Coagulation Hastened in Emotional Excitement
The evidence for emotional secretion of the adrenal glands has already been presented. As was noted in my earlier observations on the motions of the alimentary canal (see [p. 14]), cats differ widely in their emotional reaction to being bound; some, especially young males, become furious; others, especially elderly females, take the experience quite calmly. This difference of attitude was used with positive results, the reader will recall, in the experiments on emotional glycosuria; there seemed a possibility likewise of using it to test the effect of emotions on blood clotting. To plan formal experiments for that purpose was not necessary, because in the ordinary course of the researches here reported, the difference in effects on the blood between the violent rage of vigorous young males and the quiet complacency of old females was early noted. Indeed, the rapid clotting which accompanied excitement not infrequently made necessary an annoying wait till slower clotting would permit the use of experimental methods for shortening the process.
The animals used on November 11 and 13 ([see pp. 175], 176) are examples of calm acceptance of being placed on the holder; and furthermore, these animals were anesthetized without much disturbance. As the figures indicate, the clotting from the first occurred at about the average rate.
In sharp contrast to these figures are those obtained when a vigorous animal is angered:
Oct. 30.—A very vigorous cat was placed on the holder at 9.08. It at once became stormy, snarling, hissing, biting, and lashing its big tail. At 9.12 etherizing was begun and that intensified the excitement. By 9.15 the femoral artery was tied. The clotting time of the blood for an hour after the ether was first given was as follows:
| 9.18 | 0.5 | minute |
| .19 | 1 | “ |
| .22 | 1 | “ |
| .24 | 1 | “ |
| .26 | 1 | “ |
| .28 | 1.5 | “ |
| .31 | 1 | “ |
| .33 | 0.5 | “ |
| .35 | 0.5 | “ |
| .38 | 0.5 | “ |
| .39 | 0.5 | “ |
| .41 | 1 | “ |
| .43 | 1 | “ |
| .45 | 0.5 | “ |
| .49 | 0.5 | “ |
| .52 | 0.5 | “ |
| .54 | 0.5 | “ |
| .57 | 1 | “ |
| 10.00 | 0.5 | “ |
| .02 | 0.5 | “ |
| .06 | 1 | “ |
| .09 | 0.5 | “ |
| .11 | 0.5 | “ |
| .13 | 1 | “ |
Twenty-four observations made during the hour showed that the clotting time in this enraged animal averaged three-fourths of a minute and was never longer than a minute and a half. The clots were invariably a solid jelly. The persistence of the rapid clotting for so long a period after anesthesia was started may have been in part due to continued, rather light, etherization, for Elliott[7] found that etherization itself could reduce the adrenin content of the adrenal glands.
The shortened clotting did not always persist so long as in the foregoing instance. The brief period of faster clotting illustrated in the following case was typical of many:
Nov. 18.—A cat that had been in stock for some time was placed on the holder at 2.13, and was at once enraged. Two minutes later etherization was started. The hairs on the tail were erect. The clotting was as follows:
| 2.25 | 1 | minute. |
| .27 | 0.5 | “ |
| .28 | 2 | “ |
| .31 | 4.5 | “ |
| .37 | 3.5 | “ |
| .47 | 4.5 | “ |
It seems probable that in this case just as in some of the cases in which the splanchnic nerves were stimulated (see [p. 166]), the adrenals had been well-nigh exhausted because of the cat’s being caged near dogs, and that the emotional flare-up practically discharged the glands, for repeated attempts later to reproduce the initial rapid clotting by stimulation of the splanchnic nerves were without result.
Evidence presented in previous chapters makes wholly probable the correctness of the inference that the faster coagulation which follows emotional excitement is due to adrenal discharge from splanchnic stimulation. In this relation the effect of severance of the splanchnics on emotional acceleration of the clotting process is of interest. The following cases are illustrative:
Oct. 29.—A cat was left on the holder for ten minutes while the femoral artery was uncovered under local anesthesia. The blood removed was clotted in a half-minute. The animal was much excited. It was now quickly etherized and the brain pithed forward from the neck. The tests resulted as follows:
| 10.51 | 1 | minute. |
| .53 | 0.5 | “ |
| .55 | 0.5 | “ |
| .57 | 0.5 | “ |
| 11.07 | Cut left splanchnic. | |
| .12 | “ right splanchnic. | |
| .21 | 3.5 | minutes. |
| .26 | 3.5 | “ |
The original record of this case is given in Fig. 34.
Figure 34.—About two-thirds original size. Record of rapid clotting (less than a half-minute) after emotional excitement. At 11:07 the left, at 11:12 the right splanchnic nerves were cut; the clotting then required 3:5 minutes. The marks below the time record indicate the moments when the samples were drawn.
Nov. 5.—A cat was etherized at 2.35. At 2.39 artificial respiration by tracheal cannula was begun, the air passing through an ether bottle. The clotting occurred thus:
| 2.53 | 1.5 | minutes |
| .57 | 1.5 | “ |
| 3.05 | 1.5 | “ |
| .15 | 1.5 | “ |
| .25 | Both splanchnics cut and tied in thorax. | |
| .35 | 4.5 | minutes |
| .55 | 4.5 | “ |
Nov. 7.—A cat was etherized at 1.55 under excitement and with tail hairs erect. At 2.13 the animal was showing reflexes. The figures show the course of the experiment:
| 2.15 | 1.5 | minutes |
| .21 | 1 | “ |
| .26 | 1 | “ |
| .31 | 1 | “ |
| .36 | 1 | “ |
| .41 | 1 | “ |
| .46 | 2 | “ |
| .51 | 2 | “ |
| 3.06 | 2 | “ |
| .11 | 2.5 | “ |
| .26 | Cut left splanchnic in thorax. | |
| .35 | Cut right splanchnic in thorax. | |
| .40 | 5 | minutes |
| .45 | 5 | “ |
| .51 | 5.5 | “ |
In this instance the subsequent stimulation of the splanchnic nerves resulted again in faster clotting—a reduction from 5.5 minutes to 3.5 minutes (see experiment Nov. 7, [p. 164]). The results from this experiment are expressed graphically in Fig. 35.
Figure 35.—Rapid clotting after emotional excitement, with slowing of the process when the splanchnic nerves were cut in the thorax (the left at 3:26, the right at 3:35).
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 excitement also evoke activity of the adrenals. Here, then, is another fundamental change in the body, a change tending to the conservation of its most important fluid, wrought through the adrenal glands in times of great perturbation. This bodily change and the others which occur under the same circumstances are next to be examined with reference to their significance.