INTRODUCTORY 17 



Sir Lauder Bninton came to St. Bartholomew's. 

 He had a keen foresight of the possibilities of 

 endocrine treatment, but it is for this generation 

 to develop it. 



Without the least hesitation one may say that 

 in the past there have been no such curative 

 weapons in one's hands as the endocrine extracts, 

 and they explain the good action of some of our 

 old friends. Strychnine is a tonic, because it 

 stimulates the output of adrenalin ; the iodides 

 produce their effects chiefly by stimulating the 

 thyroid to greater activity, and the future will 

 show further extensions of these glandular 

 reactions. These glands are all linked up 

 together, partly by nerves and partly by their 

 hormones acting through the blood stream, and 

 they thus become the great regulators and co- 

 ordinators of the bodily economy, of growth, 

 nutrition, and of metabolism. 



Some of the immediate results of our experi- 

 ments are so striking that one is in danger of 

 being led into unreasoning enthusiasm ; the old 

 muddle between post hoc and propter hoc is still 

 with us, and one must not lose sight of the fact 

 that our striking results, in the nature of things, 

 must have side effects which demand considera- 

 tion. There is some confusion of thought about 



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