PREFACE AND SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. VU 



Among the subjects which had received attention during 

 our preliminary inquiry was the physiology of the ductless 

 glands. Although the thyroid body had been studied by a 

 larger number of investigators than the adrenals, the latter 

 seemed to us to present a feature directly connected with the 

 problem: i.e., the marked affinity of adrenal extractives for 

 oxygen. We therefore determined to follow the clue this af- 

 forded as far as recorded facts would permit, and to trace its 

 connections beyond the field of physiology if possible. 



Still, we had little else at our disposal than experiments 

 performed in animals to elucidate the intrinsic functions of 

 these organs. Could such experiments be considered as safe 

 guides in our inquiry? We deemed it advisable to ascertain, 

 first of all, whether the physiological functions of the adrenals 

 were sufficiently similar in all vertebrates to warrant the use 

 of experimental data obtained with lower animals in the study 

 of these organs in man. Such proved undoubtedly to be the 

 case, and we cannot but feel that the results of our investiga- 

 tions those we will now submit are based upon solid prem- 

 ises. Indeed, the importance of this fact asserted itself when 

 we were brought to realize that the adrenals could be considered 

 as the key not only to tissue-respiration, but also to the func- 

 tions of all other organs now classed as "ductless glands." And 

 even these developments assumed secondary positions when it 

 became evident that the better-known organs, such as the heart, 

 lungs, liver, etc., were, so to say, subsidiary structures, the 

 instruments, in a measure, of the smaller "ductless glands," and 

 destined to fulfill the mandates of the latter. 



The secretion of the adrenals was traced as far as the 

 pulmonary alveoli, but not beyond. Here it was found to hold 

 in combination the various constituents of haemoglobin, and to 

 endow both the latter and the plasma with their affinity for 

 oxygen. Prevailing views as to the chemistry of respiration 

 were thus radically transformed, and our knowledge of the 

 manner in which the blood-pigments were held together, like- 

 wise. We likewise ascertained that methasmoglobin (haematin) 

 and haematoporphyrm (haematoidin) were the component bodies 

 of haemoglobin thus held in association, and that hsemoglobi- 

 nuria, methaemoglobinuria, and haematoporphyrinuria indicated 



