66o 



NA TURE 



[November 18, 1922 



Otherwise the graft always degenerates sooner or later. 

 All the effect it has is the temporary addition of just 

 that amount of the special hormone present in the cells 

 of the graft when inserted. This appears to be the only 

 basis of the much-talked-of transplantations of Prof. 

 Voronoff. 



That part of the subject about which the evidence is 

 most conflicting is the interrelation of the various 

 " ductless glands." Both hooks deal with this in a 

 duly cautious manner. Prof. Vincent gives a valuable 

 account of the morphology of the different organs and 

 tissues. His views as to the nature of the Islets ol 

 :11s will perhaps not In- generally accepted, but 

 it must be admitted that he brings good evidence. 



The only points in Dr. Harrow's book which invite 

 criticism are (i) the undue importance ascribed to 

 adrenaline and to the nervous system in the production 

 of wound shock — we find no reference to the toxasmic 

 aspect, which would seem to be more appropriate to 

 the subject matter ; and (2) the reference to the liver 

 as " the seat of carbohydrate metabolism in the body," 

 in connexion with diabetes. The views of Langfeld 

 are quoted, but the reversibility of the action of the 

 liver enzymes is not taken into consideration. It seems 

 to the reviewer that this word " metabolism " is used 

 far too frequently in a loose way and often when other 

 expressions would convey the meaning much better. 

 The "metabolism" of carbohydrates, for example, 

 should refer to the complete series of chemical changes 

 which take place from the time of their introduction to 

 their final elimination as carbon dioxide and water. 

 When measurements of the oxygen intake are made, 

 what is really done is to determine the whole oxidative 

 processes and should be called " oxidation," not 

 "metabolism" as is common. Similarly, valuable 

 measurements of output of heat have been made. It 

 would be more useful to speak of such determinations 

 as of heat production, not as of metabolism. One also 

 hears sometimes of mere nitrogen estimations in urine 

 as " metabolism experiments." However this may be, 

 it is certainly misleading to suggest that the liver is the 

 most important place of chemical changes in carbo- 

 hydrates. The whole problem of diabetes is still in a 

 very unsatisfactory state. May it not lie that we have 

 given our attention too much to changes in particular 

 compounds, such as glucose or fat, while the funda- 

 mental defect is a general failure in oxidative capacity ? 

 Thus the pancreatic hormone might be an oxidation- 

 promoter, possibly for glucose, since there is evidence 

 that the combustion of fat and protein is inadequate 

 except in the presence of and as part of a kind of coupled 

 reaction with that of sugar. " Acidosis " rather than 

 " ketosis " should not now be regarded as the cause of 

 diabetic intoxication, as Prof. Vincent suggests. 

 NO. 2768, VOL. I ioj 



The multitude of the physiological phenomena con- 

 cerned, as well as their practical importance, may serve 

 as some excuse for the length of this review. We may 

 conclude with a list of those organs or tissues which 

 appear to Prof. Vincent to have established their claim 

 to be regarded as producing true hormones. These are 

 the thyroid, pancreas, reproductive organs, adrenals, 

 pituitary body, and the intestinal mucous membrane 

 (" secretin "). The evidence as to the parathyroids 

 (which seem to act otherwise), the thymus, kidn 

 pineal body is conflicting. It is to fie remembered that 

 the 1 hemical nature of two only of the hormones lias 

 been discovered. Even active extracts have not been 

 prepared in all cases. Still more uncertainty exists as 

 to the way in which hormones act. There is much yet 

 to be discovered. W. M. Bayliss. 



The Origin of Worlds. 



Origine et Formation des Mondes. Par 1'Abbe Th. 

 Moreux. Pp. xii + 401. (Paris: Gaston Doin, 

 [922.) n.p. 



THE Abbe Moreux has essayed, in the volume 

 under notice, the ambitious task of giving a 

 complete explanation of the origin of all the orbs in 

 the solar system. Works on cosmogony have this 

 advantage that no one can positively assert thai any 

 particular system is wrong, since certainty is quite 

 unattainable. Hence a reviewer is not called upon to 

 pronounce a theory of cosmogony right or wrong, but 

 merely to note how far it appears to fit in with known 

 facts. 



The author uses as his materials nebula; and meteoric 

 swarms ; he attributes the dark lanes in the Milky 

 i\a\ and regions where stars are unusually sparse to 

 meteoric clouds, and supposes the outbursts ol Novae 

 afford examples of the collisions between nebulae ami 

 (iouds which he assumes to lie the origin «>f 

 systems. He uses the spiral nebula analogy in tracing 

 the distribution of the matter scattered by the collision. 

 At this point he notes the fact that the planetary orbit- 

 planes are arranged alternately on opposite sides of the 

 plane of maximum areas. He also conjectures that 

 the two arms of the spiral were in slightly different 

 planes, and that the planets were developed alternately 

 from one or other of them. This idea seems somewhat 

 fanciful ; it is fairly obvious that the two most massive 

 planets, Jupiter and Saturn, would have their orbit 

 planes on opposite sides of that of maximum areas, 

 while the same would probably hold for Uranus and 

 Neptune. Another criticism is that his theory, like 

 that of Laplace, makes Neptune much the oldest planet. 

 It was pointed out by the late Prof. Lowell that 



