CHEMISTRY OF THE SUPBABENAL GLANDS 83 



oxidize, becoming pink and finally brown, that it gives the characteristic 

 FeCl 3 and I reactions of Vulpian, energetically reduces gold chlorid, 

 and is not precipitated by the usual alkaloidal reagents. 



The secret of the isolation is the precipitation of the base by NH 4 OH 

 from a concentrated solution. Most workers, on account of expense of 

 materials, worked with too dilute solutions. 



Takamine's(a) (b) (c) analyses showed it to have 59.38 per cent C; 

 7.84 per cent H; 7.88 per cent N and 24.90 per cent O, and he calculated 

 the empirical formula to be C 10 H 15 NO 3 , but this formula has not been 

 confirmed by others. Takamine showed that, in a dog weighing 15.5 kgm. 

 0.000016 g. of his product raised the blood pressure 9 mm. and that 1 c.c. 

 of a 0.001 per cent solution raised the blood pressure 30 mm. Hg in another 

 dog (8 kgm.). 



Note. For data as to the pressor activity of various preparations see 

 Crawford, 1907. (CRAWFORD, A. C. USE OF SUPRARENAL GLANDS IN THE 



PHYSIOLOGICAL TESTING OF DRUG PLANTS. Bur. Plant Indust.) 



Takamine secured patents covering the base, its salts and solutions. 

 His rights were purchased by American pharmaceutical interests, 

 Abel(/) has analyzed commercial adrenalin and found it to contain con- 

 siderable amounts of phosphates. 



Almost simultaneously with Takamine, Aldrich published his report. 

 He was then engaged in commercial pharmaceutical research, but previous 

 to this affiliation had been Abel's associate at the Johns Hopkins Medi- 

 cal School. Aldrich extracted the glands with a weak acetic acid solu- 

 tion, coagulated by heat, evaporated in vacuo and removed phosphates, 

 etc., by lead acetate. After removing Pb, the filtrate was concentrated in 

 vacua, precipitated with alcohol and finally with NH 4 OH. Aldrich's 

 analyses showed C 58.03 per cent; H 7.20 per cent; N 7.66 per cent; 

 27.11 per cent and the empirical formula was calculated to be 

 C 9 H 13 N0 3 . 



Aldrich (b) (c) says that a purified preparation made from Takamine' s 

 product also gave C 58.03 per cent; H 7.20 per cent; N 7.66 per cent; O 

 27 f ll per cent and that Takamine's adrenalin was identical with his. 

 However, Aldrich does not state how he purified it, presumably he used 

 Pb acetate. No doubt if he had purified Abel's active products in a 

 suitable way he would have obtained similar results. Von Fiirth's iron 

 compound, on purification, yielded a compound giving the same ana- 

 lytical data, and Jowett states that the German products suprarenin, 

 adrenalin and epinephrin all refer to the same substance for which he uses 

 the term epinephrin. 



Several other methods have been used for isolating this compound. 

 Abel's (/) later method depends on the solubility of adrenalin oxalate in 

 alcohol and was tried by Pauly, also by Abderhalden and Bergell. He 

 extracted the minced glands with an alcoholic solution of trichloracetic 



