Thus, Krasheninnikov assigns to the somatic cells the role of "suppliers" 

 of the sexual elements, so that those that arc still capable of growth during the 

 first period of life can still not only supply valuable substances to the germ cells 

 but also rapidly synthesize its own protoplasm. During the second period of 

 ontogenesis, there is an ever-increasing progressive attrition of the somatic cells. 



The groundlessness of such a division of the cells of the body into immortal 

 germ elements and mortal somatic cells scarcely needs to be demonstrated. 

 According to A. V. Nagorniy, "we need only point out that if this were actually 

 so, castrated animals would have to be immortal, whereas the facts indicate 

 that, on the contrary, the aging and death of the soma is sometimes even ac- 

 celerated after castration" (1940). 



A number of studies were published by B. M. Zavadovskiy (1922-1936) 

 and M. M. Zavadovskiy (1924-1941) from the viewpoint of a special modifica- 

 tion of the hormonal theory of aging. M. M. Zavadovskiy regards the age- 

 linked development of organisms as a process of prolonged morphogenesis, 

 determined at each age by the substantial shifts in the composition and amounts 

 of the hormones that are produced. "Despite the view, widespread among 

 physicians and physiologists, that treats aging as a disease, and in recent times, 

 particularly in connection with Steinach's work, as a disturbance of the 'normal' 

 relationships in the incretory system of glands, I regard aging as a natural and 

 inevitable finale of form development . . . 



"The onset of old age must be characterized as a natural change in the 

 activity of the incretory glands, comparable to that which, as we know, takes 

 place when adolescence sets in during youth, when the activity of the thymus is 

 exhausted and the gonads begin to function" (M, M. Zavadovskiy, 1924). 



". . . As a biologist, I could characterize our approach to the problem of 

 aging as a morphogenetic one. It regards the phenomena of aging as the result 

 of the normal, regular, inevitable course of development of the organism, the 

 direction of which is determined by the incretory glands" (1924). 



The concept of the hormonal dependence of aging was later defended by 

 N. A. Shereshevksiy (1936-1940) and S. S. Khzlatov (1940). Shereshevskiy 

 here regarded aging as being largely a manifestation of insufficiency of the 

 thyroid gland. 



That an important role is played by the age-linked changes in the glands 

 of internal secretion in the processes of development and aging of the organism 

 can scarcely be denied. In ontogenesis, there are substantial changes in the 

 system of the endocrine glands; the susceptibility of the tissues to hormones also 

 changes. 



In addition to this, this concept clearly underestimates the role of the 

 nervous system in the ontogenesis of higher organisms. The most important 

 objection to the hormonal theories of aging is the absence in them of any answer 

 to a major question: Why do the glands of internal secretion themselves age 

 (or, in general, change with age)? It is evident that it is in the age-linked 

 changes in all tissues of the organism, including those of the glands of internal 

 secretion, that the deep-seated general causes are to be found. These factors 

 are not touched upon by the hormonal theories of aging. 



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