PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION 



There is no subject in medicine at the present time 

 which has aroused such a widespread interest as endo- 

 crinology. The reason for this is obvious. In practically 

 every specialty, be it internal medicine, surgery, gyne- 

 cology, neurology or pediatrics, our knowledge of this 

 subject is increasing daily and finding new applications. 



At first our use of the endocrines was limited to such 

 applications as thyroid in cretinism, or pituitrin to stim- 

 ulate labor pains. We now know that there are numerous 

 grades and varieties of disturbances of the glands of 

 internal secretion giving rise to many troublesome 

 symptoms and pathological conditions, which could not 

 very well be relieved by our common therapeutic meas- 

 ures. Many of these conditions are now amenable to 

 treatment by means of glandular extracts. A few ex- 

 amples are sufficient to illustrate this: The improvement 

 of certain persistent cases of enuresis or what at one 

 time seemed to be ordinary cases of epilepsy by means 

 of pituitrin; the relief of asthenia following acute infec- 

 tions by the administration of suprarenalin; the benefit 

 derived from thyroid, thymus, pituitary or ovarian ex- 

 tracts in gynecological conditions; the variety of obscure 

 skin conditions which have been cleared up by giving 

 one or more of the glandular extracts, and many more 

 could be added to this list. 



The remarkable feature of this method of treatment is 

 that it can be both symptomatic and curative in its action. 

 This does not mean of course that all body ailments can 

 be treated by the administration of glandular extracts, 

 but a great many can be helped. An understanding of 



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