THE ADRENALS 41 



diseases. Here all the endocrine forces are 

 mobilized, the adrenal probably at their head, to 

 oust and kill the invaders. We say a patient has 

 had a narrow squeak of rheumatic fever or 

 pneumonia, and we are right, but it is the endo- 

 crines that have silently won the day ; but where 

 they have failed, the mobilization has exhausted 

 and almost drained them of their virtues. Here 

 the manometer will tell us when to step in and 

 restock the tired glands ; I say glands, for though 

 hypoadrenia is the most prominent symptom, 

 the thyroid and pituitaries are played out also. 



Under the stress of these acute infections it 

 seems to be only the adrenal glands that are 

 subject to internal haemorrhage; this is a cause 

 of prostration and death that goes often unrecog- 

 nized, though it might in many cases be avoided 

 by the lowering of high arterial tension in the acute 

 stage. This points again to the wisdom, nay, 

 the necessity of using the manometer. The older 

 generation of physicians thus had good reason 

 for their bleeding, their antimonial wine, their 

 mercury, though they often acted blindly and 

 with unwise excess, but they had no accurate 

 instrument to guide them. Our generation should 

 follow their steps with sounder judgment and with 

 far more precision in results. Sajous defines 



