WHAT MEDICINE HAS DONE AND IS DOING FOR THE RACE 453 



rest of the subjects of diabetes insipidus; but, just as in 

 myxedema and cretinism, and in diabetes mellitus, in which 

 the injection of insulin temporarily transforms the patient 

 into a normal person, so also must this form of treatment be 

 continued, for the relief is not permanent and therefore not a 

 cure. The adrenal or suprarenal glands, which He in close 

 contact with the kidney but are not concerned in the excre- 

 tion of urine, are, hke the pituitary, composed of two parts; 

 the internal or medulla has an internal secretion, adrenahne 

 or epinephrine, which is a tonic to the vascular system, 

 maintains the blood pressure by constricting the arteries, 

 and so is much used in the arrest of bleeding. It is also 

 employed for the rehef of asthma. It can be manufactured 

 in the chemical laboratory. Other glands, such as the para- 

 thyroids and gonads (the sex glands), have internal secretions 

 which keep the body in a normal condition, and when altered 

 bring about morbid manifestations. 



An international agreement as to a standard composition 

 of therapeutic substances (including endocrine preparations, 

 serums, and vaccines) has been a valuable measure in 

 insuring their proper preparation, strength and purity. 



Advances in medical science dealing with diet have so 

 greatly promoted human welfare that a whole chapter 

 (Chap, xiv) is devoted to their discussion. 



PREVENTIVE MEDICINE 



Towards the true ideal of medicine^ — the prevention 

 rather than the cure or relief of disease — there has been more 

 advance in the last fifty years than in any similar period of 

 the world's history. Preventive medicine is closely bound 

 up with the practical application of physiology, for, as Sir 

 George Newman points out, it must deal with the causes of 

 health so as to be able to discover the causes of disease, and 

 thereby effect the "removal of the occasion of disease and 

 physical inefficiency combined with the husbanding of the 

 resources of the individual." 



According to G. E. Vincent, President of the Rockefeller 

 Foundation, the activities of public authorities can prevent, 

 wholly or in part, not more than 20 per cent of the diseases 

 causing death or disablement; there is therefore the most 



