INTERNAL PROTECTIVE SECRETIONS 



59 



(rabbit), salivary and lachrymal secretion, relaxation of the 

 stomach and gall-bladder, increase of biliary secretion, pupillar 

 dilatation, paralysis of the internal sphincters, etc. This shows 

 that suprarenal extract produces sometimes relaxation, sometimes 

 contraction, in different tracts of plain muscle. 



Boruttau, Pal, and afterwards Langley and Bottazzi, showed 

 that the peristaltic movements of the intestine are inhibited by 

 suprarenal extract. When the active principle (known as i par- 

 gangline, Yassale, and adrenaline, Takamine) is applied to an 

 isolated strip of toad's oesophagus or stomach, Bottazzi (1904) 



FIG. IT. Effect of paragangline on plain muscle fibres of toad's oesophagus. (Bottazzi.) 1, injec- 

 tion of extract ; 2, its removal by washing. The curves show the very slow contractions of 

 longitudinal fibres of oesophagus! The cylinder revolves about once in twenty-four hours. 



observed a marked depression of tone in the plain muscle of these 

 organs (Fig. 17). 



To explain the dissimilar action of the same active suprarenal 

 principle on various organs of plain muscle, Langley laid stress on 

 the important fact that the action of this substance almost invari- 

 ably provoked the same effects as artificial stimulation of the 

 sympathetic, which, as we know, induces sometimes relaxation, 

 sometimes contraction in different organs with plain muscle. His 

 pupil Elliott (1905) confirmed this fact with more ample demon- 

 stration by means of adrenaline for all the tissues of the body, 

 whether sympathetically innervated or not. Without entering 

 too fully into details, his conclusions are as follows : 



In all vertebrates the reaction of a given group of plain muscles 

 to adrenaline has the same character as that produced by excita- 

 tion of the visceral sympathetic nerves (lumbar-thoracic) which 



