Volume 1

The Internal secretions and the principles of medicine / by Charles E. de M. Sajous.

  • Sajous, Charles E. de M. (Charles Eucharist de Medicis), 1852-1929.
Date:
1903-1907
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The Internal secretions and the principles of medicine / by Charles E. de M. Sajous. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    847/872 (page 781)
    observed the same phenomenon under the use of diphtheria tox- ins. The influence of the adrenal system also becomes evident through the facts (1) that the increase of alkalinity only showed itself two hours after the poison had been injected; and (3) that it slowly increased until the twentieth hour had been reached, then gradually fell, returning to the normal when a period of three days had elapsed. In another series of experi- ments, performed with the collaboration of Kigler,* von Fodor adduced suggestive evidence. In this series he observed that the intensity of the symptoms varied with the dose of toxin injected: moderate doses increasing the alkalinity, while very large doses caused it to decrease. Again, an important clinical feature: while the injection of diphtheria toxin lowered the alkalinity of the blood, injections of antitoxin raised, it. Finally, we have shown how clearly leucocytogenesis was dependent upon overactivity of the adrenal system: Lowy and Eichter,^^' in a series of experiments with hemialbumose, spermin, pep- tone, and antitoxin in rabbits, noted that the increase of white cells kept pace with that of alkalinity. It therefore seems clear to us that:— 1. Both leucocytosis and increased alkalinity of the Mood are concomitant results of the enhanced functional activity of the ad- renal system induced ly toxics. 2. It is only when the alkalinity and fluidity of the llood- plasma are approximately normal that all cellular elements of the organism, including the adrenal system and the posterior pituitary body, can continue their functions. The lethal tendency engendered by a deficiency of salines in the blood during disease is not only due to the fact that cellular metabolism is inhibited through the increased density of fluids and cells, but there is another factor which contributes materially to augment the morbid results of such a condition: i.e., the primary prophylactic process itself. Indeed, in virtue of the principle we now have so frequently emphasized, the various poisons, toxins, toxalbumins, etc., awaken a defensive reaction in the organism by primarily stimulating the adrenal system. But in doing this it augments to an inordinate degree i^Rigler: Centralbl. fiir Bakter., Feb. 6, 1897. 5 Lowy and Richter: Deutsche med. Wochenschrift, No. 33, 1897.