XXII 
THE ESSENTIAL DUCTLESS GLANDS 
By M. J. KONIKow, M.D., Boston, Mass. 
In the whole realm of medicine, there is hardly a 
more fascinating branch, one that is more interesting 
as to scientific facts, and more important as to its rela- 
tion to physiological and pathological conditions, than 
endocrinology—that branch of medicine that treats 
with the so-called ‘ductless glands.” Young in years, 
hardly half a century old, this branch of medicine 
boasts of a literature that, in its quantity and quality, 
surpasses the literature upon any other subject in 
medicine that has been taken up during a similar pe- 
riod. The enormity of the literature upon this subject 
can be grasped from the fact that, in the second edition 
of Biedl’s “Innere Secretion,” published in 1913, the 
bibliography alone occupies over 250 large octavo pages. 
Swale Vincent, in his book on “Internal Secretions and 
the Ductless Glands,” cites over 2,000 titles upon the 
same subject; while Sajous, in his latest edition of ‘‘In- 
ternal Secretions and Principles of Medicine,” brings 
forth almost 8,000 titles. ‘Endocrinology,’ a bi- 
monthly periodical, reviews hundreds of titles in each 
of its issues. Such is the wealth of literature; such is 
the outpour of endocrinological thought in the recent 
decades! 
And yet, when one considers the most wonderful facts 
brought out within our generation in connection with 
some of these miniature organs; when one is confronted 
with proof of their powerful influence upon all phases 
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