Adrenal gland

“ As the above experiments clearly show, splanchnic stimulation on the glandless side results in no shortening of the coagulation time; whereas, in the same animals, stimulation of the nerves on [p. 170] the other side (still connected with the adrenal gland) produces a sharp hastening of the clotting process.
The splanchnics innervate the intestines and liver even though the adrenal gland is removed. The foregoing experiments indicate that the nerve impulses delivered to these organs do not influence them in any direct manner to accelerate the speed of coagulation. ”

“ What is more likely than that individuals differ in the strength of their adrenal secretion or in the readiness with which the glands are aroused to pour it out into the circulation? The excitable individual might be one with over-active adrenals. And in the same way the strenuous individual might be one with an unusually active thyroid gland, since there certainly seems to be some connection between this gland and the tendency to great activity. ”

“ Our inquiry thus far has revealed that the adrenin secreted by the adrenal glands in times of stress has all the effects in the body that are produced by injected adrenin. It plays an essential rôle in calling forth stored carbohydrate from the liver, thus flooding the blood with sugar; it helps in distributing the blood to the heart, lungs, central nervous system and limbs, while taking it away [p. 185] from the inhibited organs of the abdomen; it quickly abolishes the effects of muscular fatigue; and it renders the blood more rapidly coagulable. ”

“ This fact was first brought out by Rondoni and Montagnani, and is of added interest in view of its confirmation by McCarrison as well as by LaMer and Campbell. Its significance is discussed at length in the consideration of the adrenal gland in human scurvy. In view of the fact that fasting leads to a similar hypertrophy, and that guinea-pig scurvy frequently is complicated by fasting, these observations should be extended. In all investigations of this kind, bacterial cultures should be taken of the adrenals, or other organs, to be certain that there is no complicating infection. ”

“ The cause of such a transformation in a previously entirely normal woman has been found to be a tumor of the adrenal cortex.
But not only is sexuality, and the conduct of the secondary sex characters, connected with the adventures of the adrenal cortex. The development of the master tissues of the body, the brain, the pride and darling of evolution, is in some subtle way correlated with it. The adrenal cortex contains more of the phosphorus-containing substances of the general nature of those found in the central nervous system than any other gland or non-nervous tissues in the body. ”

“ The druggist handed him a new, long hypodermic needle, then the epinephrin.
“We hear a great deal nowadays about the glands, the endocrine glands,” said Kennedy, proceeding quickly with his sterilizing and antiseptic preparations. “One gland that has a striking influence on the chemical overturn in the body is the central, or medullary, portion of the adrenal. ”

“ The liver and intestines cannot be made to shorten clotting time by stimulation of their nerves, but, as has already been shown (see p. 157) , [p. 171] neither can adrenin act by itself to hasten the clotting process. Apparently the effect is produced by coöperation between the adrenals and the liver (and possibly also the intestines) . Somewhat similar coöperation is noted in the organization of sugar metabolism; splanchnic stimulation in the absence of the adrenal glands does not increase blood sugar, [3] and in the absence of the liver adrenin is without influence. ”

“ The skin is one of the chief clues to the adrenal personality. The relation between the adrenal and the skin dates way back in the evolutionary scale, for adrenalin has been isolated directly from pigment deposits in the epidermis of frogs. Skin pigment bears a direct relation to the reaction of the organism to light, especially the ultraviolet rays, to the radiation of heat, and hence to the fundamental productions and consumptions of energy by the cells. So the gland of energy for emergencies writes its signature always all over the skin. ”

“ ENDOCRINE ANALYSIS The modes of classification glimpsed at are certainly exceedingly broad and sweeping. It is well enough to establish types and classes. But beneath them are sheltered the infinite possibilities of permutations and combinations, which explain the countless variety and complexity of form and function. Every individual born among the vertebrates, for example, must have a certain definite amount and percentage of pituitary gland, anterior and posterior, pineal, thyroid, parathyroid, thymus, adrenal, pancreas, interstitial and so on. ”

“ There results a condition of temporary or chronic adrenal insufficiency, supposedly an insufficient functioning of the gland as a whole. In persons so afflicted there appears a fatigability, a sensitiveness to cold, cold hands and feet, which are sometimes mottled bluish-red, a loss of appetite and zest in life, and a mental instability characterized by an indecision, and a tendency to worry, a weepishness upon the slightest provocation. ”

“ Adrenal glands: nerve supply of, 37; stimulated in emotion, 52-59, 62–63; stimulated in pain, 59–62, 63; in relation to blood sugar, 77; removal of, causes muscular weakness, 81; secretion of, improves contraction of fatigued muscle, 92; variations in adrenin content of, 171; latent period of, when splanchnics stimulated, 188; amount of secretion from, when splanchnics stimulated, 198; fatigue of, 199; stimulated by asphyxia, 206–208. Adrenin: secreted by adrenal glands, 36; action of, identical with sympathetic impulses, 37, 64; secretion of, by splanchnic stimulation, 41–43 ”

“ Hoskins and I showed that the increased respiration which accompanies “painful” stimulation does not augment adrenal activity. We concluded, therefore, that when a sensory trunk is strongly excited the adrenal glands are reflexly stimulated, and that they pour into the blood stream an increased amount of adrenin.
Figure 9.—Intestinal muscle beating in normal vena cava blood, removed at 1 and renewed at 2. At 3 normal blood removed. At 4 contraction inhibited by vena cava blood drawn after sensory stimulation; at 5 removed. At 6 Ringer’s solution substituted. ”

“ During human intrauterine life the adrenal glands are large and conspicuous, in the first half of the second month being twice as large as the kidneys. Most of this relatively huge size, which happens in the human alone, and not in other animals, is due to enlargement of the cortex. Should this preponderance of the cortex over the medullary portion not occur in the human, that is, if the proportions remain like those of other animals, the brain fails to develop properly, or an entirely brainless monster is generated. ”

“ Asthenic conditions necessarily indicate hypofunction of the adrenal system ...” etc.
“The use of gland extracts in the treatment of aplasias of the pluriglandular system has become an established therapeutic measure of miraculous potency (Bayard Holmes: The Internal Secretory Glands, Lancet-Clinic, Sept. 19, 1914) .”
The G. W. Carnrick Company also advertises a “Hormotone Without Post-Pituitary,” each tablet of which is said to contain 1⁄10 grain desiccated thyroid, and to “present” “hormone bearing extracts of thyroid, anterior pituitary, ovary, and testes.” ”

“ Hoskins and Lovellette have recently shown that when the precaution is taken to inject adrenin into a vein [p. 202] in a manner resembling the discharge from the adrenal glands, not only is there increased blood pressure, but generally, also, an acceleration of the pulse. [30] At the same time, therefore, that a greater amount of work, from increased arterial pressure, is demanded of the heart, blood is delivered to the heart in greater abundance, and the muscle is excited to more rapid and vigorous pulsations. ”

“ As we have shown, diabetes is often due to an overactivity of the thyroid gland, [132] as well as to degeneration of the pancreas, these glands being antagonistic to one another. This is confirmed and amplified by Sajous, who ascribes one form of diabetes to overactivity of the adrenal system, which includes the thyroid gland. Overactivity of the latter organ may also be followed by its exhaustion, with symptoms of myxœdema, as is the rule in severe diabetes.
Patients with mild diabetes often have a fresh look and a 80rosy face, and very frequently look much younger than they are. ”

“ Metabolites: influence of, on muscular contraction, 104; action of, opposed by adrenin, 129; increase adrenal secretion, 206–208. Militarists: emphasis of, on strength of fighting instincts, 286–288; claims of, as to values of war, 287; support for claims of, 287. Muscle: weakness of, after removal of adrenal glands, 81; improved contraction of, after injection of adrenal extract, 82; fatigue of, 84; method of recording fatigue of, 85–86; fatigue of, lessened by splanchnic stimulation, 89–93; contraction of, when fatigued, improved by increased arterial pressure, 97–102 ”

“ Tscheboksaroff [4] repeated Dreyer’s procedure and found in blood taken from the veins after splanchnic stimulation evidences of the presence of adrenin that were previously absent. Asher [5] [p. 42] observed a rise of blood pressure when the glands were stimulated in such a manner as not to cause constriction of the arteries—the rise was therefore assumed to be due to secreted adrenin. Dilation of the pupil was used by Meltzer and Joseph [6] to prove secretory action of the splanchnics on the adrenal glands ”

“ The data presented in this chapter show that such stimulation as in the unanesthetized animal would cause pain, and also such emotions as fear and rage, are capable of greatly shortening the coagulation time of blood. These results are quite in harmony with the evidence previously offered that injected adrenin and secretion from the adrenal glands induced by splanchnic stimulation hasten clotting, for painful stimulation and emotional [p. 183] excitement also evoke activity of the adrenals. ”

“ The early work of Funk and Douglas, which showed that various glands of internal secretion diminish in size and undergo degenerative changes when the diet is vitamine-free, the newer work of McCarrison and of Dutcher to the same effect, clearly point to an intimate relationship between some of the endocrine glands and the vitamines. As regards scurvy, the only work is that of Rondoni, McCarrison and of LaMer and Campbell on the adrenal glands, which were found by all to be enlarged in guinea-pigs suffering from this disorder. ”

“ It may be that the weakness following removal or disease of the adrenals is due to absence of the cortex (see Hoskins and Wheelon: American Journal of Physiology, 1914, xxxiv, p. 184) . Such a possible effect, however, should not be confused with the demonstrable influence of injected adrenin (derived from the adrenal medulla alone) and the similar effects from adrenal secretion caused by splanchnic stimulation.
The foregoing evidence indicates that removal of the adrenals has a debilitating effect on muscular power, and that injection of extracts of the glands has an invigorating effect. ”

“ What's wrong with repetitive adrenal whipping is that adrenal fortitude is variable; many people's adrenals eventually fail to respond to the prod of salt and the body begins to suffer from a lack of adrenal hormones. ”

“ All this is greatly strengthened by the recent investigations of Sajous, which show that besides its action on the blood-pressure and the heart, the adrenal secretion actually supplies the substance which in the lungs, takes up the oxygen from the air to sustain life in all our tissues. It thus becomes evident that harm to our adrenals is bound to shorten life. ”

“ THE REACTIONS TO MODERNISM The adrenal personalities in all their variations must be safeguarded and carefully looked after in the strained complexities of modern post-bellum civilization. In a sense, the adrenal type is the Atlas of the twentieth century world, and small wonder that he and his descendants stagger beneath the burden. The adrenals are organs for the mobilization of energy, physical and mental, for emergencies. They are the glands which meet shocks and neutralize the effects of shock. In the solitary animal, the everyday producers of shock are pain, fright and wounds. ”

“ When the adrenal type has a properly co-operating pituitary and thyroid, he possesses a striking vigor, energy and persistence. With a fortunate combination, he develops into a progressive winning fighter, arriving at the top in the long run every time.
Brain work is pretty well lubricated in the well-compensated adrenal type. Brain fag is closely associated with, if not dependent upon, adrenal fag, particularly of the cortex. Brain tissue and adrenal cortex tissue are near relatives, and a normal human brain never develops without a normal adrenal cortex. ”

“ Sajous says: “Certain growths, particularly the more malignant forms of sarcoma and carcinoma, seem closely connected with adrenal insufficiency and its normal consequences,” and there have been some clinical and research data confirming such a conclusion. Sajous further says, “The adrenals, as supporters of the thyroid apparatus in the defensive process, and in sustaining oxidation, metabolism, and nutrition, seem to offer a new clew to the pathogenesis and treatment of cancer that is worthy of further inquiry.” ”