132 THE ADRENALS AND THE GENERAL OXIDATION PROCESSES. 



necessary to outline them rather fully. An editorial review 

 of Salkowski's contribution, 1 given below, 2 so ably presents all 

 the data necessary to our analysis that it will be utilized for 

 this purpose. The fact that Salkowski's contribution itself in 

 no way refers to the adrenals or their functions makes it all 

 the more valuable, since the evidence submitted cannot even 

 be said to have been garnered for use, or with a preconceived 

 idea of the purposes to which it would ultimately contribute 

 so much weight. 



The review of Salkowski's paper is as follows: "In 1892 

 Jaquet took up the experiments, begun by Schmiedeberg in 

 his laboratory, upon oxidation by living tissues, using as oxi- 

 dizable agents those recommended by this author, namely: 

 benzilic alcohol and salicylic aldehyde, because these sub- 

 stances, under ordinary conditions of the body-temperature, 

 did not burn in air, while easily consumed in the organism; 

 and because the oxidation products could only arise from them. 

 Besides, they could under all circumstances be easily found 

 and determined quantitatively. 



1. "Jaquet at first confirmed the conclusion of Schmiede- 

 berg, that blood alone could oxidize benzilic alcohol and con- 

 vert it into benzoic acid in extremely small quantities, but he 

 concluded that it could not oxidize salicylic aldehyde. His 

 researches with organs also confirmed Schmiedeberg's view that 

 benzilic alcohol and salicylic aldehyde, dissolved in the blood, 

 are easily oxidized into benzoic acid by living organs. The 

 remarkable data thus acquired may be summarized as fol- 

 lows: 



2. "The presence of blood is not at all necessary to insure 

 oxidation through the organs, especially the lungs, so often 

 used for this purpose; oxidation is more perfect when, instead 

 of blood, blood-serum is used? 



3. "Pulmonary tissue poisoned with quinine and carbolic 

 acid acts just as well as oxidizing agent as intact lung; hence 

 the oxidizing power cannot be a property of living protoplasm. 

 Lung acts perfectly as oxidizant even after remaining in a 



1 Salkowski: Virchow's Archiv fiir path. Anat., Jan. 4, 1897. 



2 Archives Generates de M6decine, March, 1898, signed "Cart." 

 8 All italics are our own. 



