THE ANTERIOR PITUITARY AS THE ADRENAL CENTER. 231 



adrenals through the cervico-thoracic ganglia., the splanchnic nerves, 

 and the semilunar ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system. 



3. The thyroid gland, the anterior pituitary body, and the 

 adrenals are functionally interdependent, and constitute a system 

 through which cardiac action, respiration, and general cellular 

 oxidation are maintained. 



4. The thyroid gland sustains the normal functional activity 

 of the anterior pituitary body, while the latter in turn maintains 

 the normal activity of the adrenals. 



5. The functional activity of the anterior pituitary body is 

 increased when the blood contains an excess of thyroid secretion or 

 sufficiently-active toxics: bacterial toxins, poisons, physiological 

 toxalbumins, etc., to compromise the general cellular integrity of 

 the organism. 



6. The functional activity of the adrenals is increased pro- 

 portionally with that of the anterior pituitary body when the tatter's 

 activity is increased from any cause. 



7. The functional activity of the anterior and posterior pitui- 

 tary bodies is PASSIVELY decreased when the blood contains an 

 insufficient proportion of thyroid secretion or is inadequately oxy- 

 genated, or when from any cause its intrinsic metabolism is reduced 

 or impaired through deficiency of any of its molecular constituents. 



8. The functional activity of the anterior pituitary body is 

 ACTIVELY decreased when the blood contains a sufficiently active 

 toxic of any kind, bacterial toxin, poison, etc., to induce excessive 

 metabolism of its intrinsic cellular elements and thus cause ex- 

 haustion or molecular metamorphosis of the latter. 



9. The functional activity of the adrenals is decreased pro- 

 portionally with that of the anterior pituitary body whether the 

 reduced activity of the latter be due to active or passive pathogenic 

 factors. 



If all the facts so far recited in the present work prevail, 

 another deduction suggests itself regarding the part played 

 in the body hy the system thus formed by the anterior pituitary 

 and the adrenals through their connecting nerves (and which 

 we will now term, for the sake of brevity, the "adrenal sys- 

 tem"): i.e., that its primary function is to insure oxidation. 



Again, the fact that its functional activity is increased, 

 with the result that oxidation processes are correspondingly 



