PREFACE 



On May lo, 1940, our country became a victim of German 

 aggression. As far as circumstances permitted, the Working 

 Community for Endocrinology, Utrecht, continued its 

 activities during the troublesome years that ^followed, mainly 



\ thanks to the generous financial assistance received from the 

 Technical Department of the Netherlands Central Organi- 

 zation for Applied Scientific Research; the JaN Dekker 



j Foundation, and the HECTOR Treub Fund, to whom we 

 wish to express our deep gratitude. We are also very grateful 

 to Professor ChR. P. RAVEN for his unfailing interest in our 

 research work, and to Dr A. S. Parkes, F.R.S., Professor 

 J. Z. Young, Mrs. S. Carswell and Professor G. J. VAN 

 OORDT, for reading the manuscript. 



