THE SUPRARENAL CAPSULE 585 



In 1901 Blum discovered that the subcutaneous administration 

 of extracts of the suprarenal capsules produces glycosuria ; but 

 no such effect was caused when the drug was given by the mouth. 

 These results have been confirmed and extended by Noel Paton 

 and others, but the subject of diabetes has been so fully discussed 

 in another part l of this work that no further consideration of the 

 subject is needed here. 



The clinical evidence of the function of the suprarenal capsules 

 will ever be associated with the name of Addison, who published 

 his monograph on " The Constitutional and Local Effect of Diseases 

 of the Suprarenal Capsules " in 1855. The characteristic symptoms 

 of the disease are anaemia, general debility, feebleness of the heart's 

 action, gastric disturbances, and pigmentation of the skin and 

 mucous membranes. The suprarenal glands are generally found 

 after death to be affected by tubercular disease, atrophy, or 

 malignant growth. It is interesting to note that in some cases 

 no lesion has been found in the suprarenal bodies themselves, 

 but in the semilunar ganglia. The two chief theories which have 

 been advanced to explain the symptoms of the disease are (1) that 

 the condition is due to the loss of the internal secretion of the 

 suprarenal gland, and (2) that it is caused by a pathological con- 

 dition of the abdominal sympathetic system. The unfavourable 

 results which have attended the treatment of the disease by the 

 administration of extracts of suprarenal gland or of adrenalin 

 do not support the theory of internal secretion, and the pathology 

 of the disease requires further consideration in the light of 

 Langley's work upon the relationship between adrenalin and the 

 sympathetic system. 



In adrenalin the physician and the surgeon find their most 

 valued styptic. The drug is now extensively used in dentistry, 

 ophthalmic surgery, midwifery and gynaecology, as well as in ordi- 

 nary medical and surgical practice. It is interesting to note that it 

 was discovered in a purely scientific research which involved the 

 vivisection of animals, and that its limitations have been studied 

 by similar work. Its administration should be guided by the 

 fact that the effects produced upon any tissue are such as follow 

 excitation of the sympathetic nerve which supplies the tissue. It is 

 contra-indicated, as Brodie and Dixon show, in cases of haemorrhage 

 from the lungs. Although the progress of discovery has been so 



1 Macleod, p. 364. 



