CHAPTER XI 



THE INTERNAL SECRETION OF THE ADRENAL BODIES 



(The Cortex of the Adrenal and the Chromaphil Tissues) 



A. Introductory 



WHEN we consider the extraordinarily voluminous literature 

 devoted to the adrenal bodies, and the immense amount of 

 time and patience which has been expended by physiologists, 

 pathologists, and comparative anatomists, in the attempt to 

 elucidate their function, it is regrettable to have to admit 

 that we are still unable to give a satisfactory answer to the 

 question, " What is the function of these bodies ? " We have, 

 perhaps, a fairly reasonable suggestion to offer as to the service 

 in the economy rendered by the chromaphil tissues (including 

 what in mammals is called the " medulla " of the adrenal), but 

 of the physiology of the " cortex " we still know very little. 



There are two important discoveries which stand out among 

 all others as epoch-making. The first is the observation by 

 Addison in 1849 that certain cases of disease characterized by 

 pigmentation of the skin, languor, and other symptoms, are 

 associated with destructive lesions usually tubercular of 

 the adrenal bodies. The second is the discovery in 1894 by 

 Oliver and Schafer of the blood-pressure-raising activity of 

 extracts of the medullary portion of the gland. We are, how- 

 ever, by no means clear, as will be seen in the sequel, what is 

 the precise relationship between the facts revealed in these 

 two discoveries. 



A third very important step in our progress ought to be 

 referred to in this place. This is the isolation in crystalline 

 form of the active principle of the medulla of the gland (i.e., of 

 the chromaphil tissues) by Takamine and Aldrich independently 

 in the year 1901. 



The first definite account of the adrenals with illustrations 



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