236 THE INTERNAL SECRETIONS 1920 



emotional excitement, when the individual is ready for 

 any combat. In Cannon's own words, "It (adrenin) 

 plays an essential role in calling forth stored carbohy- 

 drate from the liver, thus flooding the blood with sugar ; 

 it helps in distributing the blood to the heart, lungs, 

 central nervous system and limbs, while taking it away 

 from the inhibited organs of the abdomen, it quickly 

 abolishes the effects of muscular fatigue ; and it renders 

 the blood more rapidly coagulable. These remarkable 

 facts are, furthermore, associated with some of the 

 most primitive experiences in the life of higher organ- 

 isms, experiences common to all, both man and beast 

 the elemental experiences of pain and fear and rage 

 that come suddenly in critical emergencies." A little 

 further on in the same book Cannon (8) summarizes his 

 conclusions in the following important statement: 

 "Thus are the body's reserves, the stored adrenin and 

 the accumulated sugar, called forth for instant service, 

 thus is the blood shifted to nerves and muscles that may 

 have to bear the brunt of struggle ; thus is the heart set 

 rapidly beating to speed the circulation, and thus also, 

 are the activities of the digestive organs for the time 

 abolished. Just as in war between nations, the arts and 

 industries which have brought wealth and contentment 

 must suffer serious neglect or be wholly set aside both 

 by the attacker and the attacked, and all the supplies 

 and energies developed in the period of peace must be 

 devoted to the present conflict; so, likewise, the func- 

 tions which, in quiet times, establish and support the 

 bodily reserves are, in times of stress, instantly checked 

 or completely stopped, and these reserves lavishly 

 drawn upon to increase power in the attack and in the 

 defense of flight." 



THE PITUITARY BODY 



If the common conception is correct that the best 

 things come in small packages, the pituitary must be 



