24 THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY 



control physical and mental growth and all the metabolic proc- 

 esses of fundamental importance. They dominate all the vital 

 functions during the three cycles of life. They co-operate in an 

 intimate relationship which may be compared to an interlocking 

 directorate. A derangement of their function, causing an in- 

 sufficiency of them, an excess, or an abnormality, upsets the entire 

 equilibrium of the body, with transforming effects upon the mind 

 and the organs. . In short, they control human nature, and who- 

 ever controls them, controls human nature. 



The control of the glands of internal section waits upon our 

 knowledge of them, the nature and precise composition of the 

 substances manufactured by them, and just what they do to the 

 cells. Envisaging the future, that knowledJfctoday is meagre. 

 Looking back fifty years, it becomes an amaziflg" achievement and 

 revelation. It is worth our whilejjW survey the accomplished, 

 and to trace its general hunrerPsignificance. For a certain 

 tangible degree of knowledge ^pl control has been attained and 

 should be part of the average citizen's equipment in dealing with 

 the everyday problems of his life. 



The Attitude of the Laboratory 



A certain number of so-called experimental physiologists, tha 

 is, the physiologists of the animal laboratory, who will have noth- 

 ing but syllogistic deductions and quantitative determination 

 based upon animal experiments as the data of their science, wi 

 be apt to look askance upon the preceding paragraphs, and th 

 which will follow. To them, any man who relates the inte: 

 secretions to anything, outside of the routineer's paths, puts 

 reputation at stake, if he has any reputation at all to start 

 with. They would have us deliver a Scotch verdict upon all t 

 questions which arise as soon as one attempts to take in tl 

 more general significance of the glands of internal secretion. Thi 

 even though the more general implications concerning the effec 

 of their products, the relations of them to growth and develoj 

 ment, nutrition and energy, environmental reactions and resis 

 ance to disease, as well as the grand complex of intelligence, a 

 admittedly well ascertained in some directions. 



The method of absolute measurement in science has yield 

 miracles. For some thousands of years, an isolated inc 

 vidual, here and there or an isolated institution have devot 

 themselves to the task, struggling not only with their own wea 



