CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF ADRENAL SECRETION. 



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Oliver and Schafer, seems evident. And yet, notwithstanding 

 these effects, those for instance which are so marked in the 

 arterioles of the frog's web, if we remove blood from an in- 

 jected animal's peripheral vessels, even the larger ones, or 

 blood from those of any animal, or even of a human being, a 

 puzzling fact asserts itself, namely: this blood shows no sign 

 of the presence of suprarenal secretion. How then does it give 

 rise in these remote regions to the phenomena which are un- 

 questionably of suprarenal origin? 



From what has already been stated of the nervous relations 

 of the structures directly influenced by suprarenal extract and 

 its effects upon isolated tissues, the intervention of the nerves 

 as a factor of the process does not even bear a superficial 

 analysis. Another source of inquiry is available, however: i.e., 

 the possibility that the suprarenal secretion has undergone a 

 chemical reaction in the blood, through which it has conveyed 

 to the latter its physiological properties, while losing its own 

 identity. This question can only be elucidated by inquiring into 

 the chemical nature of the suprarenal active principle and the 

 manner in which its biochemical functions are performed. 



One of the first investigators to clearly define the nature 

 of the suprarenal secretion was G-ottschau, 121 who observed, 

 in some of his preparations, projections of the medullary cells 

 into the lumen of the central vein; he was also able to obtain, 

 by slight pressure of the glands, blood which contained proto- 

 plasmic masses. Manasse 122 also found in man masses of 

 medullary cells and even buds of the substance of the supra- 

 renal capsules in the interior of veins, more frequently in the 

 medullary than in the cortical substance. The same peculiari- 

 ties were noted in the horse, the ox, the pig, and the sheep. 

 Medullary tubes, the central portion of which was filled with 

 brown, hyaline masses secreted by a double row of cells seen 

 in their interior, projected into the lumen of the veins, those 

 situated at this point being deprived of their endothelial cov- 

 ering. The brown, hyaline masses were thus secreted by the 

 adrenals and carried into the circulatory stream. A. G. Auld 123 



121 Gottschau: Archiv fur Anatomie und Physiologie, 1883. 



122 Manasse: Revue des Sciences Med. en France et a l'6tranger, July 15, 1894. 

 128 A. G. Auld: British Medical Journal, Oct. 4, 1894. 



