THE ANTERIOR PITUITARY AS THE ADRENAL CENTER. 217 



nuclei of its epithelial cells. Indeed, if a cell is so divided 

 that its nucleus will remain in one part, the other, composed 

 entirely of protoplasm, will die; but if the latter contain a 

 fraction of the nucleus, it will continue to live: evidence that it 

 is in the nucleus that the main source of energy resides, though 

 it cannot itself live without protoplasm. Whatever interpreta- 

 tion we may give "physiological functions," we are invariably 

 dealing with manifestations of chemical energy. Indeed, we 

 have in organic structures ample evidence to show that during 

 metabolism this chemical energy may become latent or poten- 

 tial mechanical energy, which in turn may pass into vital 

 energy. The seed-pods of certain plants exemplify this ad- 

 mirably: The chemical energy underlying their growth accu- 

 mulates as latent mechanical energy, and if the pod is merely 

 touched this energy suddenly passes into one connected with 

 the plant's own physiological functions: it explodes and scat- 

 ters its seeds in every direction. 



When these elementary biophysical facts are considered as 

 features of the intrinsic functions of the anterior lobe, it be- 

 comes apparent that its dense array of nucleated cells, its endo- 

 thelial capillary walls, etc., may, with justice, be considered 

 fit constituents for a powerful energy-storing center. The 

 protoplasmic and cellular elements massed in this lobe are now 

 known, through the labors of Metschnikoff, Pfeiffer, Buchner, 

 and others, to react everywhere else in the organism in the 

 presence of a multitude of different toxic agencies: a process 

 doubtless referable to the one property of the protoplasmic 

 cell, formerly recognized as "irritability." If toxic blood, cours- 

 ing through endothelial walls elsewhere in the body, can excite 

 a protective reaction, it must certainly be able to do so in an 

 organ in which endothelial and epithelial cells and their nuclei 

 are so densely crowded together. If the anterior lobe of the 

 pituitary is really the suprarenal center, the intensity of the 

 reaction that any toxic in the blood might excite in the center 

 would regulate the violence of the symptomatic phenomena 

 engendered. We have seen, when studying the adrenals, that 

 poisons cause reactions in these organs that vary in their in- 

 tensity proportionally with the violence of the toxic energy of 

 these poisons and the dose introduced into the blood-stream. 



