrenalin after death is supplied by G. Bayer's experiments, and 

 these do not confirm the hypothesis advanced by Toujan. 



Bayer found that, when pounded suprarenal was diluted with 

 putrid material, a stronger and more rapid mydriasis was pro- 

 duced than when the suprarenal was diluted with water. But 

 when employed alone, the putrid fluids also produced mydriasis, 

 probably due to the presence of phenylalanin, and this was fol- 

 lowed by myosis. An increase in the adrenalin contents was not 

 demonstrable by Ehrmann's reaction. The iodine test produced 

 a stronger reaction in suprarenal cells to which putrid fluids 

 were added than in the control cells which were treated with 

 water. Further experiment showed, however, that this result 

 was not due to the post-mortem formation of adrenalin, but to 

 an intensification of the chemical test. According to Bayer, the 



