REFERENCES
[1] Cannon and Mendenhall: American Journal of Physiology, 1914, xxxiv, p. 251.
[2] Macleod: Diabetes: its Pathological Physiology, London, 1913, pp. 68–72.
[3] Gautrelet and Thomas: Comptes Rendus, Société de Biologie, 1909, lxvii, p. 233.
[4] Bang: Der Blutzucker, Wiesbaden, 1913, p. 87.
[5] Elliott: Journal of Physiology, 1912, xliv, p. 379.
[6] Elliott: Loc. cit., pp. 406, 407.
[7] Elliott: Loc. cit., p. 388.
CHAPTER XI
THE UTILITY OF THE BODILY CHANGES IN PAIN AND GREAT EMOTION
We now turn from a consideration of the data secured in our experiments to an interpretation of the data. One of the most important lessons of experience is learning to distinguish between the facts of observation and the inferences drawn from those facts. The facts may remain unquestioned; the explanation, however, may be changed by additional facts or through the influence of more extensive views. Having given this warning, I propose to discuss the bearings of the results reported in the earlier chapters.
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 from the inhibited organs of the abdomen; it quickly abolishes the effects of muscular fatigue; and it renders the blood more rapidly coagulable. These remarkable facts are, furthermore, associated with some of the most primitive experiences in the life of higher organisms, experiences common to all, both man and beast—the elemental experiences of pain and fear and rage that come suddenly in critical emergencies. What is the significance of these profound bodily alterations? What are the emergency functions of secreted adrenin?