THE SUPRARENAL BODIES. 949 



of accessory capsules ; and after a few months of controversy the subject 

 gradually dropped, and became for a long time almost forgotten. The 

 interest in this subject has been, however, recently revived, and the 

 experiments of Brown-Sequard have been repeated by various observers 

 (Tizzoni, 1 Abelous and Langlois, 2 and many others). I have myself 

 made several experiments of the same kind on various animals 

 (monkeys, dogs, cats, and guinea-pigs). All these observations have 

 tended to confirm the original statements of Brown-Sequard. They 

 show that animals deprived of their suprarenal capsules die rapidly, 

 usually in the course of one to three days, with the symptoms above 

 noted. The further fact is mentioned by Abelous and Langlois, and 

 this is also confirmatory of a statement of Brown-Sequard, 3 that the 

 blood 4 of animals dying in consequence of the removal of the supra- 

 renal capsules is toxic for other animals which have recently been 

 deprived of their capsules, although it causes no toxic results in normal 

 animals ; whereas the transfusion of normal blood into the veins of 

 " decapsuled " animals tends markedly to prolong their survival of the 

 operation. 6 



The symptoms caused by this blood are said by Abelous and 

 Langlois to be those of curari poisoning paralysis, that is to say, of 

 the intramuscular nerves ; ti and since the most marked phenomena 

 resulting from removal of the capsules is extreme muscular weakness, 

 it has been concluded by them that after removal of these glands 

 a certain toxic product of muscular metabolism accumulates in the 

 blood, and that the function of the glands is to remove or destroy 

 this toxic principle. 



This is the " autotoxication " theory of the suprarenal capsules, and 

 is similar to that which has been applied to the thyroid body. Like 

 the other autotoxication theories, it is chiefly founded upon the fact 

 that the blood of animals which are moribund in consequence of the 



1 Arch. ital. de bioL, Turin, 1886, tome x. p. 372; Beitr. z. path. Anat. u. z. ally. 

 Path., Jena, 1889, Bd. vi. S. 1. Tizzoni thought that removal of one capsule only 

 was fatal ; this conclusion was shown to be erroneous by Stilling (Rev. dc med., Paris, 

 1890). Tizzoni found in many of his rabbits alterations in various parts of the central 

 nervous system, apparently brought on by haemorrhages into the grey matter. 



2 Cvm.pt. rend. Soc. de bioL, Paris, 1891, p. 835 ; 1892, p. 388 : Langlois, ibid., 1893, p. 

 444 ; also in tome iv. of " Travaux du Laboratoire de Ch. Riehet," 1897, where will be 

 found a full bibliography (234 papers) and historical account of the subject of the physiology 

 of these organs. Langlois states that it is sufficient to leave T V of the total weight of the 

 capsules in the dog in order to insure the survival of the animal. 



3 Journ. de la p/tysiol. de Vhomme, Paris, 1858, tome i. 



4 Also, according to Gonrfein (Compt. rctid. Acad. d. sc., Paris, 1897, tome cxxv. p. 188), 

 alcoholic extracts of the blood and organs of "decapsuled" animals. 



5 It is stated by Brown-Sequard that injection of extract of suprarenal under the skin 

 of animals the suprarenal capsules of which have been removed, has a partial success in 

 prolonging life (Compt. rend. Soc. de biol., Paris, 1892, tome xliv. p. 410). But it is 

 doubtful if they can be kept alive for any length of time, either by injection in this way 

 or by the taking of suprarenal by the mouth. It appears, however, to be true that some 

 cases of Addison's disease are distinctly benefited by extract of suprarenal capsule, taken 

 by the mouth, but whether any such cases have been cured is doubtful. (For reference 

 to such cases, see Langlois, "Travaux du Laboratoire de Ch. Richet," 1897, tome iv. p. 93 

 el seq.). Abelous (Compt. rend. Soc. de biol., Paris, 1892, Nov. 12) and Gourfein (Rev. med. 

 dc la Suisse Rom., Geneve, 1896, p. 113) have succeeded in effecting suprarenal grafts 

 in the frog, which prevented the occurrence of the usual symptoms when the animal's own 

 suprarenals were destroyed ; on afterwards removing the graft, the symptoms supervened 

 as usual. Dominicis ( Wien. med. Wchnschr., 1897, S. 18), on the other hand, operating 

 on rabbits and dogs, invariably found a fatal result to follow removal of the second supra- 

 renal, after the first one had been successfully grafted. 



6 This statement is, however, denied by Gourfein (Rev. med. de la Suisse Rom., Geneve, 

 1896, p. 113). 



