xiv FOREWORD 



of the endocrine glands, and the symptoms referable to disturbances of their 

 functions are not necessarily due to actual disease of these organs. It may be 

 that such is the explanation of much which is still obscure as to the part 

 played by the pancreas in diabetes. 



The literature of internal secretions is already a very large one, and in 

 the monumental work of Biedl we have set before us all that is known of the 

 subject from the standpoints of physiology and experimental pathology. 



The present work has a different scope and aim. In it the maladies of 

 the hormonopoietic system are for the first time discussed in a single volume, 

 and from the clinical standpoint. It will be welcomed by members of the 

 medical profession in all lands, for in it will be found accurate and detailed 

 descriptions of the symptom groups which have their origin in lesions of the 

 glands of internal secretion, and also of some diseases for which such an origin 

 has been suggested. 



It is all the more valuable because it is the work of a physician who com- 

 bines bedside observation with experimental research in the laboratory. 

 Professor Falta's important contributions to our knowledge of pathological 

 chemistry are widely known, and he has been led on to the study of the regu- 

 lators of metabolism by his interest in the chemical processes which it is 

 their function to control. 



