72 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF THE ADRENALS. 



notable increase in the production of carbonic acid: i.e., of 

 oxidation/' Kionka 147 is also stated to have found that "blood 

 taken from the strychninized animal did not absorb oxygen 

 with the avidity of normal blood, although no spectroscopic 

 changes could be discovered in it. We are evidently in the 

 presence of an inordinate and excessive functional manifesta- 

 tion: i.e., an extraordinary increase in the respiratory move- 

 ments, of oxidation, and of C0 2 production. That such is the 

 case is sustained by the fact that this oxygen-laden blood does 

 not absorb in vitro as much as would normal blood. It is 

 further branded as a result of excessive function by the ab- 

 sence of spectroscopic changes. 



The corresponding effect of toxic doses of suprarenal ex- 

 tract is well shown by Swale Vincent, 148 who states: "In cats, 

 by far the most noticeable feature was an enormous rapidity 

 of the respiratory movements in the early stage. ... In 

 one frog the condition induced appeared to resemble that of 

 strychnine or veratrine poisoning. On touching the animal 

 a short series of spasms set in. But that the effects were not 

 due to the spinal cord was shown by its destruction, when the 

 condition of the animal was apparently the same as in another 

 with cord intact." In rats he found that doses of 0.25 to 0.5 

 gramme of dried suprarenal gland produced "quick and shallow 

 respiration." It seems clear that toxic doses of suprarenal 

 extract give rise to increased respiratory activity, and further- 

 more that these effects did not originate in respiratory centers. 

 Neither can the effects of strychnine be asserted to be of cen- 

 tral origin. "On chloralized dogs the respiratory effects of the 

 alkaloid were even more pronounced," writes Wood. The 

 paralyzing effects of chloral upon the medulla are well known. 

 All these facts, collectively considered, seem to strongly sug- 

 gest that dyspnoea and other respiratory phenomena are due to 

 variations, qualitative and quantitative, of the suprarenal se- 

 cretion, and directly associated with the functions of the glands 

 themselves. 



This conflicts with the generally-accepted teachings con- 

 cerning the effects of poisonous blood upon the respiratory 



147 Kionka: Archives de Pharm. Inter., vol. iii, 1898. 



i Swale Vincent: Journal of Physiology, vol. xxii, No. 4, Feb. 17, 1898. 



