THE SUPRARENAL SYSTEM 255 



submaxillary gland. According to my figures, then, 6 c.cm. blood 

 pass per minute from the suprarenals into the general circulation. 

 If Ehrmann's calculation, that i c.cm. suprarenal venous blood 

 contains .0000005 mg. adrenalin, is correct and, judging from 

 the comparatively slight sensitiveness of his method, this figure 

 is probably too low certainly not too high .000003 m g- adrena- 

 lin passes into the circulation per minute. The total produc- 

 tion of adrenalin would be .00432 mg. in twenty-four hours, 

 but the quantity demonstrable in the blood is only .00012 mg. 

 about the fortieth part of the daily supply from the suprarenals. 

 Even by Fraenkel's quantitative test for adrenalin, which is much 

 more accurate, the maximal total of .003 mg. in the blood is far 

 less than the amount produced, as revealed by Ehrmann's not 

 very sensitive reaction. 



These figures represent approximate data only, but they show 

 that a considerable portion of the adrenalin supplied to the blood 

 very rapidly disappears from it. 



The transience of the physiological effects of adrenalin 

 injection points in the same direction. The increase in blood- 

 pressure passes off at the end of a few minutes, and this happens 

 equally after an amount which, when given refracta dosi, would 

 serve to produce vaso-contraction 100 times or more. 



What ultimately becomes of the adrenalin in the blood is a 

 question which early came under discussion. Oliver and Schafer 

 held the view that, when injected intravenously, the active sub- 

 stance of the suprarenal accumulates and is, for a time, stored up 

 in the tissues in which it eventually becomes active. They were, 

 however, thinking chiefly of the muscles. They believe that the 

 disappearance of the substance from the blood results, neither from 

 its destruction in the blood, nor from its accumulation in the supra- 

 renals, nor yet from its excretion in the urine, but from the fixation 

 of the substance and its secondary oxidation within the reacting 

 tissues. This theory is confirmed by Cybulski and Szymonowicz, 

 with this reservation : that, seeing that after the exhibition of 

 large quantities of suprarenal extract, the active substance is 

 demonstrable in the urine, it is to be assumed that a certain 

 proportion of the active substance is excreted by way of the 

 kidneys. 



It seems hardly probable, however, that an appreciable pro- 

 portion of the adrenalin present in the blood is excreted in the 

 urine. Urine drawn off from the bladder shortly after the 

 intravenous injection of large quantities of adrenalin does not 

 contain a substance which increases blood-pressure (Embden and 

 v. Fiirth). That a minimal proportion of the adrenalin in the 

 blood may pass into the urine is undoubtedly possible. Abelous 

 and Bardier account for the vaso-contractor effect which normal 

 human urine has, after suitable concentration, by the presence of 

 a substance identical with or closely related to adrenalin, namely, 



