4 i4 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



If adrenalin be oxidised we get a substance having the 



formula 



HO 



HO/ \ - C . CH 2 . NH CH 3 

 O 



Adrenalon. 



This substance adrenalon has been prepared synthetically by 

 Friedmann, Stolz, and Dakin, and the reduction product appears 

 to be chemically identical with adrenalin in all respects except 

 that it is optically inactive, while the natural body obtained 

 from the suprarenal glands is laevorotary ( a D = — 43 ). 



On testing the physiological action of the synthetic (racemic) 

 adrenalin, and comparing it with that of the natural adrenalin, 

 it is found that the latter acts twice as strongly on the blood- 

 pressure. From this it is inferred that dextro-adrenalin is 

 devoid of action (16). 



(g) Theories as to the function of the suprarenal capsules. — It has 

 already been pointed out that the suprarenal capsule consists of 

 two distinct organs, or perhaps it would be more correct to say 

 of an organ (the cortex) and a portion of a tissue not primarily 

 related to the organ (the medulla, " chromaffin " cells of Stilling 

 and Kohn). As the embryology of these two constituent tissues 

 is so totally distinct, it is probable that we ought to search 

 for a separate function for each, and that we have no right to 

 assume that these functions are of necessity intimately related 

 to each other. All the well-ascertained facts, which appear 

 to point to a definite physiological significance, apply to the 

 medulla — the " chromaffin " cells, and not to the greater part of 

 the dual body (cortex). 



The two chief theories are (1) the " auto-intoxication" theory 

 and (2) the theory of " internal secretion." The former was first 

 clearly stated by Abelous and Langlois, who performed a series 

 of extirpation experiments upon frogs. These authors found 

 that the blood of animals dying as the result of suprarenal 

 extirpation is toxic for other animals which have recently been 

 deprived of their capsules. The symptoms caused by this blood 

 are said to resemble those of poisoning by curari, and the 

 conclusion reached by the French authors was that after 

 suprarenal extirpation one or several toxic substances, the 

 products of muscular metabolism, accumulate in the organism, 

 and that the function of the glands is to remove or destroy these. 



