58 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE ADRENALS. 



Cannabis Indica is an interesting drug in this connection, 

 in that it seems to stimulate the adrenals just sufficiently to 

 awaken purely psychical phenomena. This does not prevent, 

 however, the most commonplace evidences of organic disturb- 

 ance. Exhilaration, revery, ecstasy, hilarity, visions, exalta- 

 tion, etc., account for the attraction possessed by some Hindoos 

 for their hashish. But an overdose soon asserts the physical 

 nature of all these phenomena. Tonic contractions, local 

 spasms, a flushed and warm surface, heightened reflex activity, 

 a full and strong pulse appear here as well as after poisonous 

 doses of other drugs. When the crisis occurs, unconsciousness, 

 paresis beginning also in the lower extremities a feeble and 

 rapid pulse, attest to the effects of cannabis Indica or hashish 

 upon the adrenals. 



The list of agents in which such phenomena occur includes 

 all those capable of causing intoxication. They all with more 

 or less emphasis confirm the existence of a direct relationship 

 between morbid cerebral phenomena and the suprarenal glands. 



Polyuria and Anuria. Anuria is commonly observed in 

 animals deprived of both capsules. On the other hand, injec- 

 tions of suprarenal extract, as shown by Swale Vincent, 118 

 cause marked thirst and abundant micturition. This author 

 also observed that the subcutaneous tissues simultaneously 

 became distinctly cedematous. The causes of these manifesta- 

 tions seem clear. The reduced or arrested flow of urine re- 

 sulted, in the decapsulated animals, from the immediate con- 

 centration, in the visceral vascular trunks, of blood drawn from 

 the peripheral capillaries; the increased flow was caused by 

 the intense increase of vascular pressure, which brought on 

 capillary engorgement, not only of the urinary apparatus, but 

 also of the skin. That inordinate capillary pressure underlies 

 such a process is evident, since we not only have the ha3maturia 

 to sustain the assertion, but also the fact, noted by Swale 

 Vincent, that the "subcutaneous tissues were cedematous and 

 blood-stained." 



If we now turn to drugs, an interesting point suggests 

 itself, namely: that the same effects of suprarenal overactivity 



118 Swale Vincent: Journal of Physiologie, Feb. 17, 



