The endocrines in general medicine / by W. Langdon Brown.

  • Langdon-Brown, W. (Walter), 1870-1946.
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The endocrines in general medicine / by W. Langdon Brown. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    toxic substances from without. Even to hint at the possibility of the inheritance of acquired characters is rank heresy to-day, and I am not going to hazard excom¬ munication. I would merely point out that the emotional nervous system, as I shall show presently, is in close association with the endocrine system, which in turn co-operates with the gonads. The germ plasm of the two sexes has, prior to fertilisation, to extrude some ol its nuclear substance. The great advantage of this is that, on fertilisation, there is a recombination of the genes ; thus favourable mutations can arise which facili¬ tate evolutionary change. At present we are ignorant of the factors determining which portion is extruded. W hether the discard is from a strong or weak suit, so to speak, must undoubtedly influence the make up of the olfspring. It does not seem beyond the bounds of possibility that the autonomic nervous system acting through the endocrine glands may play a part in deter¬ mining the discard. But it must be admitted that many apparent Lamarckian adaptations are not inherited, but are acquired afresh in every generation through the everyday activities of the individual. THE ENDOCRINES AND THE VISCERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. Bayliss and Starling’s discovery of secretin in 1902 opened out the vista of a chemical control of the body in which the nervous system merely acted as a trigger, firing off a series of reactions. This conception was elaborated until it bid fair to dethrone the nervous system from its supreme position, although Langley’s generalisation that the action of adrenalin on any part is the same as that obtained by stimulating the sympathetic should have suggested otherwise. For, considering the struggle the nervous system has had to obtain control, it was not likely to abdicate its suzerainty in favour of the more ancient dynasty of chemo-tropism. We ordinarily think of the evolution of the nervous system as peacefully accomplished. A struggle for supremacy between two animals or two species we recognise. But it would appear that a similar struggle accompanies the integration of the multicellular