The emergency function of the adrenal medulla in pain and the major emotions / by W.B. Cannon.
- Walter Bradford Cannon
- Date:
- [1914?]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The emergency function of the adrenal medulla in pain and the major emotions / by W.B. Cannon. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Reprinted from the American Journal of Physiology Vol. XXXIII — February 2, 1914—No. II THE EMERGENCY FUNCTION OF. THE ADRENAL MEDULLA IN PAIN AND THE MAJOR EMOTIONS By W. B. CANNON [From the Laboratory of Physiology in the Harvard Medical School] IKE other endosecretory glands the adrenals have been studied by removing them and by injecting their extracts. Injection experiments have shown that the substance produced by the adrenal medulla (adrenin, adrenalin, epinephrin, etc.) is capable of producing many profound bodily changes. The most important of these changes are: a cessation of the activities of the alimentary canal; a notable shifting of the circulation from the great vessels of the abdomen to the lungs, heart, limbs and central nervous system; an increased cardiac vigor; and an augmentation of the sugar content of the blood. Little attention has been paid to the important question of the possible value of these striking bodily alterations as they might occur in the natural life of animals. It is significant that these effects are caused also by nervous dis- charges along sympathetic pathways— the discharges that are sent forth in crises of pain and great emotion. During the past three years, in a series of investigations conducted in this labora- tory,’ we have attempted to gain insight into the meaning of the changes wrought by adrenalin or increased adrenal secretion, and in this paper I propose to discuss the bearings of our results. Adrenalin ts Liberated Normally in Fear, Rage, Asphyxia and Pain A point of prime importance in the functioning of the adrenal medulla is its subjection to central nervous influences coming to it by way of the splanchnics. With a variety of methods, in the 1 CANNON and DE LA Paz: this Journal, 1911, xxviii, p. 64. CANNON and HOSKINS: ibid. Ig1I, Xxix, P. 274. CANNON, SHOHL and Wricut: ibid., IQII, XX1x, p. 280. CANNON and LyMAN: ibid., 1913, xxxi, p. 376. CANNON and Nick: ibid., 1913, xxxii, p. 44. GRUBER: ibid., 1913, xxxii, pp. 221, AZo meAnUUI OTA xXx 1 e335.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b33431085_0004.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
