CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OP ADRENAL SECRETION. G7 



of a drop of a solution of 1 to 10,000 being sufficient to blanch 

 the conjunctiva. It was found to be equally active as a blood- 

 pressure-raising substance, Vaooooo gramme intravenously in- 

 jected into an adult man being sufficient to produce a distinct 

 effect. 



A striking feature that a review of the biochemical work 

 done in this direction discloses is the peculiar property shown 

 by the various preparations of suprarenal gland and its ex- 

 tractives to become oxidized. Abel has found this feature so 

 marked, for example, that it caused him, as we have seen, con- 

 siderable inconvenience. Takamine states that the colorless, 

 aqueous solution of adrenalin is easily oxidized by contact with 

 the air, its color changing from pink to red and eventually to 

 brown. Cybulski also observed that the addition of weak doses 

 of permanganate of potassium destroyed the activity of the 

 suprarenal extract, and held that the office of the active prin- 

 ciple was to sustain the activity of the vasomotor and respira- 

 tory centers, the vagi and accelerator nerves, and probably also 

 the center which maintains the muscular tonus. He also 

 thought that oxidation might account for the temporary effects 

 which injected suprarenal extract produced. His views were 

 shown to be erroneous by Oliver and Schafer, however, and 

 indirectly by other physiologists. Yet, while Cybulski's hypoth- 

 esis is untenable, the remarkable affinity for oxygen shown 

 by suprarenal extractives remains and affords a solid chemical 

 foundation upon which our inquiry can be based. 



By what process could this property to become oxidized en- 

 able adrenal extractives to induce the contraction of muscular 

 tissues which underlies blood-pressure-raising power? Besides 

 their pressure-raising power, these extractives also possess a 

 property which may elucidate some phases of the problem be- 

 fore us, namely: the fact that injections of suprarenal extract 

 counteract, at least for a time, the morbid phenomena wit- 

 nessed after removal of both adrenals. This, in a measure, 

 refers us to the liver, and it may prove profitable to first study 

 the relations of this organ with the toxic phenomena which 

 removal of both adrenals awakens. Especially is this probable 

 since we have control evidence in the fact that a large number 

 of investigators have observed that the toxic symptoms thus 



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