Recent advances in endocrinology / by A.T. Cameron.

  • Cameron, A. T. (Alexander Thomas), 1882-1947.
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Recent advances in endocrinology / by A.T. Cameron. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/498 (page 3)
    cerned with the every-day normal physiological processes of the organism. The term “ secretion ” (L. secretus, separated, or divided off), while its derivation does not exclude its application to a single specific compound, has come from long usage to connote an aqueous solution typified by the digestive juices and by sweat. Since this custom is fixed, the term is not most appropriate for the series of specific chemical compounds elaborated by the endocrine glands. By a process of gradual selection the term “ endocrinology ” (Gk. endon, within; krinein, to separate) has gradually become accepted as indicating the study of “ internal secretion.” It denotes the science, or the branch of science, concerned with the glands which separate within themselves specific compounds and secrete them into veins, or perhaps in one or two instances into their lymph vessels. These compounds effect, by reason of their specific chemical constitution, specific actions elsewhere within the organism. The glands concerned are endocrine glands. The specific compounds they form, frequently termed “ internal secretions ” or endocrine secretions, perhaps should more accurately be spoken of as endocrine principles or, even better, as endocrine compounds. The last term stresses the fact that we are dealing with specific chemical substances, and not nebulous uncertainties which never have been and perhaps never will be isolated. The names which have been applied to the various endocrine compounds present some elegancies, some inaccuracies, and, not infrequently, some confusion. Where they can be derived from the name of the specific tissue concerned, they are beyond criticism ; of such insulin (from the “ insulae ” of Langerhans) is an excellent example. Thyroxine (thyro-oxy-indole) is an example of inaccurate description of the compound concerned. Adrenaline, a legitimate term to apply to the compound of the adrenal medulla, is rejected by many endocrinologists because patent laws confer upon it a specific meaning, and so adrenine and epinephrine and adrenaline in scientific papers have equal value. Of all the series “ oestrin ” of the ovaries has provided the best illustration of indiscriminate application of numerous unfelicitous terms. No authoritative body decides such names. They are the 1—2