PREPARATION OF CORTICAL HORMONE 245 



follow the administration of excessive quantities of the cortical 

 hormone to normal animals. The claims of Britton and his 

 collaborators that the hormone produces changes in the blood 

 sugar 89 or the functional activity of the reproductive system 127 

 have been shown to be erroneous. 267,321 Other effects which 

 have been described are also probably to be attributed to the 

 presence of impurities present in the extracts. The adrenal 

 cortical hormone, as judged from preliminary studies of its 

 chemical nature, is of relatively small molecular weight, and 

 any excess in the body is probably rapidly destroyed or ex- 

 creted in the urine. As long as the hormone is administered 

 orally, the danger of toxic effects from slight amounts of 

 epinephrine or other impurities is also minimized. For pa- 

 renteral administration, only highly purified extracts free from 

 phenolic derivatives, epinephrine, histamine, choline, and ex- 

 traneous lipids should be employed. Except in severe crises 

 or where oral therapy is impossible, frequent, divided doses 

 given orally should furnish all the requirements of the organism 

 for the adrenal cortical hormone. 



CHEMISTRY OF THE CORTICAL HORMONE 



Several preliminary reports have been made of the isolation 

 of the adrenal cortical hormone in crystalline form. How- 

 ever, it is unwise to accept any product as the hormone until 

 detailed evidence is presented to show that the compound is a 

 chemical entity and not a mixture of substances and that, 

 when administered to a completely adrenalectomized animal, 

 the crystals supply a complete replacement therapy. No 

 complete report of such evidence has as yet been published. 

 Kendall 349 in a preliminary communication states that the 

 hormone has the empirical formula C 2l H340 5 but Wintersteiner 

 and Pfiffner 682 isolated what is apparently the same compound 

 and found it to be inactive. More detailed and convincing 

 evidence must be presented before we can accept the cortical 

 hormone as having been obtained in crystalline form. The 



