122 THE ADRENALS AND THE RESPIRATORY BLOOD-CHANGES. 



dences of blood-dissociation, warrant the conclusion, it seems 

 to us, that: 



The adrenals supply a secretion which serves to hold in com- 

 bination the various constituents of haemoglobin and which simul- 

 taneously endows the hemoglobin-molecule with its power to tulce 

 up oxygen. 



As in man the pulmonary tract alone is the seat of the 

 respiratory process, we are again "brought to the lungs as the 

 organs to which the suprarenal secretion is distributed. If we 

 now recall (1) the marked respiratory disorders which attend 

 not only the extirpation of the adrenals, but also advanced dis- 

 ease of these organs; (2) that the pulmonary tissues do not 

 respond to the action of suprarenal extract as do other tissues, 

 even warm extract failing to prove active as elsewhere; (3) 

 that the adrenals produce a secretion which could be traced no 

 farther than the lungs, the assumption that so close a physio- 

 logical relationship between these organs and the suprarenal 

 glands exists seems to stand on a sound foundation. 



We have already referred to the fact that the presence 

 of haematoidin, a derivative of hemoglobin, in the tissues after 

 removal of both adrenals suggests, as a working hypothesis, 

 that the secretion of these organs serves to keep united the 

 various constituents which enter into the formation of hemo- 

 globin, and that it is concerned with the affinity of this com- 

 pound for oxygen. Mathias Duval was shown to have referred 

 to the vulnerable points of the present conception of the re- 

 spiratory chemico-physiological process, and the need of "an 

 action having for its object to rapidly dislodge the carbonic 

 acid," mere gaseous diffusion failing to satisfy the demands of 

 various phases of this process. While adducing reasons for the 

 assumption "that the combination of oxygen with the blood- 

 corpuscles (oxyhemoglobulin) plays a role analogous to that 

 of an acid," Professor Duval is also stated to have recalled 

 Robin and VerdeiPs view in respect to the existence of a 

 hypothetic "pneumonic acid," and also Garnier's ultramarine- 

 blue test, which suggested that "a strong acid must exist in 

 the lungs," though "chemical analysis has not disclosed a spe- 

 cific acid" in these organs. 



But these are not the only investigators who have felt the 



