THE PITUITARY BODY 431 



are active. It has been further shown, by Christian! and others, that if only 

 small portions of the medulla remain, the animal operated upon survives; 

 while if all the medullary substance be removed, even though large portions 

 of the cortex remain, the animal invariably dies. 



Abel has succeeded in separating the blood-pressure-raising constituent 

 of the extract, and calls it epinephrin, C 10 H 13 NO 3 JH 2 O. Adrenalin was 

 isolated by Takamine and assigned the formula C 9 H 13 NO 3 . The hydro- 

 chloride salt is prepared commercially and produces all the vascular effects 

 assigned to the gland. 



Destruction of the suprarenal capsules through disease in man results in 

 the production of a group of symptoms known as Addison's disease. The 

 administration of suprarenal extract to these cases sometimes results bene- 

 ficially, but not so uniformly as thyroid feeding does in myxedema. 



Dreyer has given evidence that the products of this gland are discharged 

 into the blood of the adrenal vein in increased quantity on splanchnic stim- 

 ulation. 



This gland furnishes, on the whole, very conclusive evidence of the pres- 

 ence of an internal secretion that is absolutely necessary to the normal metab- 

 olism of other organs. 



The Pituitary Body. This body is a small reddish-gray mass, 

 occupying the sella turcica of the sphenoid bone. 



It consists of two lobes, a small posterior one of nervous tissue, and an 

 anterior one resembling the thyroid in structure. The gland spaces are oval, 

 nearly round at the periphery, spherical toward the center of the organ, and 

 are filled with nucleated cells of various sizes and shapes not unlike gan- 

 glion cells. 



The function of the pituitary body has not yet been fully established. 

 It has been supposed that the pituitary body has a function associated with 

 that of the thyroid. On the other hand, tumors or other disease of the pitui- 

 tary body have been found after death in association with a disease known 

 as acromegaly, in which the bones and soft parts undergo great hypertrophy. 

 Howell has found that extracts of the glandular lobe are inactive, but that 

 extracts of the infundibular lobe, when injected into the circulation, produce 

 marked rise of blood pressure, increase of vagus tonic ' inhibition, and an 

 augmentation of the heart's force. 



The Internal Secretion of the Pancreas. Minkowski and von 

 Mering have shown that total extirpation of the pancreas is followed in all 

 cases by the appearance of sugar in the urine in the course of a few hours. 

 The amount of sugar which appears is considerable, from 5 to 10 per cent. 

 This experimental disease is accompanied by an increase in the quantity of 

 urine and by abnormal thirst and appetite, and proves fatal in fifteen days or 

 less. These results are obtained only when the entire gland or more than 

 nine-tenths of it have been removed. If one-tenth or more of the gland be left 



