93 GLANDS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE 



one-time famous physiologist became a thoroughly 

 discredited man. We shall presently have occasion 

 to discuss the objections that may be advanced to 

 the use of testicular extracts; but it is only bare 

 justice to the memory of an illustrious man of sci- 

 ence to point out at once and emphatically that 

 Brown- Sequard seized upon the germ of a great 

 discovery, and one which, even to-day, is but dimly 

 perceived. Moreover, he was the first one to per- 

 ceive clearly the intimate relation that exists be- 

 tween the various organs, due to their internal 

 secretions. 



He writes: "Each tissue, and, more generally, 

 each cell of the organism, secretes for its own use 

 special products which are poured into the blood 

 and which influence, through the intermediary 

 agency of this liquid, and not through the mecha- 

 nism of the nervous system, all the other cells, thus 

 rendering all of them mutually interdependent." 

 To say that each tissue and each cell plays such a 

 part may, or may not be the entire truth; but we 

 have here a wonderfully clear presentation of the 

 functions of hormones. 



We shall see presently how, in the hands of 

 Steinach, Voronoff, and others, the Brown- Sequard 

 view was adopted and extended. In the meantime 

 we must take a step backward and examine in 

 more detail the effects of castration. You will re- 

 member that this type of approach to the subject 



