46 
toxic secretion capable of neutralizing or 
destroying certain poisonous products of 
body metabolism. The toxic products in 
this case have been supposed to originate in 
the functional metabolism of muscular tis- 
sue, and the asthenic condition following 
upon extirpation of the suprarenals has 
been compared with the similar effect pro- 
duced by injecting the extracts of fatigued 
muscles into the circulation. The main 
argument of those who hold to this view 
seems to rest upon the fact that the blood 
of an animal that has been deprived of its 
suprarenals and is beginning to show the 
typical effects has a toxic effect when in- 
jected into the circulation of another animal 
from which the suprarenals have been re- 
moved shortly before. The fatal symptoms 
are brought on by the injection more rap- 
idly than would happen otherwise. One 
cannot feel a great deal of confidence in 
this argument as contrasted with the appa- 
rently direct evidence offered in favor of 
the stimulation hypothesis. 
Unfortunately, the physiological evidence 
with regard to the importance of the supra- 
renals to the body has not found so satisfac- 
tory an application in practical medicine as 
in the case of the thyroids. Suprarenal ex- 
tracts and tissue have been used in cases 
of Addison’s disease, but the beneficial ef- 
fects obtained have not been so clear as in 
the case of thyroid extracts. Some of the 
results reported, however, indicate that the 
method is at least a hopeful one in certain 
cases. 
A third interesting member of the group 
of ductless glands is the hypophysis cerebri, 
and a few words may be said -as to its sup- 
posed physiological activity. This glandis 
commonly described as consisting of two 
parts, the anterior and the posterior lobe. 
The histology and the embryology of the 
two parts indicate that they are entirely dif- 
ferent in origin and in structure. The an- 
terior lobe is evidently a glandular struc- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. S. Vou. VI. No. 132. 
ture. It develops originally as a saccular 
invagination from the buccal epithelium, 
and has essentially the same origin in all 
the vertebrates that have been examined. 
According to Haller* it is not strictly a 
ductless gland, since it possesses an imper- 
fectly developed system of ducts that opens 
between the dura and the pia mater. It is 
evidently a secreting structure, and the fact 
that its secretion is discharged between the 
meningeal membranes suggests some spe- 
cial connection with the physiology of the 
brain. Histologically its structure recalls 
that of the thyroid gland, particularly in 
the fact that a colloidal material is said to 
occur frequently in the lumina of the gland 
tubules. In some animals, e. g., the dog 
and the cat, it is a very small body, but in 
others, as the rabbit, sheep, ox and man, it 
is of considerable size and bears every indi- 
cation in its structure of being an active se- 
cretory organ, 
The posterior lobe, on the contrary, is 
very small in all animals and has the ap- 
pearance of being a rudimentary organ. It 
develops as an outgrowth from the infun- 
dibulum of the brain and is more properly 
spoken of as the infundibular lobe. Its 
histology is very incompletely known. Ac- 
cording to Berkley} it contains numerous 
typical nerve-cells, ependymal cells and 
neuroglia, a number of glandular epithelial 
cells arranged in part to form tubes or closed 
vesicles that contain a colloidal material, 
and some curious structures resembling 
nerve and organs. 
The observations bearing upon the func- 
tions of the hypophysis have been limited to 
the glandular lobe. On the pathological 
side it has been shown that in many, if notin 
most, of the cases of acromegalia the glandu- 
lar lobe exhibits pathological changes. For 
this reason extracts of the gland have been 
* Morphologisches Jahrbuch, XXV., 1896. 
} Berkley : The Johns Hopkins Hospital Reports, 
IV., 1895. 
