The Elbert County tribune., 1915-02-05
INTERNAL sEcRErioNs.

We find running all through the his
tory of the development of the theory
OF combating disease slowly evoiv'
ing chain of ideas revolving around
the primitive belief of the savage that
eating the heart OF his victim impart-
ed to him the courage and vitality OF
his enemy.
This idea has given rise from time
to time to various methods of organ
otheraphy, all OF which have failed to
be effective. but which have been valu-
able because they have served as steps
toward conception of the idea that
certain glandular organs give rise to
chemical products which on entering
the circulation influence the activity
of one or more other organs. The term
internal secretions" is used to desig
nate these products.
Claude Bernard appears to have
been the first to employ this term to
distinguish between the ordinary or
external secretions and these internal
secretions. The belief that the secre-
tory products were given of in this
way had long been held in reference to
the ductless glands, and this belief
was perfectly logical because the abb
sence of any duct naturally suggested
such possibility; but there was prac-
tically no interest In the matter OF
the internal secretions until reports of
the work of Brown-Sequard upon tes.
ticular extracts were published prior
to 1890. This Investigator assumed
that all tissues give off something to
the blood which is characteristic and
is OF Importance in general nutrition.
The idea was taken up widely and 1t
led to strong revival of the old no
tions regarding the treatment OF dis
eases of the different organs by ex
tracts of the corresponding tissues.
but no extract was found to be OF any
advantage in treating the troubles OF
the organs from which they were
made.
| Obviously. vital elements can be ex'
pected to flow only from live-that II
to say, from neutrality-suspicious..
1t is not reasonable to expect more
than temporary results from the non
living. However. while Brown-Se-
guards idea was not found to be
justified by subsequent work. 1t led
to investigation and the development
of the methods necessary to demon
state that not only the ductless glands
but some OF the typical glands pro
vided with ducts for external secre
tlons give rise also to internal secre
| tons, the pancreas and the liver being
examples In point
We have In our bodies ten or q
dozen ductless glands which. as In
vestigations have demonstrated. play
a part of enormous Importance In cui
general nutrition
The principal ductless glands are
the thyroid. parathyrcid. suprarenal
thymus. pituitary. pineal. carotid ant
cocygeal. In some of these the exist
ence or the non-existence OF an .n
ternal secretion is still an open Ques
| ton, but 1t Is quite safe to assume
that. inasmuch as nothing can come
into being without a reason and thai
nothing can continue to exist without
reason, broader and deeper knowl
| edge of the process OF digestion and
OF our metabolism In general will
demonstrate these supposedly useless
organs to be endowed with some very
|
removal OF useless organs is less
general than 1t was and must become
less and less as knowledge increases
Outside the ductIess glands the idea
OF internal sections has recently found
fruitful application in the study OF the
| digestive secretions. and It has been
clearly demonstrated that the gastric
and the pancreatic "secretions." and
perhaps other secretions from lower
| down in the digestive tract. must be
regarded as examples OF internal secre
tions. and that they must be reckoned
with in our efforts to secure an under
standing of the rapidly increasing NOR
tality resulting from those diseases
due to 1eranged metabo' ism.
Chemical products of this kind
which stimulate the activity OF spe
cial organs Sterling has designated al
hormones, from the Greek word which
means II excite and he suggests
that these chemical products may be
regarded as the original or primitive
means for co-ordinating the function
ing OF the various parts of compiler
| organism In other words, we are
| controlled by what may be called
liquid nerves acting through our blood
circulation as well as by the better
known coordination secured through
the medium OF the later developed
and wonderfully complex nervous
system which we are able to dissect
out and follow to its point OF origin