FOREWORD. 



THE subject of the Internal Secretions, or Glandular Physio- 

 logy as it is sometimes called, is one which is destined to occupy 

 the attention both of physiologists and clinicians for a long time 

 to come. The admirable manner in which the microbic theory 

 of disease has been developed and pressed into practical employ- 

 ment has served completely to revolutionize the surgery, and 

 profoundly to modify the medicine, of thirty years ago. But the 

 truth of the theory and the wonders which it has wrought leave 

 unexplained certain problems in pathology which cry aloud for 

 solution. Microbes do not explain gout, diabetes, Graves's 

 disease or Hodgkin's disease, to mention but a few which inhabit 

 the vast territory which remains to be conquered. Upon these 

 and allied diseases the study of the internal secretions promises 

 to throw some light. It has already illuminated myxcedema, 

 acromegaly, Addison's disease, and some others, and the promise 

 which it holds is as enticing and fascinating as its pursuit is 

 baffling. 



The condition precedent of any real progress on the clinical 

 side is an exhaustive study of the physiological side. Professor 

 Biedl's book supplies this in a painstaking and methodical man- 

 ner. It comprises all the work of an experimental kind which 

 has been done in any country up to within a very recent date. 

 It is for the most part content to leave that work to speak for 

 itself, and does not unduly burden the reader with explanations, 

 or mislead him with premature theories. 



To unravel the tangled skein of the inter-relation of the 

 various internal secretory glands must be a task for many workers 



