33 PHYSIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY. 



found to be practically inert toward sugar, while in presence 

 of a mixture of the two extracts oxidation follows readily. 

 It has been suggested that one of these organs furnishes an 

 enzyme which is the catalyzer for the other, and attempts have 

 been recently made to produce the pancreas enzyme on a large 

 scale for use therapeutically. 



Autolysis. The pancreas readily undergoes autolytic di- 

 gestion under the aseptic treatment or when preserved by 

 toluene. A large number of products may be separated from 

 the altered mass, which in a general way resemble those pro- 

 duced in the liver, as already referred to. Ammonia, leucine, 

 tyrosine, aspartic acid, glutaminic acid and the hexone bases 

 have been recognized ; also, the somewhat unusual oxyphenyl- 

 ethylamine, HO C 6 H 4 CH 2 CH 2 NH 2 , which may be de- 

 rived from tyrosine by splitting off of CCX. 



THE SUPRARENAL BODIES. 



A soluble substance contained in the capsules, because of 

 its important property of raising the blood pressure, has at- 

 tracted a great deal of attention in the last ten years. This 

 soluble substance was first recognized as a chromogen which, 

 on account of its oxygen-absorbing power, was assumed to be 

 related to pyrocatechol. An aqueous extract of the capsules 

 becomes dark on exposure to the air and produces a dark 

 green color when treated with ferric chloride. It also reduces 

 Fehling's solution strongly and shows the same behavior 

 toward other metallic salts. The oxygen-absorbing power of 

 the extract had been known about thirty years before the im- 

 portant relation to blood pressure was discovered. It was 

 soon found that the two properties seem to reside in the same 

 constituent of the extract, since the destruction of one is fol- 

 lowed by the disappearance of the other. Numerous investi- 

 gations have been carried out on the isolation of the active 

 principle, especially by Abel, v. Furth and Takamine, who 

 have given the names epinephrin, suprarenin and adrenalin 



