XIX 
SOME THOUGHTS ON INTERNAL SECRETION 
By Harry S. NoBLeE, M.D., St. Mary’s, Ohio 
The Ancients evidently had a vague idea of internal 
secretion, and many records indicate that organothe- 
rapy was practiced by them. In case of disease of an 
organ, an extract of the corresponding healthy organ 
was given, taken from some of the lower animals. For 
instance, fox lung was given in phthisis, wolf’s liver in 
jaundice, and ox eyes in ocular troubles. All knowl- 
edge of internal secretion, however, had its origin in 
the sexual glands. 
Berthold, of Gottingen, in 1849, removed a cock’s tes- 
ticles, and found that the developmental changes in his 
voice, fighting spirit, comb or wattles were missing. 
This was not the case, however, when the testicles were 
transplanted to another part of the body. As a result 
of this it was then believed that every organ gave to 
the blood an internal secretion; and that if the system 
were deprived of this substance from one organ, an- 
other would rise to the occasion, and furnish a substi- 
tute. 
Brown-Séquard really fathered the practical aspects 
of the theory of internal secretion, when in 1889, at 
the age of 72, he appeared before the French Biological 
Society, in Paris, and demonstrated on himself the 
effect of the testicular extract of the dog, when in- 
jected subcutaneously. It is said the effect was mar- 
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