THE ADRENAL BODIES 159 



extracting in the cold with alcohol, and redissolving in water. 

 " After filtering and evaporating the aqueous solution, one 

 obtains a residue coloured black, of a peculiar odour, of very 

 acid reaction, and which, in a dose of 1 gramme, kills a healthy 

 dog." Thus it will be seen that the doses employed corre- 

 sponded to very large quantities of the fresh gland substance. 



These experiments were adversely criticized by Alexander, 

 who suggested, with considerable justice, that chemical changes 

 might have taken place in the active principle during the 

 complicated manipulations employed by the Italian observers. 

 This or some such opinion has been shared by numerous 

 observers. 



Oliver and Schafer injected subcutaneously comparatively 

 large doses of aqueous adrenal extracts into the dog, the 

 guinea-pig, and the cat without obtaining any very obvious 

 effects. But in the rabbit a large dose of adrenal extract ad- 

 ministered subcutaneously invariably produced death. Among 

 the symptoms noted was a very low temperature. In frogs the 

 symptoms were those of paralysis due to the action of the 

 poison upon the central nervous system. The animals re- 

 covered from large doses in a comparatively short time. 



Gluzinsky, injecting intravenously, obtained paralysis of 

 the posterior part of the body, and convulsions in the anterior 

 part, with acceleration of the respiration and dilatation of 

 the pupil. The animal succumbed amid progressive dyspnoea 

 and general paralysis. 



Dubois attempts to account for the variations in the effects 

 obtained by classifying them under three heads : (1) Those 

 depending upon the animal experimented upon ; (2) those 

 due to the animals from whose glands the extracts were made ; 

 and (3) variations conditioned by the mode of obtaining the 

 extracts. He found that fatigue previous to injection rendered 

 the animal much more susceptible to the toxic action, that 

 extracts obtained from the glands of wild animals were more 

 powerful than those obtained from animals which had been 

 kept in captivity, and that the medullary region was much 

 richer in the active poison than the cortex. 



The present writer in 1897-98 performed a series of experi- 

 ments upon rabbits, guinea-pigs, rats, mice, frogs, toads, as 

 well as upon dogs and cats. The fresh-chopped glands were 

 boiled, with normal saline solution, and the extract filtered. 



