234 ORIGIN AND NATURE OF LIFE 



of an excitant contained in the outer layer 

 of the rice. Addition of this cleaned-off 

 material in small amounts prevents, or 

 relieves, the disease. A similar condition can 

 be produced in pigeons or fowls fed experi- 

 mentally on polished rice, (as the European 

 product with the outer layer removed is 

 called), and can be relieved immediately by 

 small amounts of extracts of the rice polish- 

 ings. Infantile scurvy is an example of an 

 infantile disease of our own country produced 

 by restricted diet in a similar manner. As 

 Barlow first showed, it may rapidly be cured 

 by treatment with fresh vegetables such as 

 the portion of potato lying below the rind, or 

 fresh fruit of different kinds. There is little 

 doubt that rickets and ship's scurvy, which 

 are now being investigated, will prove diseases 

 of a similar kind. 



These are examples of external hormones 

 from outside the body required in the daily 

 food, but the body-cells within require to 

 manufacture internal hormones, to establish 

 important correlating functions. If the ner- 

 vous system be compared to the telephonic 

 or telegraphic system, then these internal 

 hormones might represent the postal system 

 of the body by which one part is kept in touch 

 with another. The chemical intercommunica- 



