226 THE PITUITARY, THYROID AND ADRENALS AS A SYSTEM. 



most decisive contractions, and one, moreover, which persisted 

 30 to 60 minutes/ 7 



As to a direct action upon the heart during life, we will 

 recall the experiments of Biedl, who found that when, in test 

 animals, removal of the entire cord had brought the blood- 

 pressure down to almost nothing, the heart would respond with 

 vigor to injections of suprarenal extract, the pressure rising to 

 160 millimeters mercury. Oliver conducted similar experi- 

 ments, and, referring to vascular pressure, says: "The constric- 

 tion was equally pronounced whether the spinal cord remained 

 intact or was destroyed." We have conclusive testimony in 

 these facts to the effect that, if the cardiac tissues themselves 

 were to receive, during life, an injected dose of suprarenal 

 extract, they would instantly respond to its effects. 



The topographical anatomy of the structures between the 

 adrenals and the lungs, and a review of facts previously re- 

 corded in this work, show how this is accomplished. The supra- 

 renal secretion, we have seen, reaches the inferior vena cava 

 directly on the right side, and through the renal or phrenic 

 vein on the left. It is, therefore, poured into blood collected 

 from the kidneys, the pelvic organs, the lower extremities, etc., 

 and deprived of the oxygen appropriated by these structures. 

 While venous blood, even in the right ventricle, still contains 

 oxygen, this gas is held by the haemoglobin of the corpuscles; 

 so that the plasma itself contains none. But we have previously 

 seen that various investigators Cybulski, Biedl, Dreyer, among 

 others have found secretory products in blood received from 

 the adrenals destined for the inferior vena cava. These two 

 facts i.e., the absence of oxygen and the presence of supra- 

 renal secretion in the latter vessel can lead to but one deduc- 

 tion: i.e., that the suprarenal secretion reaches the right ventricle 

 in its primary state, or at least very slightly modified in com- 

 position. 69 The important role it must fulfill here becomes evi- 



69 We say "slightly modified composition" because we have reason to believe 

 that the venous blood of the Inferior vena cava above the level of the adrenals 

 and up to the pulmonary air-cells is the seat of a special protective process, in 

 which the marked reducing power of the suprarenal secretion acts as a dis- 

 sociating agency. There is obviously no literature on this subject, and as this 

 work is to contain nothing that cannot be poised on experimental data, a mere 

 mention must suffice. S. 



