ORGANOTHERAPY AND HORMONOTHERAPY 83 



apie). It would seem that to these six types of Borchardt's, a seventh 

 might well be added, which may be called reciprocal hormonotherapy, by 

 which is meant the administration of one gland for the purpose of influenc- 

 ing the function of another, as when thyroid is administered in the 

 attempt to so influence the ovarian function that this in turn will correct 

 menstrual disorders. 



Any one familiar with the literature dealing with the employment of 

 ndocrin preparations must be struck by the very unsatisfactory character 

 of a large proportion of the reports that have been published. In many 

 of those emanating from the laboratory and in a still larger proportion 

 of clinical reports, there is such an absence of sufficient detail that the 

 reader, if he be at all critically minded, is left entirely uncertain whether 

 the conclusions reached and the claims made are in any degree in accord- 

 ance with the facts. As a result of its relative newness and of its com- 

 plexity (conditions but partly understood being treated by agents whose 

 powers are even less comprehended), the present status of endocrin therapy 

 is very uncertain. One seeking to analyze and correctly evaluate the 

 claims made as to the therapeutic efficiency of these various substances is 

 confronted with a task of such complexity that he must expect often to 

 fail, accepting at times that which is false and at others rejecting the true. 

 No one can be more convinced of his liability to error than one who has 

 just completed his attempt to perform this task. 



The writer of this portion of this work, in his discussion of various 

 phases of glandular therapy, has endeavored, whenever he "was able to 

 form a definite opinion, to express himself either definitely for or against 

 the clinical value of various uses of these products, or to express the vary- 

 ing degree of faith therein that the available data may justify. It has 

 been his aim whenever, in his opinion, the evidence indicates that there 

 is even a probable relationship between the results claimed and the 

 treatment applied, to present the evidence and express his own estimate 

 (or that of others) of its clinical significance. In some instances certain 

 applications of endocrin therapy have been discussed, not because they 

 have appeared to him to be of real value, but because in endocrin liter- 

 ature, especially that issued as propaganda, claims are made for their 

 efficiency that are not in accord either with known facts or reasonable 

 conjecture. 



Nothing seems to have been more clearly established by his search of 

 the literature than that there is urgent need of more careful observation 

 and more correct reporting of the results or lack of results of glandular 

 therapy. Fortunately there are many indications that the time is already 

 at hand when the clinical observations of this type-oiHfcerapy will be 

 conducted and reported with 'the same accuracy as are those of the 

 laboratory. 



