SIGNIFICANCE OFxTHE SUPRARENAL GLANDS 



at least the entire store of a pair of well stocked suprarenals and would 

 correspond to a concentration of 1 : 500,000 for the whole volume of blood, 

 an impossible result. 



That stimulation of the peripheral end of the splanchnic nerve causes 

 an increased output of epinephrin into the blood leaving the suprarenals, 

 was shown by Dreyer, whose work was confirmed and extended by 

 Tscheboksaron c (a) by the same method, observation of the rise of pressure 

 produced in a dog by injection of suprarenal vein blood from another dog, 



Fig. 6. Blood pressure tracing from a dog weighing 10 kgm. to show effect of 

 massage of the suprarenals in liberating epinephrin. At 38, a cava pocket which had 

 been closed for 6 minutes was released. For 5 minutes during closure of the pocket 

 gentle massage had been practised at intervals. On release, the blood pressure rose 

 from 32 to 100 mm. of mercury and fell only slowly. Just before the massage the 

 release of a pocket kept closed for an equal time was followed by only a slight increase 

 of pressure. (The spinal cord had been cut and various experiments made on the 

 animal for 2 hours before the massage.) At 39, 0.5 c.c. of "adrenalin" (1:13,300) was 

 injected and raised the blood pressure from 65 to 110 mm. of mercury. At 40, injection 

 of 1 c.c. of "adrenalin" (1:13,300) caused an increase of pressure from 65 to 140 mm. of 

 mercury. The amount of epinephrin discharged by the 5 minutes, massage was approxi- 

 mately estimated at not less than 0.04 mgm. Time trace, seconds. (Reduced to two- 

 thirds. ) 



obtained with and without splanchnic stimulation. This is a good method, 

 although not as sensitive as the intestine segment method, and can also 

 be used for quantitative estimation of the amount of epinephrin liberated. 

 Asher confirmed these results in another way, by demonstrating that in 

 rabbits from which all the abdominal and pelvic viscera except the supra- 

 renals had been removed, stimulation of the splanchnic caused a rise of 

 blood-pressure, which did not occur if the suprarenal veins were clipped 

 off. Evidence of a different nature was supplied by Joseph and Meltzer 

 (1911-12), and soon thereafter in much greater detail by Elliott(c) (1912). 

 They showed that when the peripheral end of a splanchnic nerve is stim- 

 ulated (in the cat) the pupil of an eye, sensitized for epinephrin by 

 previous removal of the superior cervical ganglion, is dilated after such 

 a latent period as would be required for epinephrin to reach the eye in 



