ENDOCRINE THERAPEUTICS 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



FIFTY years ago, the science of Therapeutics, if 

 it deserved such an honourable title, was little 

 more than chaos. 



Tradition, with its big sounding words, was in 

 authority, and almost the only advances were by 

 the way of empiricism. We were taught con- 

 fidently that such and such a medicine was 

 alterative.but what it altered or whether for better 

 or for worse was left largely to our imagination ; 

 there was no precision, and yet the science of heal- 

 ing is our very raison d'etre. Physiology, bio- 

 logical chemistry, pathology, bacteriology, are all 

 most excellent and necessary, but they are only 

 the servants that wait on the relief and healing 

 of suffering humanity. About that time Gull and 

 the Guy's school initiated a short reign of scep- 

 ticism and agnosticism, which did much good by 

 clearing away rubbish and by concentrating 



