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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 417 



the dangers that surrounded them, and the 

 ■deadly risks they were incurring, have, 

 nevertheless, led by their great courage 

 and scientific devotion, gone steadily for- 

 ward, sometimes to death itself. There is 

 danger in the laboratory and the hospital, 

 and greater danger in the midst of epi- 

 demics. . ' What does it matter 1 ' replied 

 Pasteur when his friends spoke of these 

 perils, 'Life in the midst of danger is tlie 

 life, the real life, the life of sacrifice, of ex- 

 ample,- of f ruitf ulness, ' and he continued 

 his labors. The death from cholera of a 

 devoted and much-loved pupil of his at 

 Alexandria, whither he had voluntarily 

 gone to investigate the dread scourge of 

 1883, was a great grief to the master, but 

 only intensified his devotion to his work. 

 Since then many others have met an end 

 as heroic, martyrs to the cause of medical 

 progress. Among these I need only men- 

 tion our own Lazear, who gave up his life 

 in the yellow-fever laboratories in Cuba. 

 Notwithstanding such tragedies, the labora- 

 tories and hospitals are always full of 

 workers, and each new epidemic finds those 

 who are eager to go to the scene to aid. 

 The good to be performed and the honors 

 to be won overcome the fears, and the ranks 

 of laborers in this most deadly province 

 of scientific medicine are never wanting 

 in men. 



Internal Secretion.— heaying the subject 

 of the infectious diseases, let me turn now 

 to a mode of treatment based on recent ex- 

 perimental work, and applied successfully 

 to certain unusual and grave maladies, 

 which are evidently accompanied by dis- 

 ordered nutrition, but the cause and proper 

 treatment of which until very recently 

 were obscure. 



About a dozen years ago the phrase 

 'internal secretion' began to be employed 

 in physiological laboratories for the first 

 time, and for a newly recognized function 



of glandular organs. It was well known 

 that glands receive from the blood raw 

 material, and manufacture from it specific 

 secretions, which are discharged either out- , 

 side the body for excretion, as is the case 

 with the perspiration, or to the surface of 

 mucous membranes for use in bodily func- 

 tion, as instanced by the gastric juice. It 

 was discovered, however, that certain 

 glands, such as the thyroid, the suprarenal, 

 the pancreas and others, manufacture and 

 return to the blood specific substances, dif- 

 fering with the different glands, but of 

 important use to the body, and the absence 

 of which leads to profound consequences. 

 These substances were called internal secre- 

 tions. Thus, removal or suspension of the 

 function of the thyroid gland, and hence 

 the loss of its internal secretion, reduces 

 the body to a serious pathological state, 

 long recognized by the name myxedema. 

 Of similar causation is the peculiar condi- 

 tion, called cretinism, which is character- 

 ized by a physical and mental stunting of 

 the growing individual. The rare Addi- 

 son's disease is associated with disturbance 

 of the function of the suprarenal glands ; 

 and other instances might be mentioned. 

 It seemed a simple step from the discovery 

 of the cause to the discovery of a cure. If 

 absence of a substance is the cause of a 

 disease, supplying that substance ought 

 to effect a cure, and such was found to be 

 the case. Administering to the afflicted 

 individual the fresh thyroid gland of ani- 

 mals or a properly prepared extract of 

 such gland, was found to alleviate or cure 

 myxedema ; and other instances of the effi- 

 ciency of glandular products were recorded. 

 So striking were the_ facts that active in- 

 vestigation of the matter was undertaken, 

 with the result of showing that the chem- 

 ical interrelationships of the various tis- 

 sues of the body were profound, and a 

 knowledge of them of exceeding value to 



