THE NERVO-VASCULAR SUPPLY OP THE LUNGS. 477 



it accounts for the complete isolation of bronchial affections 

 from those of the parenchyma, and gives us a clue to their 

 original cause, as we will see later on. 



That the structures beyond the domain of the vagus have 

 their own independent mechanism hardly needs to be empha- 

 sized by physiological experimentation, so great is the differ- 

 ence between the clinical phenomena witnessed when the lob- 

 ules themselves are involved in the morbid processes. The 

 old and dreaded "capillary bronchitis" normally assumed a 

 pathological status in nomenclature more in keeping with its 

 true identity when it became known as "broncho-pneumonia/' 

 Even this term may become obsolete when the link with its 

 next of kin, lobar pneumonia, will be better understood. 



Again, a familiar histological fact will serve to show in 

 the light of our views how definite is the association between 

 physiological function and disease as manifested in this lobular 

 individual system: The infundibuli, as is well known, are fre- 

 quently clearly denned by blood-pigment deposits in the con- 

 nective tissue that separates the lobules. This is because, as 

 we have shown, this is the region where the haemoglobin con- 

 stituents find their binding substance: the suprarenal secre- 

 tion. We have seen the effects of violent toxics venoms, for 

 instance, on the blood. The Martinique fer-de-lance viper so 

 thoroughly overcomes suprarenal functions as to give the blood 

 the appearance of "prune-juice." What have we in the "rusty," 

 or "prune-juice," expectoration but signs of impaired activity 

 of the adrenals? We shall see that each has its meaning in 

 this particular, and that each represents a stage in the morbid 

 process, but a stage in which the adrenals play the leading 

 part. And so can the hyperleucocytosis, the fibrinous "exuda- 

 tion," the oedema to which we have referred, etc., be traced to 

 the adrenals: overactive at first, then insufficient and perhaps 

 altogether arrested when the general toxemia not alone that 

 due to toxins derived from the Friedlander pneumococcus, but 

 to any other germ capable of sufficiently undermining supra- 

 renal functions, through its toxins has reached an advanced 

 stage. 



If, therefore, we have isolated the vagal field, it is all the 

 better to emphasize the overwhelming importance of that part 



