306  Epinephrin  and  its  Compounds.         { AlVu™!'i9Potarm' 
the  true  composition  of  the  blood-pressure-raising  constituent  which 
he  had  called  suprarenin:  No  rational  formula  was  deducible  from 
the  analyses,  but  the  expression  C8.5H12.2NOx  was  adopted  as  repre- 
senting the  average  composition  of  the  fractions  analyzed. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  writer  had  laid  stress  on  the  fact 
that  the  blood-pressure-raising  principle  as  isolated  by  him  is  char- 
acterized by  alkaloidal  properties  and  is  basic  in  character  as  shown 
by  its  ability  to  unite  with  acids  and  by  the  fact  that  it  is  precipi- 
tated by  ammonia.  It  was  claimed  by  v.  Fiirth  that  his  suprarenin, 
as  he  now  called  the  blood-pressure-raising  constituent,  exhibits 
none  of  these  characteristics,  and  he  did  not  hesitate  to  say  that 
epinephrin  itself  has  no  connection  with  the  active  principle,  but  is, 
in  fact,  a  very  different  substance  slightly  contaminated  with  the 
true  blood-pressure-raising  constituent. 
It  was,  however,  an  easy  matter  to  show  that  differences  in 
method  are  responsible  for  the  observed  differences  in  the  properties 
of  epinephrin  and  suprarenin.  The  benzoyl  and  acetyl  derivatives 
of  epinephrin  were  prepared  from  the  iron  compound  of  v.  Fiirth 
and  were  saponified  in  the  autoclave.  The  resulting  solutions  were 
found  to  yield  flocculent  epinephrin  on  the  addition  of  ammonia. 
In  a  word,  it  was  found  that  treatment  in  the  autoclave  of  any  form 
of  the  active  principle  causes  it  to  assume  alkaloidal  properties  and 
to  become  precipitable  by  ammonia.  It  was  furthermore  shown 
that  epinephrin  as  obtained  by  saponification  of  its  benzoyl  deriva- 
tive is  convertible  into  an  iron  compound  which  is  qualitatively 
indistinguishable  from  that  prepared  by  v.  Fiirth's  method,  though 
containing  a  benzoyl  radical  which  was  not  removed  in  the  saponi- 
fication of  the  original  benzoyl  compound. 
To  summarize  briefly,  it  was  shown,1  in  reply  to  the  criticisms  of 
v.  Fiirth,  that : 
(  i)  It  is  an  inherent  property  of  the  active  principle  of  the  supra- 
renal gland,  prepared  by  whatever  method,  to  fall  out  in  the  form  of 
a  flocculent,  physiologically  inactive  precipitate  on  the  addition  of 
ammonia,  after  previous  treatment  in  the  autoclave. 
(2)  It  was  also  shown  that  when  suprarenin  or  any  other  form  of 
the  active  principle  was  subjected  to  hydrolytic  treatment  in  the 
1  "Further  Observations  on  Epinephrin,  "Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  Bulletin, 
Vol.  XII,  March,  1901. 
