6 INTERNAL SECRETION 



parts of organs have sometimes been hastily and incorrectly 

 assigned to the group of ductless glands, and in physiology 

 many processes which were imperfectly understood have been 

 prematurely classed among the internal secretions. In the 

 realm of clinical medicine this tendency has been even more 

 marked. 



The study of the efficacy of various organs as remedial agents 

 arose in the time of Hippocrates, and Celsus and Dioscorides 

 recommended the use of various animal organs for the relief of 

 those symptoms in man which were considered to be due to 

 defective action of the same organ ; hence the use of the 

 pigeon's or wolf's liver in cases of hepatic disease, the brain of 

 the hare for tremors, the lung of the fox for dyspnoea, and the 

 use of rennet for disorders of the stomach and intestines. Pliny 

 recommended the use of the testicles of the donkey and of the 

 stag as aphrodisiacs ; and even at the present time there 

 remains the practice of employing castoreum for menstrual 

 disorder. 1 



> Much interest was aroused by the work of Brown-Sequard 

 in 1889 upon testicular extracts. This author put forward the 

 theory that all tissues give off something or other to the blood 

 which is characteristic or specific, and which is of importance 

 to the nutrition of the body generally. This may be regarded 

 as the real beginning of the modern doctrine of internal secre- 

 tion, and represents the actual view of many modern writers, 

 particularly in France. It will be seen that the view of internal 

 secretion which we shall advocate is modified from this, inas- 

 much as secretion is only to be attributed to certain special cells, 

 and not to all elements in the body. 



Brown-Sequard's theory led to a revival of the old humoral 

 physiology, a partial dethronement of the nervous system, and 

 a return to the therapeutic methods called " opotherapy." 

 The "humours" of to-day are, however, very different con- 

 ceptions from those of the blood, the yellow bile, the black bile, 

 and the phlegm of Hippocrates and Galen. The modern con- 

 ceptions, indeed, could only have arisen with the growth of 

 modern chemistry. Both physiology and pathology are 

 becoming more and more chemical. 



We shall see hereafter how very minute may be the quantities 

 of substances which come into play in physiological actio 



se examples are quoted from Batty Shaw. 



. 



