238 FRANK A. HARTMAN 



and Pineles) and pyrocatechin (Waterman and Boddaert). It is now 

 known that the test has little value in urine although the denervated mam- 

 malian eye has been used more recently with considerable success as a 

 test for epinephrin in the circulating blood by Stewart and his collabo- 

 rators. 



The work of Meltzer and Auer(a) on rabbits is particularly illuminat- 

 ing in respect to epinephrin dilatation of the pupil. For this reason it will 

 be given somewhat in detail. 



In normal rabbits subcutaneous injections of epinephrin, produce 

 no effect on the pupil provided the dose is not large enough to cause 

 asphyxia. After the removal of the superior cervical ganglion it is pos- 

 sible to secure maximal pupil dilatation from 0.6 c.c. of 1.: 1,000 epineph- 

 rin injected subcutaneously. 



The dilatation occurs within fifteen minutes after the injection and 

 lasts for more than two hours. During maximum dilatation the pupil does 

 not react to light ; moreover, eserin has little effect at this time except in 

 the normal eye. 



These effects do not occur until about twenty-four hours after removal 

 of the superior cervical ganglion. Cutting the sympathetic nerve below 

 does not serve the same purpose. The instillation of the epinephrin into 

 the sac before removal of the ganglion is without effect but after the 

 excision such instillations act similarly to subcutaneous injections although 

 the dilatation is produced with greater difficulty and does not last so 

 long. Epinephrin produces dilatation just as effectively three and one- 

 half months after excision of the ganglion except in the case of instillation. 



Meltzer records two instances in which cats were made to drink 6 c,c. 

 of epinephrin (presumably 1:1,000) in milk, the superior cervical gan- 

 glion having been removed some time before. He states that about an hour 

 after the ingestion the pupil on the operated side began to dilate, although 

 not to any great degree. The dilatation lasted for a few hours. The 

 explanation of the phenomenon of ''paradoxical" pupil dilatation which has 

 been offered is that normally impulses are being sent from the superior 

 cervical ganglion, which easily antagonize the effects of epinephrin ab- 

 sorbed from subcutaneous injections or from instillations. Removal of 

 the ganglion eliminates this antagonism. 



More recently Joseph has found that epinephrin causes relaxation 

 of the sphincter pupillse which has been partially or completely excised. 

 Solutions of 1 : 1,000,000 or stronger cause maximal relaxation. This 

 reaction is similar to that of the intestinal strip. He tested the sphincter 

 from man and the lower animals. 



Response in the Alimentary Canal. Although relaxation of the in- 

 testine is usually considered the more typical effect of suprarenal extract 

 (Ott, Bunch, Boruttau, Pal, Cannon and de la. Paz), increased tonus and 

 peristalsis has been observed (Ott, Bunch). 



