120 THE ADRENALS AND THE RESPIRATORY BLOOD-CHANGES. 



blood-disintegration and its connection with suprarenal in- 

 sufficiency have been fully emphasized, but an observation of 

 Boinet's already referred to will prove interesting in this 

 connection. Eeferring to the blood of one of the rats which 

 survived removal of both adrenals several months, and in which 

 bronzing had occurred, this author 91 says: "The venous and 

 arterial blood contained a large proportion of black pigment, with 

 crystals of hamatoidin." The same black pigment, we have 

 seen, was also found by him in more or less great quantities in 

 75 per cent, of 109 decapsulated rats; was traced everywhere 

 in the body, and was found similar to that obtained from the 

 bronzed spots of two fatal cases of Addison's disease. But this 

 did not only occur in decapsulated animals, but likewise in a 

 series in which lesions had been caused in the adrenals by 

 means of chemical and bacterial agencies. 



Why should removal of the suprarenal glands be followed 

 by the accumulation of haematoidin in the tissues? Haema- 

 to'idin-bilirubin being a derivative of haemoglobin, we are again, 

 and from another direction, led to the conclusion that the supra- 

 renal glands supply a secretion which serves to hold in com- 

 bination the various constituents of haemoglobin. 



THE SECRETION OF THE ADRENALS AND THE 

 RESPIRATORY PROCESS. 



That the secretion of the adrenals can endow the hasmo- 

 globin-molecule with its power to take up oxygen seems to us 

 beyond question. Indeed, removal of the adrenals of a normal 

 animal does not remove the various constituents of haemoglobin 

 from its organism. The iron to which the affinity of the blood- 

 pigment for oxygen is now ascribed, and all of the other ele- 

 ments whose chemical affinity is supposed to suffice for the 

 holding together of the haemoglobin-molecule, are present. 

 The surroundings of all these constituents are not changed; 

 corpuscles, plasma, temperature are present. Why, therefore, 

 do they not, in virtue of their affinity, hold together? When 

 the suprarenal glands are removed we not only have an accu- 

 mulation of haemato'idin and other pigments in the blood, but 



^Boinet: Marseille Medical, April 15, 1896. 



