This became the basis of the Arndt-Schulz law of today. Subsequent work has indicated that this is a general law which extends into areas seemingly far removed from the toxins or chemical substances which first interested Schulz. Such compounds are known as hormetics.
Antibiotics frequently cause a zone of accelerated growth in bacteriological assay work.
Since pharmacology is the department of medicine which deals most directly with such chemical effects on cells and tissues, a survey of hormetics is appropriate in this field. From the generalized viewpoint of hormology, a study of the action of a variety of drugs in animal systems may add further evidence to the validity of the thesis and illustrate a common denominator in drug action. We surveyed the field of classic medical pharmacology for examples of hormetics, and the results are presented in tabular form. The stimulation reflects limitations in the ability of the organism to equate or modulate its response to a given stimulus at the lowest threshold of perception. The release of an enzyme, proenzyme, hormone, or ribonucleic acid information molecule could quickly change the internal character of cells.