THE ADRENAL BODIES 225 



animals recently admitted and still in a frightened condition, 

 the typical splanchnic curve cannot be obtained. But he 

 regarded the typical curve as something different from that 

 obtained by previous workers in the case of dogs. According 

 to this author a well marked characteristic of the pressure curve 

 seen when the splanchnics are stimulated under good condi- 

 tions in the cat, is that it rises rapidly for nine or ten seconds ; 

 then, without any check in the heart's rhythm, the curve is 

 sharply cut down nearly to the level from which it came, whence 

 it rises slowly again so long as the stimulus is continued. The 

 drop, according to Elliott, is due to the liberation of adrenin 

 into the blood, and he gives what seems to be very convincing 

 evidence in favour of this view. 



Anrep, who used dogs for his experiments, reports that 

 stimulation of the splanchnic nerve causes a rise of blood- 

 pressure which occurs in two phases. The second phase is 

 accompanied by constriction of peripheral bloodvessels (even 

 after denervation) and by acceleration and increased tone and 

 augmentation of the heart (also after denervation). The 

 secondary rise and all the concomitant phenomena are due 

 to the discharge of adrenin into the circulation, and are absent 

 after extirpation of both adrenal bodies. Every rise of blood- 

 pressure, brought about by the agency of the nervous system, 

 involves the co-operation of the chemical mechanism repre- 

 sented by the adrenal bodies. The constriction of bloodvessels 

 in denervated limbs under splanchnic stimulation, which was 

 regarded by Bayliss as a local reaction to increased pressure, 

 is interpreted by Anrep as due to the action of adrenin. 

 The rise of blood-pressure in asphyxia is also looked upon by 

 this author as being partly due to constriction of somatic 

 vessels as a result of the action of adrenin upon them. 



Gley and Quinquaud have recently thrown doubt upon the 

 validity of these experiments. They think that ligature of 

 the vessels of the adrenal bodies or extirpation of the organs 

 in the dog involves damage to some of the splanchnic vaso- 

 constrictor fibres and that this accounts for the alteration in 

 the splanchnic blood-pressure curve. In the cat and the 

 rabbit, according to these authors, such alteration does not 

 occur. In these animals the nerves are not so intimately 

 connected with the adrenal bodies. 



These criticisms on the part of Gley and Quinquaud 



15 



