FOREWORD 



DR. VAN DYKE has again rendered a valuable service 

 to biology and medicine in presenting in this second 

 volume his critical digest of the experimental and 

 clinical literature on the pituitary body that has appeared 

 since 1935. During these four years, while public attention 

 has been focused mainly on violence and war, on economic 

 maladjustments and social strife in many lands, and when 

 myopic men have clamored for a moratorium on science, 

 biological and medical research in some countries has still 

 gone on at a rate and of a quality which now calls for a second 

 review volume on the pituitary body alone. I think this is 

 clearly on the credit side of our simian ledger, even though 

 the pace of publication of excellent research and the making 

 of good scientific books bid fair to exceed our capacity for 

 memory and mental digestion. 



The pituitary body is still the "master" among the 

 endocrine glands. The four additional years of research have 

 detracted very little from its prestige, while it has extended 

 its significance in several directions. A few pituitary hor- 

 mones have become more hypothetical than they were four 

 years ago, a few appear to have become more firmly estab- 

 lished, but, with the possible exception of the lactogenic 

 hormone, their chemical identity still eludes us. In fact, all 

 the fundamental questions anent the pituitary body, in health 

 and in disease, are still beyond the horizon. The role of this 

 gland in the normal physiology of aging has scarcely even 

 been formulated as a problem. The author's present winnow- 

 ing will help to direct the next advance on many fronts. 



A. J, Carlson 



February 1939 



Vll 



