THE ADRENAL BODIES 



223 



which is normally poured out by the adrenal veins would tend 

 to keep the blood-pressure down rather than up. 



Stewart and Rogoff have given another proof that the 

 discharge of adrenin from the adrenal bodies is not indispens- 

 able for life and health. When one gland is removed from a 

 cat and the secretory nerves to the other are cut the animal 

 appears to suffer no ill- effects. Now in this case adrenin could 

 scarcely have been present in the blood in a concentration of 

 more than one part in four millions, which, as Stewart observes, 

 " the most enthusiastic 

 upholder of the physio- 

 logical importance of 

 adrenin will probably 

 consider below the 

 threshold of any 

 definite physiological 

 reaction. Yet the 

 animal was in good 

 health." 



Hoskins is of the 

 opinion that there is 

 no reliable evidence 

 that under normal con- 

 d i t i o n s circulating 

 blood contains any 

 adrenin at all. He 



points OUt that as the FlG - 46. This tracing shows the rise of 



i . ,. blood -pressure due to release of pressure 



technique Ol mvestlga- on adrenal vein. The vein has been 



tion has improved the compressed for some time, and was re- 



T ,., . . leased at the point signalled (Gardner 



reported dilution of an d Gunn). 



the adrenin in arterial 



blood has constantly approached infinity. 



The subject of adrenal secretion has been investigated by 

 Asher and Tscheboksaroff. Asher performed his experiments 

 upon rabbits. All the arteries coming off from the abdominal 

 aorta and supplying the viscera, with the exception of those 

 running to the adrenal bodies, were ligatured, and then all 

 the abdominal organs, excepting the liver and the adrenal 

 bodies, were extirpated. The blood was squeezed out of the 

 veins, and the portal vein tied off. Electrodes were then 

 placed under the two splanchnic nerves., the spinal cord was 



