Chemistry of the Suprarenal 

 Glands 



ALBERT C. CRAWFORD 



SAN FEANCISCO 



Historical 



The study of the chemistry of the organs of the body is important, 

 not merely as a question of scientific biochemistry, but because it may 

 lead to the isolation of chemical compounds which nature, in the struggle 

 for existence, has found useful in maintaining the functions of the body 

 and protecting it against disease. From this point of view the study of 

 the suprarenal, the pituitary and the thyroid glands seems at present es- 

 pecially important. 



The work on the chemistry of the suprarenal glands may be divided 

 into two periods that done preceding the work of Oliver and Schaefer 

 in 1894 and that done subsequent to it. 



Earlier Work. In 1856, Colin found that the application of ferric 

 sulphate to the cut surface of the suprarenal glands produced a bluish 

 color and, as this reaction was confined to the medulla, he argued that 

 the medulla and cortex differed in composition. In the same year, Yul- 

 pian(a.) reported that scrapings from the medulla of these glands reacted 

 with ferric chlorid and other ferric salts with the production of a green or 

 bluish-green color, but that at times the color was blackish, and that an 

 aqueous solution of iodin, or of other oxidizing agents, produced a rose- 

 carmine color. These reactions, he claimed, were peculiar to the supra- 

 renal medulla and were given by no other organ. From a suprarenal 

 vein and also from the vena cava just above the opening of the former, 

 he obtained an iron-chlorid reaction and argued that these glands secreted 

 into the blood. 



In 1865, Henle pointed out that the most striking difference between 

 the cells of the cortex and those of the medulla was that these medullary 

 cells stained a dark brown color with potassium chromate solutions, whereas 

 those of the cortex were almost unchanged by them. Later, Manasse(a.) 

 found that the suprarenal vein contained a hyaline substance, which stained 

 with chromic acid like the suprarenal medulla. 



Vulpian(fr) (c) believed that the suprarenals of the python gave the 



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