CHAPTER I. 



THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE ADKENALS AS VIEWED 



FROM THE STANDPOINT OF CLINICAL 



PATHOLOGY. 



SIMILARITY OF THE EFFECTS OF REMOVAL OF THE ADRENALS 

 IN ALL VERTEBRATES, INCLUDING MAN. 



in 1856, demonstrated the physiolog- 

 ical importance of the suprarenal capsules by showing that 

 removal of these organs from animals was soon followed by 

 death. To offset the conclusions of Phillipeaux and Gratiolet, 

 who ascribed death to secondary involvement of the central 

 nervous system, he extended his researches, 2 and showed, first, 

 that transfusion of blood taken from a normal animal into a 

 dying, decapsulated animal brought the latter to life, and, 

 second, that the blood of a dying, decapsulated animal was 

 poisonous to another decapsulated animal, the life of the latter 

 being shortened by eight hours as compared to the average 

 longevity of other animals similarly mutilated. 



A certain degree of antagonism to Brown-Sequard's con- 

 clusions still prevails among a limited number of investigators, 

 who ascribe death in animals from which both adrenals have 

 been extirpated to surgical shock: a view apparently sustained 

 by the close relationship that exists between these organs and 

 the sympathetic system. That such may be the case under some 

 circumstances: i.e., the use of an animal debilitated by starva- 

 tion or rough handling, lack of dexterity in the extirpation of 

 the organs, is to be surmised; but when all features that tend 

 to compromise the issue are absent, there appears to be no 

 ground for the view that shock is the cause of death in decap- 

 sulated animals. As shown by Langlois, 3 no marked symptoms 

 usually occur during the first twenty-four hours. The fatal 



1 Brown-Sequard: Comptes-Rendus de 1'Academie des Sciences, vol. xviii, 

 1856. 



2 Brown-Sequard: Journal de Physiologic, vol. i, 1858. 

 Langlois: Archives de Physiologie norm, et path., vol., 1897. 



i (3) 



