May 27, 1922] 



NATURE 



67 



growth and moulding of the body became apparent 

 after Marie recognised the disorder which he named 

 acromegaly in 1886. Following these events, Dr. 

 Berman duly notes the discoveries relating to the 

 action of substances formed in the adrenal and pituitary 

 glands by Sir E. Sharpey Schafer, described by our 

 author as " Schaefer, the Scotch physiologist, who has 

 done more than any other living man to stimulate 

 study of the internal secretions." Then follows a mere 

 mention, as if it were a mere minor or parochial event, 

 of the discovery announced by Bayliss and Starling in 

 the Proceedings of the Royal Society for 1904, namely, 

 that the pancreas was set into action by a substance 

 which, formed in the mucous membrane of the duo- 

 denum, is carried by the circulating blood to the site 

 of its action. 



For Dr. Berman the discovery made by Bayliss and 

 Starling was but a parochial affair of John Smith ; for 

 the writer of this notice it is the John Hampden 

 episode leading to a revolution which is transforming 

 the whole field of biology. One has only to turn to the 

 Croonian Lecture given by Prof. Starling at the Royal 

 College of Physicians in 1905 to realise that he was 

 under no delusion as to the revolutionary effect of the 

 discovery of the " hormone " which he named 

 " secretin." He realised that the discovery had 

 revealed Nature's most ancient mode of co-ordinating 

 the action of living units ; that a new and potent 

 factor had been placed in the hands, not only of 

 physiologists but also of every man or woman who was 

 working at any department or aspect of living matter — 

 one which gave them a working theory to explain 

 myriads of obscure phenomena. It was the merit of 

 Dr. J. T. Cunningham to apply the new theory to 

 heredity and evolution. 



The hormone theory as propounded by Starling in 

 1905 has had an effect on all branches of medicine — 

 in surgery, medicine, obstetrics, and particularly on 

 psychology. For many thousand years, men of nearly 

 all countries have realised that the removal of the 

 genital glands produces a profound change in the 

 nature and behaviour of all kinds of domesticated 

 animals. The ancient Egyptians must have been aware 

 of these effects. It is the intricate and multitudinous 

 action of hormones on the nervous system which has 

 enlisted the particular enthusiasm of Dr. Louis Berman. 

 In this book he has set out in full detail not only all 

 that can be said in sobriety relating to the role of internal 

 secretions in regulating behaviour and temperament, 

 but also a great deal which may be true but at present is 

 entirely imaginary. It is with no hint of disrespect 

 that the reviewer suggests that, after all, the unnumbered 

 myriads of nerve cells which make up the brain have 

 something to do with behaviour and personality ; the 

 NO. 2743, VOL. 109] 



qualities of a man or woman are not determined by 

 internal secretions alone. 



The thesis maintained by the author is best given 

 in his own words (p. 23) : 



" The life of every individual, normal or abnormal, 

 his physical appearance, and his psychic traits, are 

 dominated largely by his internal secretions. All 

 normal, as well as abnormal individuals are classifiable 

 according to the internal secretions which rule in their 

 make-up. Individuals, families, nations and races 

 show definite internal secretion traits, which stamp 

 them with the quality of difference. The internal 

 secretion formula of an individual may, in the future, 

 constitute his measurement which will place him 

 accurately in the social system." 



In the latter chapters of this work Dr. Berman 

 proceeds to explain, on an endocrine formula, great 

 or uncommon figures in history such as Napoleon, 

 Caesar, Florence Nightingale, Darwin, Nietzsche, and 

 Oscar Wilde. No doubt there is much to be said for 

 many of his contentions, but when we find Napoleon 

 classed as a " pituitary centred, ante-pituitary 

 superior, post-pituitary inferior, with an instability of 

 both, that would lead to his final degeneration," we 

 have to own that the ordinary historian is not likely 

 to find endocrinology as here presented really helpful 

 to him. 



We should not do Dr. Berman and his book justice 

 unless we mentioned the vigour of his style. Every 

 sentence has a " punch " in it — indeed the reader 

 often longs for a plain statement of fact. It is a book 

 which compels one to think as well as to criticise. 



A. Keith. 



Positive Rays. 



Rays of Positive Electricity and their Application to 

 Chemical Analyses. By Sir J. J. Thomson. (Mono- 

 graphs on Physics.) Second edition. Pp. x 4-237 + 

 ix pi. (London : Longmans, Green and Co., 

 1 92 1.) 165. net. 



ALL physicists and chemists, with many who, 

 though less directly, are yet no less deeply 

 interested in the subjects opened up by the study of 

 the phenomena of the discharge tube, will rejoice that 

 Sir J. J. Thomson has found time, amid his many 

 preoccupations, to bring out this second edition of 

 his well-known monograph on rays of positive 

 electricity. The output of scientific work is now so 

 enormous that it is difficult to keep pace with it even 

 in one's own special line of study. It would be practi- 

 cally impossible, if it were not for the assistance given 

 by books such as this, ever to come abreast once more 

 of a subject in which one has once fallen behind. In 

 writing this clear and authoritative account of the 



