204 MAN --AN ADAPTIVE MECHANISM 



transformation the liver in every case in which the 

 brain, the thyroid, the adrenals and the muscles exhibit 

 changes. 



Relation of the Liver to Energy Transformation 



In our experiments we found that all adequate 

 stimuli which affected the brain, the thyroid and the 

 adrenals produced constant and identical histologic 

 changes in the liver. The amount of glycogen in the 

 liver was diminished in every instance in which the 

 brain-thyroid-adrenal activity was manifested. The 

 duration of life after excision of the liver is about the 

 same as after adrenalectomy from several to twenty 

 hours. On the contrary, when the administration of 

 adequate stimuli which ordinarily cause histologic 

 changes in the brain, the liver and the adrenals was 

 preceded by deep morphia narcosis, by excision of the 

 adrenals, by interrupting the adrenal nerve supply, 

 there were no histologic changes produced in the liver 

 and the sugar content was normal. This point was 

 demonstrated by the following experiment : An in- 

 travenous injection of diphtheria toxin was given to 

 each of a number of rabbits. In each of an equal 

 number of rabbits the intravenous injection of an 

 equal dose of diphtheria toxin was preceded by a large 

 dose of morphia. After four hours all the animals were 

 killed and complete autopsies made. Histological 

 examinations of the organs of the animals which had 

 received the diphtheria toxin alone showed striking 

 changes in the brain, the adrenals and the liver, while 

 in the animals in which the injection of diphtheria 

 toxin was preceded by a large dose of morphia, there 



