The Significance of the Suprarenal 



Glands in Relation to the 



Vital Processes 



G. K STEWAET 



CLEVELAND 



The fundamental discovery by Oliver and Schafer(&), in 1894, that 

 extracts of the adrenal medulla cause on injection into the circulation 

 marked pressor and other effects, was soon confirmed by Cybulski and 

 Szymonovicz. A further important, step was taken by Cybulski in show- 

 ing for the first time that the active substance could be demonstrated in 

 the blood of the adrenal veins. This he did by injecting the blood into 

 a vein of another animal and observing that the same effects were pro- 

 duced as when an extract of the glands was injected namely, a rise of 

 pressure, slowing of the pulse and a slight increase in the rate of respira- 

 tion. The extravagant claim that these quite rough qualitative experi- 

 ments indicated that the nervous system which "up till now we were 

 accustomed to regard as the highest authority in the organism must in 

 a manner be deposed in favor of a new factor, without which even the 

 activity of the nervous system would be impossible/ 7 hindered the ac- 

 ceptance of Cybulski's work. 



Strehl and Weiss attempted to show that the pressor substance is given 

 off to the blood by observing the changes in blood-pressure when a supra- 

 renal vein is temporarily occluded by a ligature and then released. They 

 obtained a marked fall of pressure on occluding the vein and a, rise on 

 releasing it. But this occurred only in a minority of their experiments, 

 and according to Asher, their result was due to errors of technique. It 

 could not be confirmed by Kahn(&) and Young and Lehman saw a distinct 

 increase of blood-pressure in only 3 out of 8 experiments on dogs on re- 

 leasing the suprarenal veins, while occlusion of the veins caused no 

 noticeable effect. 1 



1 (Throughout this work controversial points have for the most part received only 

 brief consideration, pending the accumulation of conclusive data. As regards the 

 control of suprarenal secretion, however, the problem is of such fundamental import- 

 ance and the views of the most competent investigators are so widely divergent that 

 it has seemed wise to present the matter in this and the succeeding chapter from two 

 distinctive points of view. This procedure serves to bring out numerous important 

 data as well as to illustrate the difficulties inherent in investigations in the field of 

 the internal secretions. R, G. H.) 



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