PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION 



The impact of the first two editions of 

 Sex and Internal Secretions can never be 

 measured, but it must be near the front for 

 books of its kind. Few books seem to have 

 served their purpose better and few, 20 

 to 25 years after their appearance, seem 

 to be valued as greatly by those who are 

 fortunate to possess copies. It was to be 

 expected, therefore, that pressure would be 

 brought to bear for the preparation of a 

 third edition. Whether the Publisher's at- 

 tempts to find an editor miscarried because 

 of the character of the new order ushered 

 in by World War II, or because discretion 

 was considered the better part of valor 

 may never be known. The odds favored the 

 latter explanation because there was no 

 direction in which a successor to Edgar 

 Allen, Edward A. Doisy and Charles H. 

 Danforth could go except down. Neverthe- 

 less, there were reasons for accepting the 

 challenge and attempting to do for the 

 present generation of reproductive phys- 

 iologists what Allen, Danforth and Doisy 

 and their many colleagues did for theirs. 

 Most of the problems to which they ad- 

 dressed themselves had not been solved, 

 although the need for answers was as urgent 

 as ever, and perhaps more so. The definition 

 of these problems had become obscured, 

 partly by the addition of many contradictory 

 and confusing data to the literature relating 

 to them, and partly by the rising tide of 

 interest in other glands of internal secretion, 

 notably the thyroid and adrenal. Finally, 

 new technologies had pervaded the field and 

 there were many new data and concepts to 

 be evaluated and Avoven into the fabric 

 Allen and his contemporaries had created. 



In the preparation of the third edition 

 little of the first two editions was to be 

 retained except the title. Sex and Internal 

 Secretions, and the ideals by which the 

 authors of these editions must have been 

 guided. Within a framework of careful 

 scholarship, these were seen to be a resume 

 of the solid facts that had been learned from 



test and retest, broadly critical discussions, 

 enumeration of the important unsolved prob- 

 lems, and the preparation of lists of ref- 

 erences complete enough for the guidance 

 of any seeker of information, whether his 

 interest was in the extension of basic studies 

 or the application to clinical and agricul- 

 tural problems. Adherence to these ideals 

 has not been easy. Even if ample allowance 

 is made for editorial ineptitude, the period 

 1958 to 1961 is different from 1932 and 

 1939. Reviews and symposia are more nu- 

 merous and many are in a style that is 

 alien to the traditions of Sex and Internal 

 Secretions. There are demands on the time 

 of many of us which, 20 years ago, were 

 reserved for only a few, and the volume of 

 published reports has long since outstripped 

 oiu- capacity properly to encompass them. 



Despite the difficulties and misgivings, 

 an effort has been made to step into the 

 void created by the lapse of the old Sex 

 and Internal Secretions. Both similarities and 

 differences will be noted. Relatively more 

 space has been given over to the role of the 

 gonadal hormones in the control of repro- 

 ductive behavior, and relatively less to the 

 biochemical problems of hormone synthesis, 

 utifization, and metabolism. This "slighting" 

 of the biochemical side, if it is to be so 

 considered, does not reflect any lack of 

 appreciation of the key position occupied by 

 this discipline. It is explained, rather, by 

 the opinion of the biochemists who were 

 consulted that another review, just at this 

 time, would be anticlimactic to a number 

 of the excellent reviews which have recently 

 been published. The chapter by Dr. Villee, 

 therefore, is, in his words, a presentation 

 of the general picture without being an 

 exhaustive citation of the tremendous body 

 of relevant literature. 



The suggestion made above that some of 

 the shortcomings in this third edition are a 

 reflection of changes in our habits of work- 

 ing is not to be taken as an attempt to 



