106 FRANK A. HARTMAN 



three days after excision of the second gland. The second gland (cortex) 

 was found hypertrophied in some. The splanchnic nerves were care-' 

 fully avoided in all operations. The symptoms were very similar in 

 both series. The animals lost appetite, finally refusing to eat meat and 

 taking only small amounts of milk. The weight decreased, those sur- 

 viving long "becoming very thin. A characteristic weakness developed 

 just before death. The animal found difficulty in walking and soon would 

 lie with belly on the ground and limbs relaxed. It might become so feeble 

 that it lay on its side with limp legs and tail extended. Yet in spite of 

 this weakness there was full possession of the power of the skeletal muscles 

 because even a moribund cat could be stimulated to normal muscular ac- 

 tivity. The blood pressure of the dying animal was extremely low but 

 no mention was made of the time at which this fall in blood pressure first 

 occurred. Due to the low pressure the respirations became labored. The 

 heart mechanism appeared to be unaltered judging from a series of elec- 

 trocardiograms taken daily until the final collapse (one animal). 



Artificial heat had to be furnished in the later stages to prevent a fall 

 in the rectal temperature. Emotionally no annoyance was shown, the 

 cat purring until the final collapse. 



The observations of Moore and Purinton(cT) are of special interest be- 

 cause they watched their animals (cats) day and night after removal of 

 the second gland, temperature, respiration and other symptoms being noted 

 at short intervals. They describe pyrexia during the first few hours. 

 Muscular asthenia developed later and increased as time went on. The 

 respiratory rhythm became markedly increased but later the respiration 

 began to fail and finally caused death. Muscular twitchings over the 

 body appeared a few hours before death. 



These investigators also removed the suprarenals from four goats, 

 three dying as a result. The principal symptoms in these animals were 

 asthenia and shallow respiration. It is typical of animals dying from 

 excision of the suprarenals that the onset of serious symptoms is usually 

 sudden, occurring but a few hours before death. Marshall and Davis 

 say that coma and convulsions usually appeared in their cases a-bout thirty 

 minutes before death. 



Muscular Asthenia. All seem to be agreed that the most charac- 

 teristic symptom in suprarenal insufficiency is muscular asthenia. Such 

 weakness is strikingly illustrated by the observation of Strehl and Weiss 

 that cats which were very wild and pugnacious before became quite apa- 

 thetic after capsulectomy. 



In this connection we should point out that it has been very definitely 

 shown that the animals deprived of both suprarenals become fatigued 

 much more readily than do normal animals. The work of Albanese(o) on 

 frogs and rabbits has contributed much toward an understanding of this 

 problem. Their frogs were fatigued to the point of paralysis of the volun- 



