350 
Reviews  and  Bibliographical  Notices. 
f  A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I       July.  1903. 
anterior  pituitary  body's  functional  efficiency.  The  functional  effi- 
ciency of  this  organ  was  found  to  be  maintained  through  the  thyroid 
gland.  The  thyroid  gland,  the  anterior  pituitary,  and  the  adrenals 
were  found  to  be  functionally  united :  i.  e.,  to  form  an  autonomous 
system,  which  he  terms  the  "adrenal  system." 
Radical  changes  in  prevailing  doctrines  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
general  infections,  or  other  forms  of  poisoning,  produced  their  effects 
on  the  organism  thus  seemed  to  impose  themselves,  and  led  to  the 
conclusion  that  what  was  now  considered  as  symptoms  of  infection 
or  poisoning  are  all  manifestations,  more  or  less  severe,  of  overactiv- 
ity or  insufficiency  of  the  adrenal  system.  Indeed,  the  physiological 
action  of  remedies  was  also  traced  to  the  anterior  pituitary  body,  the 
governing  centre  of  this  system. 
The  bearing  of  this  discovery  upon  the  prevailing  interpretation 
of  the  pathogenesis  and  treatment  of  disease  is  well  shown  by  the 
manner  in  which  it  at  once  elucidated  our  knowledge  of  even  the 
greater  scourges  of  humanity.  The  symptomatology  of  Asiatic 
cholera,  for  example,  was  found  to  be  a  counterpart  of  the  symptom- 
complex  of  advanced  adrenal  insufficiency,  and  due  to  the  effects  of 
cholera-toxins  upon  the  anterior  pituitary  body.  The  only  treat- 
ment of  any  value  whatever,  as  is  well  known,  is  early  and  active 
stimulation:  i.  e.,  the  use  of  agents  which,  as  does  the  thyroid's 
active  principle,  reawaken  the  functional  activity  of  this  organ. 
Cholera  infantum,  arsenic  poisoning,  various  toxalbumins,  and  other 
intoxications  produce  identical  symptoms  ;  all  these  proved  likewise 
to  be  syndromes  due  primarily  to  adrenal  insufficiency. 
Dr.  Sajous  seems  to  us  to  have  shown  that  the  adrenal  system 
is  the  source  of  the  secretion  which,  with  the  oxygen  of  the  air, 
forms  the  oxidizing  substance  of  the  blood-plasma.  It  has  also  re- 
vealed the  origin  and  mode  of  distribution  of  the  bodies  with  which 
this  oxygen  directly  or  indirectly  combines;  i.e.,  peptones,  myos- 
inogen,  fibrinogen,  haemoglobin,  and  myelin,  to  insure  the  continua- 
tion of  life  and  the  efficiency  of  all  organic  functions.  Finally,  it 
has  suggested  that  in  addition  to  these  agencies,  all  leucocytes  and, 
under  certain  circumstances,  the  plasma,  contain  a  protective  agency, 
trypsin,  which,  with  MetchnikofFs  phagocytic  cells,  serves  to  destroy 
micro-organisms  and  convert  their  toxins  and  other  albuminoid 
poisons  into  harmless  products.  Considered  jointly,  these  various 
factors  seem  to  represent  the  aggregate  of  vital  phenomena. 
