240 THE INTERNAL SECRETIONS 1920 



namely, the therapeutic one. If, as we say, the hor- 

 mones have such a powerful influence upon the living 

 organism as to affect its metabolism, influence its 

 growth, transform its appearance, modify its sexuality, 

 affect its psychical state, could not we, with the same 

 hormones, artificially introduced into that organism, 

 modify or correct certain pathological conditions, due 

 to disease of one or more of the ductless glands? 



In the attempt to answer this question the modern 

 procedure, organotherapy, was born. I say "modern," 

 because, after all, organotherapy in a crude, primitive 

 form existed with the dawn of human life on this earth. 

 Even in the time of Hippocrates the use of various ani- 

 mal organs was recommended in cases where certain 

 similar organs were affected. Isopathy, a branch of 

 homeopathy, after all, is nothing else but a crude form 

 of organotherapy. The scientific organotherapy may be 

 said to date from June 1, 1889, when Brown-Sequard, 

 then an old man of 72, reported the results of the exper- 

 iments he had carried out upon himself, by the subcu- 

 taneous injections of testicular extract. This gave the 

 impulse for further experiments with extracts of differ- 

 ent ductless glands upon animals and man. The isola- 

 tion of the active principles of the adrenals and pitui- 

 tary and the marvelous results obtained from their use 

 in appropriate cases, stimulated further investigations 

 on these lines. To Harrower (16) , the practical side of 

 organotherapy owes its inception, as he was practically 

 the first who collected all the material upon this sub- 

 ject that had been lost in the numerous medical period- 

 icals of all tongues, systematized it, brought order out 

 of chaos, and presented it to the medical profession in 

 a well-ordered, complete volume. [This is not quite 

 true. The writer admits that he has had a hand in this 

 work; but many others have been interested. 

 H. R. H.] 



