76 FIELDING H. GARRISON 



plained by the inhibitory action of the secretion of the posterior lobe of the 

 pituitary on* the pancreatic hormone, mobilization of glycogen and glyco- 

 suria resulting when the pituitary secretion is in excess and the restraining 

 influence of the pancreas thus impaired. Gushing and Jacobson found that 

 the obesity or high sugar tolerance following excision of the posterior lobe 

 of the pituitary will persist even after subsequent excision of the pancreas, 

 no glycosuria developing. 9 



The question arises, How do the internal secretions or hormones act 

 upon the central nervous system ? Here we encounter what Ehrlich calls 

 "that obscure province of physiology," the specific irritability of organized 

 tissues, or the capacity of protoplasm to react to chemical and other stimuli. 

 If a chemical substance in the blood comes in contact with the chemorecep- 

 tors or special groups of atoms in the periphery of a cell, the two sets of 

 substances may remain inert in relation to each other, they may combine, 

 producing equilibrium, or they may induce a vigorous reaction through 

 difference in their chemical potentialities. The complexity of this phase of 

 the subject is fairly indicated in Abderhalden's studies of intracellular 

 metabolism, in which he shows that by linkage of three different amino 

 acids, A, E, C, the following isomeric arrangements can be produced by 

 permutation and combination, viz., 



A-B-C A-C-B B-A-C B-C-A C-A-B C-B-A 



In like manner, from linkage of four amino acids, 24 structurally isomeric 

 compounds may result; from five, 120; from six, 720; from seven, 5,040; 

 from fifteen, 1,307,674,368,000; from twenty, 2,432,902,008,176,640,000. 

 We have as yet no calculus of variations fine enough to estimate even the 

 rate of change of these evanescent combinations, which, we may assume, 

 are constantly taking place within the cell. 



Again, it may be asked, Is the hormonic equilibrium of the body iden- 

 tical with thermodynamic equilibrium? And here we have another prob- 

 lem which may be described as transcendental. In the ordinary metab- 

 olism of the body it is agreed that the first law of thermodynamics con- 

 servation of energy or constancy of the sum of energy in an isolated sys- 

 tem applies in every respect. Does the second law irreversible dissipa- 

 tion of energy in one direction apply to such relatively isolated (adiaba- 

 tic ) systems as a cell enclosed in its cell wall or the animal body encased in 

 its integument ? Does the cell or the organism act like a heat engine or an 

 electric cell, dissipating its energy in one direction, or is it a reversible 

 mechanism, like a dynamo? In the animal body the foodstuffs of high 

 chemical potential, proteids, carbohydrates, and fats, are degraded and 



ie significance of all those phenomena is that of bouleversement or the enhar- 

 1011 ic effect of dysfunction of a given gland upon other glands. A. J. Carlson (c) main- 

 'there is absolutely no evidence, biological or clinical, of any one of the en- 

 nnc organs being u i,i ( . to function for the other. The beautiful diagrams and inter- 

 is given me by Falta and his school are largely imaginary." 



