236 THE INTERNAL SECRETIONS—1920 
emotional excitement, when the individual is ready for 
any combat. In Cannon’s own words, “It (adrenin) 
plays an essential role in calling forth stored carbohy- 
drate from the liver, thus flooding the blood with sugar; 
it helps in distributing the blood to the heart, lungs, 
central nervous system and limbs, while taking it away 
from the inhibited organs of the abdomen, it quickly 
abolishes the effects of muscular fatigue; and it renders 
the blood more rapidly coagulable. These remarkable 
facts are, furthermore, associated with some of the 
most primitive experiences in the life of higher organ- 
isms, experiences common to all, both man and beast— 
the elemental experiences of pain and fear and rage 
that come suddenly in critical emergencies.” A little 
further on in the same book Cannon (8) summarizes his 
conclusions in the following important statement: 
“Thus are the body’s reserves, the stored adrenin and 
the accumulated sugar, called forth for instant service, 
thus is the blood shifted to nerves and muscles that may 
have to bear the brunt of struggle; thus is the heart set 
rapidly beating to speed the circulation, and thus also, 
are the activities of the digestive organs for the time 
abolished. Just as in war between nations, the arts and 
industries which have brought wealth and contentment 
must suffer serious neglect or be wholly set aside both 
by the attacker and the attacked, and all the supplies 
and energies developed in the period of peace must be 
devoted to the present conflict; so, likewise, the func- 
tions which, in quiet times, establish and support the 
bodily reserves are, in times of stress, instantly checked 
or completely stopped, and these reserves lavishly 
drawn upon to increase power in the attack and in the 
defense of flight.” 
THE PITUITARY BODY 
If the common conception is correct that the best 
things come in small packages, the pituitary must be 
