On the excretion of reduction products of haematin in disease / by C.A. MacMunn.
- MacMunn, Charles Alexander, 1852-1911.
- Date:
- 1888
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On the excretion of reduction products of haematin in disease / by C.A. MacMunn. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![As we ascend the vertebrate scale the adrenals become gradu- ally better dovoloped; the same remark applies to tlie respiratory pigments, in fialios and umpliibians' the muscle liaBmoglobin, and the myohfematin are badly developed, in reptiles better, while in birds and in mammals they reach their highest point of deve- lopment. It is not my intention to refer to all recent work on the development of the adrenals. I will merely briefly refer to lialfour's researches on the development of the elasmobranch fishes;' they are well known. lie showed that in these there are (1) a series of paired bodies de- rived from the sympathetic ganglia, and (2) an unpaired body of mesoblastic origin. In the amniota these bodies unite to form the compound suprarenal bodies, the two constituents of which remain, however, distinct in their development. The mesoblastic constituent appears to form the cortical part of Che adult supra- renal body, and the nervous constituent the medullary part. Mitsukmi has confirmed Balfour's views by studying tiie deve- lopment of the adrenals of the rabbit and the rat, and finds that the medullary part arises from the sympathetic ganglia, and the cortical part is of mesoblastic origin; the former at first is outside the cortical part, but becomes gradually enclosed by it, but still retaining some connection with the neighbouring ganglia. Hence we know that the bulk of the adrenal is not of nervous but of mesoblastic origin, for in the adult (mammal) the thinner parts of the organ consist entirely of cortical substance (Schiifer),'' so that the adult suprarenal may be considered a glandular organ. Physiological Chemistry of the Adrenals.—Hoppe-Seyler (Physio- loffische Chemie) shows that the medulla of the adrenal contains a substance which is easily changed (by decomposition) after death, and besides albuminous bodies, a substance which is coloured dark blue to blackish green by ferric chloride; carmine-red by oxidising substances such as tincture of iodine, chlorine- or bromine-water; and red by the sub-chlorides of manganese, cobalt, and nickel. The watery extract assumes, by standing exposed to the air, especially if exposed to sunlight, a red colour. On extracting the adrenals with dilute hydrochloric acid, and adding ammonia to the extract, a beautiful red colour is produced. The substance giving these colour changes is soluble in very dilute aqueous acid solutions, insoluble in ether, alcohol, chloroform, bisulphide of carbon and benzol; it has not been isolated, and belongs, according to Virchow, to the fluid bathing the tissue elements. [Krukenberg considers that several chromogens are present in the adrenals.] Cloez and Vulpian have found hippuric and taurocholic acids and calcium chloride in the adrenals of the sheep, and Seligsohn found benzoic acid and taurin, the latter having also been found by Holm. Kiilz found inosit in them. 1 think it is highly impro- bable that these constituents could have found their way into the organ by imbibition; they must be produced in the organ itself. If so a very active downward metabolism must be taking place Theories as to the Function of the Adrenals—The textbooks agree in stating that Ave know nothing of the function of the adrenals. In Carpenter's Physiology (ninth edition, 1881) it is stated: Although Brown-Sequard found that ablation of the ♦ Researches on Myoliseiuatin and the HistohEematins, Philosophical Transac- ^'°^TrrMisl'm%mparative EmhrxjoUgy, vol. 2, p. 547-549. Cf. Weldon, Quart. Joum. Micros. A'c. 1884 and 1885. ,. ^ ^ r « On the Development of tlie Suprarenal Bodies m Mammalia, Quart. Joum, '^T Quai'Vs' Anatomy, 9th edition. See also Klein's Atlas of Histology, p. 436.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22302475_0004.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
