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diff --git a/old/10266-8.txt b/old/10266-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9472b76 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10266-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13210 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Glands Regulating Personality, by Louis Berman, M.D. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Glands Regulating Personality + +Author: Louis Berman, M.D. + +Release Date: November 25, 2003 [EBook #10266] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY + +A STUDY OF THE GLANDS OF INTERNAL SECRETION IN RELATION TO THE TYPES +OF HUMAN NATURE + +BY LOUIS BERMAN, M.D. + +ASSOCIATE IN BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY + +1922 + + +The passage from the miracles of nature to those of art is easy. + +--Francis Bacon, _Novum Organum_, 1620. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + INTRODUCTION: ATTITUDES TOWARD HUMAN NATURE + I. HOW THE GLANDS OF INTERNAL SECRETION WERE DISCOVERED + II. THE GLANDS: THYROID AND PITUITARY + III. THE ADRENAL GLANDS, GONADS, AND THYMUS + IV. THE GLANDS AS AN INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATE + V. HOW THE GLANDS INFLUENCE THE NORMAL BODY + VI. THE MECHANICS OF THE MASCULINE AND FEMININE + VII. THE RHYTHMS OF SEX + VIII. HOW THE GLANDS INFLUENCE THE MIND + IX. THE BACKGROUNDS OF PERSONALITY + X. THE TYPES OF PERSONALITY + XI. SOME HISTORIC PERSONAGES + XII. APPLICATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES + XIII. THE EFFECT UPON HUMAN EVOLUTION + + + + +THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +ATTITUDES TOWARD HUMAN NATURE + + +THE CASE AGAINST HUMAN NATURE + +Man, know thyself, said the old Greek philosopher. Man perforce has +taken that advice to heart. His life-long interest is his own species. +In the cradle he begins to collect observations on the nature of +the queer beings about him. As he grows, the research continues, +amplifies, broadens. Wisdom he measures by the devastating accuracy +of the data he accumulates. When he declares he knows human nature, +consciously cynical maturity speaks. Doctor of human nature--every +man feels himself entitled to that degree from the university +of disillusioning experience. In defense of his claim, only the +limitations of his articulate faculty will curb the vehemence of his +indictment of his fellows. + +For all history provides the material, literature the critique, +biology the inexorable logic of the case against human nature. The +historical record is a spectacle of man destroying man, a collection +of chapters on man's increasing cruelty to man. Limitations of time +and space have been shortened and eliminated. Tools of production have +been multiplied and complicated. The sources of energy and power have +been systematically attacked and trapped. But the nature of man has +remained so unchanged that clap trap about progress is easy target for +the barrage of every cheap pamphleteer. + +The naturalist probes into codes of conduct, systems of morality, +structures of societies, variations in the scales of value that +individuals, races and nations have subjected themselves to as custom, +law and religion. Again and again the portrait is presented of +man preying upon man, of cunning a parasite upon stupidity and of +predatory strength enslaving the weakling intellect. Until finally are +evoked reactions and consequences that overtake in catastrophe and +cataclysm preyer and preyed upon alike. + +Human nature is but part of the magnificent tree of beast nature. Man +is linked by every tie of blood and bone and cell memories with his +brethren of the sea, the jungle, the forest and the fields. The beast +is a seeker of freedom, but a seeker for his own ego alone, and the +satisfaction of his own instincts only. Thus he struggles to a sort of +freedom which makes him the Ishmael of the Universe, everyone's hand +against him, as his own hand is against everyone. The human animal has +achieved no advance beyond the necessities of his ancestors, nor freed +himself from his bondage to their instincts and automatic reflexes. +And so the sociologist, the analyst of human associations, turns out +to be simply the historian and accountant of slaveries. + +Yet the history of mankind is, too, a long research into the nature +of the machinery of freedom. All recorded history, indeed, is but +the documentation of that research. Viewed thus, customs, laws, +institutions, sciences, arts, codes of morality and honor, systems +of life, become inventions, come upon, tried out, standardized, +established until scrapped in everlasting search for more and more +perfect means of freeing body and soul from their congenital thralldom +to a host of innumerable masters. Indeed, the history of all life, +vegetable and animal, of bacillus, elephant, orchid, gorilla, as well +as of man is the history of a searching for freedom. + +Freedom! What to a living creature is freedom? How completely has it +dominated the life history of every creature that ever crawled upon +the earth? Trace our cellular pedigree, descend our family tree to its +rootlets, our amebic ancestors, and the craving for more freedom is +manifest in the soul of even the lowest, buried in darkness and slime. +When the first clever bit of colloidal ooze, protoplasm as the ameba, +protruded a bit of itself as a pseudopod, it achieved a new freedom. +For, accidentally or deliberately, it created for itself a new +power--the ability to go directly for food in its environment, instead +of waiting, patiently, passively, as the plant does, for food to just +happen along. Therewith developed in place of the previous quietist +pacifist, quaker attitude toward its surroundings, a new religion, a +new tone: aggressive, predatory, careerist. + +That adventure was a great step forward for the ameba--a miracle that +freed it forever from the danger of death by starvation. But latent +in that move were all the terrible possibilities of the tiger, the +alligator, the wolf and all the varieties of predaceous beast and +plant, parasitism and slavery. The device that enabled the ameba to +change its position in space of its own will, and so increased its +freedom immeasureably, meant the generation of infinite evil, pain, +suffering and degradation for billions in the womb of time. + +THE BREEDING OF INFERIORITY + +Human history, being a continuation of vertebrate history, is full of +similar instances. The invention of the stock company, for example, +furnished a certain relative freedom to hundreds, a certain amount of +leisure to think and play, and independence to travel and record, and +immunity from a daily routine and drudgery. In turn, it bore fruit in +miseries and horrors multiplied for millions, like those of the child +lacemakers of Mid-Victorian England, who were dragged from their beds +at two or three o'clock in the morning to work until ten or eleven at +night in the services of a stock company. + +A corporation is said to have no soul. The struggle for freedom of +every living thing has no conscience. Throughout the living world, +from ameba to man, parasitism and slavery together with their +by-products, physical and spiritual degeneracy, appear as the after +effects of the more vital individual's efforts to remain alive and +free. The origins of slavery may be seen in the parasitisms of the +infectious diseases which kill man. The change from parasitism to +slavery was an inevitable step of creative intelligence. In the +transition evolution made one of those breaks which it indulges in +periodically as its mode of progress. + +The natural effect of slavery has been a selection of two sorts of +individuals along the lines of the survival of the adapted. It has +tended to perpetuate in the breed the qualities of the strong which +would make them stronger, and certain qualities in the weak which +would increase their weakness. For parasitism and likewise slavery +infallibly entail the degradation of certain structures and an +overgrowth of others by the law of use and disuse. The type of organ +which would function normally, were not its possessor parasitic in +that function, invariably degenerates or disappears. Parasitic insects +lose their wings. An entire anatomical system may even be lost. So the +tapeworm, which feeds upon the digested food present in the intestines +of its host, has no alimentary canal of its own because it needs none. +On the other hand, the organs of attack and combat grow by a constant +use into the most remarkable of efficient weapons. + +In human society the process continues. Out of the tapeworm nature, +the tiger nature, the wolf nature, the simian nature, human nature +evolves. Repeated episodes of subjugation and suppression mixed with +countless incidents of predaceous cupidity and rapacity have made +Man what he is today. Indeed, by a sort of instinct, society has +constructed its institutions upon empirical observations and +assumptions agreeing with this principle. The deductions concerning +human nature and human traits that an interplanetary visitor would +draw from a study of our common law would be at least slightly +humiliating to our incorrigible pride. Law courts, codes of civil +contract and criminal procedure, the systems of subordination in +armies and navies, castes and classes, men and women, employers and +employees, teachers and pupils, parents and children, are based upon +the fundamental, the conservative axiom that man, especially the +common plain man (Lincoln's phrase), is a being incurably lazy, +stupid, dishonest, muddled, cowardly, greedy, restless, obsessed with +a low cunning and a selfish callousness and insensibility to the +sufferings of his fellow creatures, animal and human. + +Why is it that Man, the noblest creature of creation, made in the +image of God, capable of the flights of attainment that distinguish a +Christ, a Caesar, a Plato, a Shakespeare, a Shelley, a Newton, is so +described, not alone by hopeless pessimists like Koheleth, Swift, and +Mark Twain, but by the common law, the common opinion, the common +assumptions of mankind? Because the development of slavery and +parasitism in human society, the subjection of the weak to the strong, +the dull and base to the clever and headstrong, set up a vicious +cycle: the liberation of more energy for the making of more and +more slaves and the propagation of slaves and slave qualities in a +geometrically increasing proportion. + +This might be called the _Malthusian law of slavery_. For the +qualities that I have named as man's own characterization of himself +are the qualities of the slave and the slave-soul. Nietzche took great +pains to repeat ad nauseam that these qualities were the qualities of +the slave. But by burdening himself with the hypothesis, evolved from +his inner consciousness, that the slaves imposed from below a morality +of weakness upon their masters, he missed the really obvious process +by which slaves beget more slaves, slavery begets more slavery, and +the slave-soul becomes universal. That process is the simple action +of physical and spiritual reproduction of the slaves. The subnormal +begets the subnormal, the inferior begets the inferior. + +Slavery appeared as an invention of the would-be-free. It was a +brilliant flash of genius of a seeker after freedom. However, it +became a boomerang. By multiplication and hereditary transmission, the +inferiority and the number of the slaves created a new overwhelming +problem for the superior few, the upper crust of the free. At last the +problem grew into the problem of problems, the problem of government, +that threatened all freedom, as an epidemic disease threatens even +the most healthy. Government, at first organized for conquest and +subjugation, had to change its character until it became more and more +to consist of experiments in a new social machinery that would free +somebody of the incubus. So through the centuries, one technique of +liberty after another was tested in the laboratory of experience. + +But always the attempts are so muddled, because the problem is not +grasped. Muddledom is the essence of the slave-soul. And the +essence infiltrates and poisons the whole atmosphere in which the +would-be-free think and act. Kings' heads are chopped off, a whole +class is guillotined, reform movements come and go, the masters fight +every inch of their retreat, and pile stratagem upon stratagem, device +upon device, to retain their spoils. + +The democratic formula of freedom for all comes to the fore. So at +last universal suffrage is introduced as the panacea. Freedom seems +within grasp. Now it looks as if a method and an objective have been +hit upon, that will lead both the free and the enslaved out of their +mutual bondage, and release the handcuffs which have bound them +together. All the trial and error tests to which history had subjected +institutions appeared to culminate in the formula that would +automatically yield Liberty. The French wanted a little more and added +Equality and Fraternity. The Americans put it quite definitely as the +formula that would assist the Pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness. +That formula is: the _democracy of the normals_. + +To be sure, a civilization might be organized for the breeding and the +glorification of the supernormals. Such a civilization may yet have to +be tried. But as the supernormals, as we know them today, are merely +biologic sports, in a sense, simple accidents, no one can tell whether +they will turn out true shots or just flashes in the pan. So it looks +the better course to stick to the plan of nature, which seems to be +the raising of the level of the normals, and the gradual increase of +their faculties and powers. + +WHAT THE STATESMAN IS UP AGAINST + +Under the terms of the democratic formula the problems of the +statesman seem to become enormously simplified. That is, if one +assumes that he has worked out a perfectly clear idea of what +a democracy means and what the normal means. Assuming these +unassumables, his problem simplifies into the definite object of +producing and developing the greatest possible number of normals--or +if you will, the greatest happiness of the greatest number of normal +lives. + +Furthermore you then begin to have the entirely novel possibility in +the world: some sort of collective effort for a collective purpose, +beyond the personal greeds and fears, factions and hatreds. So the +state, instead of fulfilling its old function of serving as the tool +of certain powerful individuals, latterly known as the Big Men, might +be transformed into an instrument toward freedom. With the ideal of a +democracy of the normals ever before him, the statesman could go on +to construct and modify his social machinery. That would entail the +satisfaction not alone of the animal needs, but also the highest +aspirations and therefore the provision of the finest conditions of +life for the normal: those most favorable, stimulative, and assistant +to creative activity. For what else is the content of the idea of +freedom? + +Without committing the intellectual sin which William James named +Vicious Abstractionism, the goal of the clearest progressive and +liberal thought and forces of the twentieth century might be summed +up as this freedom in a democracy of normals. A good formula which +coincides with the technique of nature in the evolution of species. +A fair fight, a free-for-all who are unhandicapped, is the motto +of natural selection. Where civilization shakes hands with natural +instinct, what but the happiest of results can be expected? + +Unfortunately, the formula in human society possesses an Achilles' +heel. Again it is slavery. Where slavery has become bred into the +bone, the standard of the normal becomes reduced so tremendously that +the average of normals, the majority, are hopelessly inferior. In +effect, they are really subnormal. So the ideal of our ideal statesman +is bound to be defeated because of the inadequacy of his material. + +No matter how interested in his main business: the promotion of +freedom for creative activities in a democracy of the normals, he is +bound to be beaten by the majority consisting of subnormals. There is +nothing left for him but to cater to the minority of careerists, the +one-eighth of the electorate representing superior intelligence. The +intelligence tests employed in the War showed that and also that +forty-five per cent of the examined, or about one half the total +population, had a mental capacity, or natural ability that would never +develop beyond the stage normal to a twelve-year-old child. They are +doomed to remain forever subnormal. + +THE CAREERISTS AS THE ABNORMALS + +The careerists are those who practice the careerist religion. The +careerist religion is the religion par excellence of modernity. +Someone once said, with the perfect candor of the North American, that +America is the land of opportunity. He meant that America is the land +of the Careerist or, as it has also been put, it is the land of the +man on the make. The careerist, or the man on the make, is of a +thousand genera and species, varieties and subvarieties, with +transition links between. One finds him at every level of society. + +Excepting a negligible minority, the feminine career of today (as of +the last ten thousand years of the race's history) consists in the +acquisition of a husband. After that she is so identified with him +that her own life, as something distinct, individual and unique, +becomes blurred and then completely erased. The feminine careerist, +the careeristina, if you will, is a definite type. Consider the +unimportance of a collective purpose to the woman whose career is the +mate, and then the mate's career. All the kinks and twists of the +feminine mind, resulting from the necessities of that fundamental +primary problem, would form a multitudinous and interesting list. The +most successful careeristinas are the absolutely unconscious ones +because they are not passively besieged nor actively bombarded by any +doubts as to what they want. They play their game exceedingly well as +do not the quasi-rebels and faint-hearted revoltees that form no small +percentage of the Newest Women. For a number of women the feminist +movement has been an attempt to break away from the traditions of +the wife-careerist, and to strike a line of auto-careerism. Can +the careeristina instinct, the fruit of the practice of so many +generations, be uprooted by the good intentions of a mere statesman? + +But the masculine careerist is a marvelous creature. He is a biologic +sport, an abnormal variation. New York is the place to watch and +study him in his thousands and tens of thousands. You can observe +him climbing, climbing, climbing, precisely as an ant climbs a tree. +Nothing can really discourage or sway him from his chosen path. If he +is not getting on financially, he is getting on socially, or he is +using the one method of advance to help him with the other. How the +line of least resistance and greatest advantage is determined for and +taken by him is a fascinating process. + +The careerist instinct, the inherited flair for a career, must not be +confounded with the instincts of self-preservation, self-expansion +or self-expression, because they are utterly different. Indeed, the +careerist instinct is often their direct antagonist, clashing with and +dominating them. The making of the career involves the distortion, the +mutilation, degradation, degeneration or even the complete suppression +of the true personality. But it is all instinctive. To consider the +life of the careerist as an expression of instinct will explain too +the success of so many who have no inner awareness of what they want. +These go straight for the career, looking neither to the right nor +to the left, without doubt or hesitation, just as they go for the +respiration business as soon as they are born. + +Then there is the Super-Careerist. Ordinarily, the careerist is rather +obvious, easily recognizable, with diaphanous motives and conduct. But +there is another and rarer bird, the careerist of talent, even the +careerist of genius, whom it is not so easy to see through. Clever and +brainy, he may be a good all around trifler, or his specific gift for +some line of achievement may make him more effective. There is nothing +he may not call himself: conservative, liberal, progressive, or +radical. Often he is an agnostic about social and political affairs +and problems, which passes for the indecision of the open mind, and is +quite handy to render him all things to all men. But perpetually, the +underlying careerist instinct drives him to use all men and women, all +ideas and movements and forces he comes in contact with for his own +personal advancement, just as the slave making instinct guides the red +ant in all its activities to procure its captives. Ideas do not make a +hero out of him, but he makes heroes of ideas, because they serve him +in his ascent. + +Because he is the most subtle, the most complex and the most deceptive +type of careerist, he is the most dangerous to the adventure and +speculation in intellect which mankind is. To say that he is a wolf in +sheepskin is to be unjust to him, since he is most successful when he +is most unaware of his own charlatanry. He is most sincere when he +is most insincere, and most truthful when he lies best. A little +self-consciousness of hypocrisy is a corrupting thing, much of it +completely incompatible with the most successful careerism. Tartuffe +is always applauded by the world when he plays Hamlet, if he really +believes in himself as Hamlet. And, as all he has to do, if he is at +all talented, is to look into his glass and see himself in the part, +he carries it off very well. + +WHY THE STATESMAN FAILS + +Slaves and careerists, subnormals and abnormals, are the important +elements of the constituency of every modern statesman. The financial +and social careerists as business men, professionals, artists, +publicists, presidents of countries, politicians, philosophers +dominate his outlook, his plans, his horizon. The slaves, the +inferiors, the subnormals exist merely to be exploited by them. No +one questions the causes of the multiplicity of them. No one asks why +there are so many little lives. For a fundamentally minded statesman +the control of the production of the careerist, why he is produced, +and how he may be prevented, becomes the primary problem of his art. + +Well, you say, what are you going to do about it? That is human +nature. The Evils of Human Nature! There is the perpetual answer to be +repeated by our clever editors unto Eternity. You cannot get away from +human nature. It is human nature to be a careerist. It is human nature +to put the immediate triumphs of the self and its pleasures above +the more indirect, the more remote and distant benefits of a great, +wonderful, free community. We are all careerists. In so far as +democracy has succeeded as a form, it has persisted because there was +in it for the common man the promise of his getting more out of life +that way than any other way. For himself. And the devil take the +others. The myopia of such crude selfishness continues to determine +his politics to this very day. And so he proceeds to vote for favors +bestowed and patronage past or potential. That is, when he does not +throw his ballot away altogether into the fire of family habit, +sectional inertia, or race prejudice. + +Again you say, that is human nature. It is human nature for us to +be narrow, to be confined within the circle of personal thought and +desire, without imagination for the beyond. So the calf is limited in +its wanderings to the radius of the rope by which it is tethered. The +servile soul will always be submissive and docile, greedy and stupid. +What else could you expect from the descendant of the solitary beast +who once lived for thousands of years in caves? Without servility of +the soul, without chains for the spirit of the wild animal against +the world, men could never have been driven to live together for +twenty-four hours in communities. + +The conception of human quality out of which all social machinery has +been devised and built is a conception of slave quality and careerist +quality. As we are all caught in the net, as the unconscious memories +of our slave and careerist ancestors flow in our blood and echo in our +cells, all we can do is accept it and work with it. Human nature is an +incurable disease. Like Jehovah's definition of Himself, it is, it has +been, and ever will be. Everywhere the same, always the same, forever +the same, there is no way out. + +POOR HUMAN NATURE + +All of these strictures upon poor human nature are exceedingly +delightful to our careerists. Every unpleasant social fact, every +outrage to our best instincts, every exhibition of incapacity, +incompetency, inefficiency, indifference, every example of +super-criminal negligence is pardoned as an effect of that universal +sin, human nature. Take the case of the statesman and the diplomats +who failed to prevent the Great War, though they saw it coming for +years, and who should therefore all, Entente as well as German, +American as well as Japanese, be indicted for their criminal +negligence, precisely as a physician would be for failure to report +and stop the spread of an epidemic disease. All these crimes of +omission and commission are excused on the plea that it was all due to +human nature, and that what can be blamed on human nature in general +can be blamed on no one in particular. + +Poor human nature! Flagellated on every hand, what are we to do with +it? Why is the careerist so numerous and ubiquitous? Why does the +slave-soul infiltrate like a cancer the soul of society with its black +fluid? Is freedom, the divine idea, nothing but the toy of an orator +to the majority, a distant star in the night to a helpless minority? +Yet the instinct to freedom, the appetite for freedom, flickers +through the centuries as a fitful flame, though snuffed out by every +gust of class passion, every wind of mob resentment, and every storm +of national jealousy. Though the inferior subnormals multiply into +great sheep majorities, and the careerists, like Napoleon, morbid +variants, involve millions in their disease, the idea of freedom +persists obstinately. Have we any reason for regarding it as other +than an illusion? + +If freedom is an illusion, we must admit the doom of democracy. And no +Wagnerian crashes of orchestration mitigate the tragedy of the scene +as our eyes are opened to the twilight of our new gods. For what other +social methods are there left to us? In the struggle against nature's +barriers upon human aspiration for perfect satisfactions, it looks as +though every other method has failed us. + +In the past, refined aristocracies and benevolent despotisms have +failed as miserably as our democracies are now failing and as we are +sure crude anarchism and communism would. Their inferiority has thrown +them on the scrap heap. As for our present ways of government as a +permanent method, the storage of power in the hands of the Clever Few. +War burns in the lesson of how little the careerist regards either +the subnormal or supernormal. He condemns them all sooner or later to +wholesale slavery and carnage. + +Is man then never to be the architect of his own destiny? Are we to +surrender our faith in the future of our kind to the spectacle of a +miserable species sentenced by its own nature to self-destruction? We +thought to rise upon the wings of knowledge and beauty, lured by +the mysteries of color and the magic of design and the might of the +intellect and its words, that have transfigured life into the greatest +adventure ever attempted in time and space. But we find ourselves +merely another experiment, intricate and rather long drawn out, to be +sure, with marvelous pyrotechnics, magnificent effects here and there, +but bound to eliminate itself in the end, to make stuff for the +museums of the real conqueror of the stars yet to come. We are +condemned to be classed with the dodo and the mammoth by the coming +discoverer of an escape from the slave and careerist. And so let +us resign ourselves to fate. Let us eat of the humble bread of the +stoic's consolation in the face of the mocking laughter of the gods, +let us admit that Mind in Man has unconsciously but irretrievably +willed its own self-annihilation. What remains for us except to beat +our breasts and proclaim: So be it, O Lord, so be it? + +MAN AS A TRANSIENT + +Yet, true as it is that the human animal has achieved no advance +beyond the necessities of his ancestors, nor freed himself from his +bondage to their instincts and automatic reflexes, is there no way out +anywhere? Is there perhaps some ground for hope and consolation in the +thought that we, of the twentieth century, no longer see ourselves, +Man, as something final and fixed? Darwin changed Fate from a static +sphinx into a chameleon flux. Just as certainly as man has arisen from +something whose bones alone remain as reminders of his existence, we +are persuaded man himself is to be the ancestor of another creature, +differing as much from him as he from the Chimpanzi, and who, if he +will not supplant and wipe him out, will probably segregate him and +allow him to play out his existence in cage cities. + +The vision of this After-man or From-man is really about as helpful to +us as the water of the oasis mirage is to the lost dying of thirst +in the desert. The outcries of the wretched and miserable, the +gray-and-dreary lived din an unmanageable tinnitus in our ears. Like +God, it may be but a large, vague idea toward which we grope to +snuggle up against. It seems implicit in the doctrines of evolution. +But how do we know that in man the spiral of life has not reached its +apex, and that now, even now, the vortices of its descent are not +beginning? How do we know that the From-man is to be a Superman and +not a Subman? How can we dare to hope that the slave-beast-brute is to +give birth to an heir, fine and free and superior? + +We do not know and we have every indication and induction for the most +oppositely contrary conclusions. Life has blundered supremely, in, +while making brains its darling, forgetting or helplessly surrendering +to the egoisms of alimentation. So it has spawned a conflict between +its organs, and a consequent impasse in which the lower centres drive +the higher pitilessly into devising means and instruments for the +suicide of the whole. + +As War shows plainly to the most stupidly gross imagination, the germs +of our own self-destruction as a species saturate our blood. The +probability looms with almost the certainty of a syllogistic +deduction, that such will be the outcome to our hundreds of thousands +of years of pain upon earth. In the face of that, speculations upon +a comet or gaseous emanations hitting the planet, or the sun growing +cold, become babyish fancies. How clearly the possibility is pointed +in the discussions about the use in the next War of bacterial bombs +containing the bacilli of cholera, plague, dysentery and many others! +What influenza did in destroying millions, they can repeat a thousand +times and ten thousand times. What else the laboratories will bring +forth, of which no man dreams, in the way of destructive agents acting +at long distance, upon huge masses and over any extent of territory, +is presaged in that single example. But besides thus willing, by an +inner necessity, its own annihilation, Life, in the very structure +and machinery of its being, seems caught into the entanglements of an +inescapable net, an eternity-long bondage it can never rip, to flee +and remake itself into the immortal image that is its God. + +And so there go by the board the last alleviations of those unbeatable +optimists who would soothe their aching souls with at least the drop +of comfort: that if man is a mortal species, with not the slightest +prospect of a continuing immortality, not to mention a glorious future +and destiny, there are others. Man, after all, may be simply a bad +habit Life will succeed in shaking off. No philosophy or religion can +afford to be anthropocentric merely. It must include all life and all +living things to which we are blood-related. There are other species +or latent species to take up the torch that burned poor homo sapiens +and ascend the heights. The ant and bee may yet mutate along certain +lines that would make them the masters of the universe. + +But no matter what species or variety gets the upper hand in the +struggle for survival and power, the implications of the qualities +necessary to victory in conflicts of individual separate pieces of +protoplasm will be there. Besides, life is always begotten of life. +That is why synthetic protoplasm is nothing but a phrase. It is +impossible to conceive of something alive, possessed of the property +of remembering, that is not possessed of a store of past experiences. +You can no more think of getting rid of these unconscious memories of +protoplasm than you can think of getting rid of the wetness of water. +They are imbedded in the most intimate chemistry of the primeval ameba +as well as in our most complex tissues. + +The memories of the cold lone fish and the hot predatory carnivor who +were our begetters, may haunt us to the end of time. The bee and the +ant, too, have woven inextricably into the woof of their cells the +instincts that sooner or later would send their brain ganglia, +even when evolved to the pitch of perfection, to elaborating the +self-and-species murdering inventions and discoveries that are +apparently destined to slay us. The powers of unconscious memory and +unlearnable technique of reaction to experience, once grooved, thus +prove the great gift and the eternal curse of protoplasm. Making it +possible for it to be and become what it is and has, they have +also made it forever impossible for it to be or become its own +contradiction. + +Add to this unsloughable remembrance of the past, for better, for +worse, the secretive consciousness of its present needs every living +thing, as against every other living thing, is obsessed with. As a +peregrinating, finite, spatially limited being, it is separated from +all other living beings by inorganic, dead masses, and yet driven to +contact with them by a fundamental impulse to assimilate them into +itself, and make them part of itself. That assimilatory urge is +present in every activity from coarse ingestion as food to the moral +metabolism of the hermit-saint who would influence others to do as he. + +FATE AND ANTI-FATE + +In effect the history of Life resembles the life history of the +smallest things we know of, the electrons, and the largest, the great +suns and stars of space. The electron begins, perhaps, as a swirl in +the primeval ether, joins other electrons, forms colonies, cities, +empires, elements of an increasing complexity, through stages of a +relative stability, like lead or gold. Until it reaches the stage of +integration which wills its own disintegration, that we have been +taught to look upon with proper awe and reverence as radium. And we +are told that nebulae wander until they collide and give birth to +stars, stars wander and collide and give birth to nebulae. Life begins +as a quivering colloid, goes on painfully to build a brain, which +automatically refines itself to the point of discovering and using +the most efficient methods of destroying others, and by a boomerang +effect, itself. Fate! + +The conception of Fate was a Greek idea. The classic formula for +tragedy, the struggle of Man with the sequence of cause and effect +within him and without, that is so utterly beyond his grasp and ken, +or power to modify, originated with them. But they must also be given +the credit for having conceived an idea and started a process which, +at first slowly and gropingly, now slipping and falling, torn and +bleeding among the thorns of the dark forest of human motives, +presently goes on, with a firmer, more practiced, more confident step, +to emerge into the light as the deliberate Conqueror of Fate. That +idea-process, this Anti-Fate is Science. + +Science began with the adventures of free-thinking speculators, who +revolted against religious cosmogonies and superstitions. Sceptics +concerning the knowledge that was the accepted monopoly of the +priesthood must have existed in the oldest civilization we know +anything of, more than twenty-five thousand years ago, the +Aurignacians. But it was to the Greeks that we owe that amalgamation +of curiosity delivered of fear, that merger of systematic research +and critical thinking untrammelled by social inhibitions which is the +essence of modern science. Out of them has come the great Tree of +Knowledge of our time, which is, too, the only Ygdrasil of Life, +undying because it lives upon successive generations of human brain +cells. + +Science, as the pursuit of the real, began with very small things by +men with very small intentions. Inventories, collections of isolated +data, something permanent for the mind out of the flux of transient +sensations, little tracks and foot paths in the jungle of phenomena, +were their goal. With no sense of themselves as the mightiest of +master-builders, cultivating humility toward their material at any +rate, the little men ploughed their little fields, striking the oil +of a great generalization or classification or explanation with no +fanfare of trumpets. + +First as freaks and cranks, then as scholars and pedants, then +protected and perhaps stimulated under the competitive royal patronage +as societies and academies, they prepared for the harvest. Comparing +them to pioneer farmers sowing an undeveloped territory is really +totally inadequate and inaccurate. For the most part, they were like +coral makers, laboriously constructing, with no vision, certainly no +sustained vision, of the whole. To the practical men of affairs, the +shopkeepers and traders, the land-owners and ship-owners, the soldiers +and sailors, the statesmen and politicians, the people who specialized +in maneuvering human beings and materials, they were, for this +futile devotion to abstract knowledge, marked ridiculous and absurd +weaklings, mollycoddles, babies, not to be trusted with the demands +and dangers of public life. + +But it so happened remarkably late in history that with the discovery +of the possibilities of coal there was a great boom in the demand for +industrial machinery. At the same time there were thrown up the most +marvelous advances in physics and chemistry. Recurring War became not +the clashes of mercenary armies, but the catapulting of whole nations +at each other. New destructive devices out of the laboratories were +raised into the commandants of the course of history. Then science +acquired prestige. + +Science as King, science as power, looms as the great new figure, the +overshadowing novel factor, in practical statesmanship. Unlike the +factor X in the traditional equation, it is the known factor par +excellence, the factor by which the value of all the other factors +of human life will be ascertained and solved. As knowledge of the +conditions determining all life, it stands as the courageous David of +the race against the Goliath territory of the uncontrollable and the +inevitable, even the unknowable. Human history resolves itself into +the drama: Science contra Fate. Quite a change from the vaudeville +show of the restless personal ambitions of vindictive fools and greedy +scoundrels, the mischief and adventures of half-witted geniuses and +licensed rogues that have been figures of the prologue. + +The future of science has become the future of the race. So much of +an inkling of the truth is beginning to be appreciated. That is +ordinarily taken to mean that the process by which the Wessex man +became the New York and London man, the accumulation of accidental +discoveries and inspired inventions of scattered individuals, will go +on, providing a succession of marvels and miracles for the careerist +and his retinue. Not only is he to be entertained and served by them, +but any commercial value will also be exploited by him. The natural +wonders of the laboratories have taken the place of the supernatural +absurdities of the medieval mind as a fillip for the imagination of +the man in the street. Even spiritualism apes the technique of the +physicist. The credulity of reporters alone concerning developments +in surgery, for example, is incredible. There is enough rot published +daily for a brief to be made out against the idolatry of science. + +THE RELIGION OF SCIENCE + +Science also as a religion, as a faith to bind men together, as a +substitute for the moribund old mythologies and theologies which kept +them sundered, is commencing to be talked of in a more serious tone. +The wonder-maker may have forced upon him, may welcome, the honors +of the priest, though he pose as the humble slave of Nature and her +secrets. Presently the foundations and institutes, which coexist with +the cathedrals and churches, just as once the new Christian chapels +and congregations stood side by side with pagan temples and heathen +shrines, may oust their rivals, and assume the monopoly of ritual. +Should its spirit remain fine and clear, should it maintain the +glorious promise of its dawn, should its high priests realize the +perpetually widening intimations of its universal triumph, and escape +the ossification that has overtaken all young and hopeful things and +institutions, the real foundation for a future of the species would be +laid, and so its ultimate suicide prevented. + +The time has gone by, however, for any complacent assurance that the +redemption of mankind is to be attained by a new religion of words. +There is no doubt that the damnation or salvation of an individual has +often been determined by a religious crisis, in which the magic of +words have worked their witchery. There is plenty of evidence that a +psychic conversion will effect an actual revolution in the whole way +of living of the victim or patient, as you like it. William James, +in his "Varieties of Religious Experience," established that pretty +definitely. When it comes to groups, races, nations, the outlook is +wholly different. There is a conflict of so many and diverse habits +and interests, beliefs and prejudices, that hope for some common +merely intellectual solvent for all of them is rather forlorn. If at +all, the resolution of the conflict will come by a pooling of actual +powers and interests, in which the religion of science will play +the great part of the Liberator of mankind from the whole system of +torments that have made the way of all flesh a path of rocks along +which a manacled prisoner crawls to his doom. + +SCIENCE AND HUMAN NATURE + +Science has a future. The religion of science has a future. Can +science assure us that human nature, in spite of its beast-brute-slave +origins holds the possibility of a genuine transformation of its +texture? Can Fate's stranglehold upon us be broken? There will be +certainly a tremendous, an overwhelming increase in the general +stock of informations we call physics and chemistry and biology. An +abundance of new comforts, novel sensations, fresh experiences, and +breath-bereaving devices that will thrill or heal, will follow of +course in their wake. The religion of science will infiltrate +and penetrate and permeate by its capillary action the barbaric +superstitions, the ridiculous rites, the unsanitary insanities of our +social systems. + +But what about the poor human soul itself, with its inherent vices +and virtues, its fears and indulgences, audacities and nobilities, +jealousies, shames, blunders, incurable likes, cravings and diseases? +Can science change the texture of the slave and careerist, if they +represent the subnormal and the abnormal? What about the Becky Sharps, +the Mark Tapleys, and Tom Pinches, not to speak of the Nicholas +Nicklebys and the Hamlets, the Micawbers and the Falstaffs? What +future have they as they recur in the generations? Indeed, does not +the very fact of their recurrence, of them and of the hundreds of +other types and temperaments, point implacably to the conclusion to +which the historian, the philosopher and the biologist have driven us: +that in the grip of an endless chain of pasts the human soul has no +future? + +That may appear an irrelevant, an immaterial, and an incompetent +question to our men of business and affairs. Human nature, as fallen +angel or ape parvenu, has always looked upon itself as fixed for +eternity. "Human nature never changes, and is everywhere and always +will be the same." "As a man is built." "Bred in the bone." These are +the axioms of our social and economic Euclids. Indeed, Man, assuming +that his nature is as uncontrollable as the course of the stars, has +limited his research into the substance of freedom to a groping for an +understanding of the adequate external conditions of liberty. Thus he +set himself another of the insoluble problems he seems to delight +in by neglecting the most important factor in the equation. Yet the +invisible soul of man, ignored, as a variable, varying quantity, has +upset all societies and constitutions, and all schemes of bondage as +well as of freedom. + +For freedom, it becomes obvious as soon as it is clearly stated, is +sheer impossibility until the internal conditions of his nature +are ascertained, and the way paved for their control. A simple +illustration of the working of this principle is supplied by our +democracies, grossly pretenders. How can a democracy be possible +without a knowledge of the control of the individually and socially +subnormal, who, since they offer themselves to exploitation by +the careerists, prove themselves the weak links in the chain of +co-operation with an equal opportunity for all, that is the democratic +ideal? In what does the equality or inequality of men consist? Just +what are the qualities necessary for successful competition, or if you +will, co-living, of man with his fellow-men, and how and why do they +operate? No freedom, independent of the servile repetitions of +history and heredity, is conceivable until these inquiries have been +elaborately carried out toward a certain working finality. + +THE PROMISES OF EUGENICS + +There are, to be sure, the claims and assertions and negative +achievements of the youngest of the sciences, eugenics. They are +invincible optimists, the eugenists: it is perhaps a case of a virtue +born of necessity. Thus Francis Galton, in the preface to the "Bible +of Eugenics," his essays on Hereditary Genius, declares: "There is +nothing either in the history of domestic animals or in that of +evolution to make us doubt that a race of sane men may be formed +who shall be as much superior, mentally and morally, to the Modern +European, as the Modern European is to the lowest of the Negro races." +High hopes beat in this declaration. But Galton could not have +foreseen that the signing of a scrap of paper by one of the Modern +Europeans would let loose all the other Modern Europeans in a +pandemonium of horrors the lowest of the Negro races could not but +envy as a masterpiece of its kind. It seemed to be suspiciously easy +for him to accept an excuse to slide down the dizzy height he had +climbed from the African level. + +The eugenists would put their trust in the encouraged breeding of the +best and the compulsory sterility of the rest. But what is the best, +and who are the best, and where will you find them when they are not +inextricably emulsified with the worst? It's a long, long way to the +day of a segregating out and in of Mendelian unit-characters. Besides, +this is a strange world of choices. Nobody is to be considered worthy +of parenthood until he has fallen in love properly. Nobody who would +permit an outsider's decision as to when he was properly in love would +be worth thirty cents as a parent. There is the ultimate dilemma +of the eugenist--the dilemma which destroys forever the dream of a +control of parenthood from the point of view of merely psychic values. + +NEW PSYCHOLOGY + +There are the claims and outcries and promises of the +psychologists--the specialists in the probing of the human soul and +human nature. In our time, the demand for a dynamic psychology of +process and becoming, psychology with an energy in it, has split them +into two schools--the emphasizers of instinct and the subconscious, +the McDougallians, and the pleaders for sex and the unconscious, the +Freudians. A synthesis between these two groups is latent, since their +differences are those of horizon merely. For the McDougallians look +upon the world with two eyes and see it whole and broad--the Freudians +see through their telescope a circular field and exclaim that they +behold the universe. It is true that they own a telescope. + +But what has either to offer our quest for light on the future of +the species? Nothing very much. Thus, to turn to the disciples +of McDougall. In a recent volume entitled, "Human Nature and its +Remaking," Professor William Ernest Hocking of Harvard contends that +Man, all axioms about his nature to the contrary, is but a creature +of habit, and so the most plastic of living things, since habit is +self-controlled and self-determined. By the self-determination of the +habits of the race will the new freedom be reborn. It sounds old, +very old. And pathetic because it recognizes original and permanent +ingredients of our composition in the words pugnacity, greed, sex, +fear, as elements to be accepted in any system of the principles of +civilization. It is the bubble of education all over again. What in +our cells is pugnacity? What in our bones is greed? What in our +blood is sex? What in our nerves is fear? Until these inquiries are +respected, conscious character building or even stock breeding must +remain the laughing stock of the smoking rooms and the regimental +barracks. + +Come the Freudians. To them we owe the aeroplanes to a new universe. +They have opened up for us the geology of the soul. Layer upon layer, +cross-section upon cross-section have been piled before us. And what +a melodramatic cinema of thrills and shivers, villains and heroes, +heroines and adventuresses have they not unfolded. Each motive, as +the stiff psychologist of the nineteenth century, with his +plaster-of-Paris categories and pigeon holes and classifications, +labelled the teeming creatures of the mind, becomes anon a strutting +actor upon a multitudinous stage, and an audience in a crowded +playhouse. Scenes are enacted the febrile fancy of a Poe or a de +Maupassant never could have conjured. The complex, the neurosis, the +compulsion, the obsession, the slip of speech, the trick of manner, +the devotion of a life-time, the culture of a nation all furnish bits +for the Freudian mosaic. Attractions and inhibitions, repulsions and +suppressions are held up as the ultimate pulling and pushing forces of +human nature. + +But is the problem solved? Is not human nature primarily animal +nature? And do we so thoroughly understand this animal nature? Does +not all this material of Freudianism consist of variations upon social +burdens imposed on the original human nature? To be sure, at every +moment of life, choices have to be made, and choice involves the +clashing of instincts and motives, with victory for one or some, and +defeat for the others. But the Freudian material per se--the sex +material--is it not merely the by-product of a certain state of +society? A sane society would eliminate nearly all of Freudian +disease, but still have original human nature upon its hands. Why is +it that of two individuals exposed to the same situation, one will +develop a complex, the other will remain immune? The only soil we know +of, the real foundation stones of our being and living, are the cells +we are made of. Tell me the cellular basis of a complex, and I will +grant that you have arrived at some real knowledge. + +WAY FOR THE PHYSIOLOGIST + +There has grown up, contemporaneously with the teachings of Freud, +a body of discoveries and knowledge in physiology, concerning +these factors, which is like a long sword of light illuminating a +pitch-black spot in the night. The dark places in human nature seem to +have become the sole monopoly of the Freudians and their psychology. +But only seemingly. For all this time the physiologist has been +working. Beginning with a candle and now holding in his hands the most +powerful arc-lights, he has explored two regions, the sympathetic +nervous system and the glands of internal secretion, and has come upon +data which in due course will render a good many of the Freudian +dicta obsolete. Not that the Freudian fundamentals will be scrapped +completely. But they will have to fit into the great synthesis which +must form the basis of any control of the future of human nature. That +future belongs to the physiologist. Already his achievements provide +the foundations. I propose in the following chapters to sketch the +history and outline the elements of this new knowledge, and then to +glimpse some of the larger human reactions to it. A good deal of this +new knowledge is not altogether new. A number of the isolated facts +have been known and talked about for more than two generations. But +the newer additions, and the light they have thrown upon old problems +present the opportunity for a synthesis, which must sooner or later be +made. + +THE CHEMISTRY OF THE SOUL + +Besides, it is time that the secrets of the laboratories stepped out +into the market place, unashamed. Imaginative man has played for ages +immemorial with wondrous fairy tales and fancies of what he would +achieve. The sciences of physics and chemistry have made everyday +commonplace realities out of his radiant dreams. One need not repeat +the clichés of our editors. But the analogy is there nevertheless. No +control over heat and light and electricity, today our slaves, was +possible until physics and chemistry took them in hand. No control of +the human soul is possible until it too will be taken in hand by them. +We may now look forward to a real future for mankind because we have +before us the beginnings of a chemistry of human nature. The internal +secretions, with their influence upon brain and nervous system as +well as every other part of the body corporation, as essentially +blood-circulating chemical substances, have been discovered the real +governors and arbiters of instincts and dispositions, emotions and +reactions, characters and temperaments, good and bad. A huge complex +of evidence, as various, complicated and obscure as human nature +itself, supports that fundamental law. + +The chemistry of the soul! Magnificent phrase! It's a long, long way +to that goal. The exact formula is as yet far beyond our reach. But we +have started upon the long journey and we shall get there. Then will +Man truly become the experimental animal of the future, experimenting +not only with the external conditions of his life, but with the +constituents of his very nature and soul. The chemical conditions of +his being, including the internal secretions, are the steps of the +ladder by which he will climb to those dizzy heights where he will +stretch out his hands and find himself a God. Modern knowledge of +these chemical substances, circulating in the blood, and affecting +every cell of the body, dates back scarce half a century. But already +the paths blazed by the pioneers have led to the exploration of great +countries. The thyroid gland, the pituitary gland, the adrenal glands, +the thymus, the pineal, the sex glands, have yielded secrets. And +certain great postulates have been established. The life of every +individual, normal or abnormal, his physical appearance, and his +psychic traits, are dominated largely by his internal secretions. All +normal as well as abnormal individuals are classifiable according to +the internal secretions which rule in their make-up. Individuals, +families, nations and races show definite internal secretion traits, +which stamp them with the quality of difference. The internal +secretion formula of an individual may, in the future, constitute his +measurement which will place him accurately in the social system. + +"More and more we are forced to realize that the general form and +external appearance of the human body depends, to a large extent, +upon the functioning, during the early developmental period, of the +endocrine glands. Our stature, the kinds of faces we have, the +length of our arms and legs, the shape of the pelvis, the color and +consistency of the integument, the quantity and regional location +of our subcutaneous fat, the amount and distribution of hair on our +bodies, the tonicity of our muscles, the sound of the voice, and +the size of the larynx, the emotions to which our exterior gives +expression. All are to a certain extent conditioned by the +productivity of our glands of internal secretion." (Llewellys F. +Barker, Johns Hopkins University, 1st President of Association for +Study of Internal Secretions.) + +The implications for the statesman, the educator, the vocational +expert, the student of the neurotic and of genius, of delinquents, +deficients and criminals, the explorers of the exceptional and the +commonplace, the understanding of the poetic and kinetic, base and +dull types, as well as of those two master interests of mankind, Sex +and War, are manifest. The mystery of the individual, in all his +distinct uniqueness, begins to be penetrated. And so every phase +of social life, in which the individual is at bottom the final +determinant, must be reviewed in the light of the new knowledge. +History may be examined from an entirely new angle. The biographies +of our Heroes of the Past, in the Carlylean sense, will bear +reinspection. Even Utopias will have to be revised. + +The internal secretions constitute and determine much of the inherited +powers of the individual and their development They control physical +and mental growth and all the metabolic processes of fundamental +importance. They dominate all the vital functions during the three +cycles of life. They co-operate in an intimate relationship which may +be compared to an interlocking directorate. A derangement of their +function, causing an insufficiency of them, an excess, or an +abnormality, upsets the entire equilibrium of the body, with +transforming effects upon the mind and the organs. In short, they +control human nature, and whoever controls them, controls human +nature. + +The control of the glands of internal secretion waits upon our +knowledge of them, the nature and precise composition of the +substances manufactured by them, and just what they do to the cells. +Envisaging the future, that knowledge today is meagre. Looking back +fifty years, it becomes an amazing achievement and revelation. It is +worth our while to survey the accomplished, and to trace its general +human significance. For a certain tangible degree of knowledge and +control has been attained and should be part of the average citizen's +equipment in dealing with the everyday problems of his life. + +THE ATTITUDE OF THE LABORATORY + +A certain number of so-called experimental physiologists, that is, +the physiologists of the animal laboratory, who will have nothing but +syllogistic deductions and quantitative determinations based upon +animal experiments as the data of their science, will be apt to look +askance upon the preceding paragraphs, and those which will follow. To +them, any man who relates the internal secretions to anything, outside +of the routineer's paths, puts his reputation at stake, if he has +any reputation at all to start in with. They would have us deliver +a Scotch verdict upon all the questions which arise as soon as one +attempts to take in the more general significance of the glands of +internal secretion. This, even though the more general implications +concerning the effects of their products, the relations of them to +growth and development, nutrition and energy, environmental +reactions and resistance to disease, as well as the grand complex of +intelligence, are admittedly well ascertained in some directions. + +The method of absolute measurement in science has yielded miracles. +For some thousands of years, an isolated individual, here and there +or an isolated institution have devoted themselves to the task, +struggling not only with their own weaknesses, but with religious and +political dogmas which spoiled and vitiated even the beginnings of +their efforts. When, in the seventeenth century, men associated +themselves in research, for free communication and discussion of their +findings, a great invention came alive. Close on its heels was born +the exact experimental method. Amazing triumphs were born of that +marriage which swept away before it ignorance and superstition and +prejudice. Its children and grandchildren have flourished and grown +strong and mighty. They have transmuted the material conditions of +life. Certainly all the laurels belong to the method of absolute, +measured observations. + +Yet all this time the old method of inductive observation has not gone +dead. Most magnificent triumph of nineteenth century science, the +evolution theory of Charles Darwin, remains the most conspicuous +instance of clarification of thought in human history. That work was +the outcome of an attempt to relate and interpret a collection of +observations on species and their variations, that had long lain to +hand, a mixture without a solvent. Darwin saw certain generalizations +as solvents, and behold! a clear solution out of the mud. But it was +by piling evidence upon evidence, co-ordinating isolated facts not +directly associated, that the towering structure was erected. There is +no prettier sample extant of the powers of the inductive method. + +Not that there are no triumphs of the quantitative method in store for +the biologist. Already, the materials of the Mendelians have become +basic parts of his structure. And today, in pursuit of the solutions +of hundreds of the problems of living matter, chemists and +physiologists are employing the most precise standards, units, and +measures of the physical sciences. Blood chemistry of our time is a +marvel, undreamed of a generation ago. Also, these achievements are +a perfect example of the accomplished fact contradicting a priori +prediction and criticism. For it was one of the accepted dogmas of the +nineteenth century that the phenomena of the living could never be +subjected to accurate quantitative analysis. + +However desirable the purely quantitative experimental methods may be, +they naturally need always to be preceded by the qualitative studies +of direct observations. Inevitably there will be numberless errors, +apparent and real inconsistencies and contradictions, and ideas that +will have to be discarded. Just the same there is no other method of +progress. Every bit of evidence points towards the internal secretions +as the holders of the secrets of our inmost being. They are the well +springs of life, the dynamos of the organism. In trailing their scent +we appear to be upon the track not only of the chemistry of our +bodies, but of the chemistry of our very souls. An increasing host of +factors and studies marshal themselves solidly for that declaration. +Endeavor to conceive the consequences and possibilities for the +future. A synthesis of the known in the field provides even now a +means of understanding and control of the perplexities of human nature +and life that are like a vista seen from a mountain top after the +lifting of a fog. + +The most precious bit of knowledge we possess today about Man is that +he is the creature of his glands of internal secretion. That is, Man +as a distinctive organism is the product, the by-product, of a number +of cell factories which control the parts of his make-up. Much as the +different divisions of an automobile concern produce the different +parts of a car. These chemical factories consist of cells, manufacture +special substances, which act upon the other cells of the body and so +start and determine the countless processes we call Life. Life, body +and soul emerge from the activities of the magic ooze of their silent +chemistry precisely as a tree of tin crystals arises from the chemical +reactions started in a solution of tin salts by an electric current. + +Man is regulated by his Glands of Internal Secretion. At the beginning +of the third decade of the twentieth century, after he had struggled, +for we know at least fifty thousand years, to define and know himself, +that summary may be accepted as the truth about himself. It is +a far-reaching induction, but a valid induction, supported by a +multitude of detailed facts. + +Amazingly enough, the incontestable evidence, that first pointed to, +and then proved up to the hilt, this answer to the question: What is +Man? has been gathered in less than the last fifty years. Darwin and +Huxley, and Spencer, who first opened men's eyes to their origins, +were ignorant of the very existence of some of them, and had not the +faintest notion or suspicion of the real importance or function of any +of them. + +THE PREJUDICES OF PHILOSOPHERS + +Now, there are certain prejudices and problems which appear to be +rudely brushed away by the dogmatic arrogance of the principle stated. +What, you say, is Man but an affair of his peculiar gland chemistry? +But what of mind, soul, consciousness? Still another of these +pathetically one-sided and superficial theories of man as a machine +pure and simple which would make him the most complicated of +mechanisms, a marvel of intricate parts, but would deprive him of his +essence as self-conscious unique in the universe. Man, thinking man, +at any rate, dreads to lose the cherished impregnable conviction that +he is something apart, inherently, and therefore infinitely different +from every other phenomenon in the range of his cosmos. + +A thorough dissection of the relation and attitude toward psychic +material of the consistent physiologist, who refuses to deal in +contradictory terms, would lead us a little too far. So would the +reconciliation between the claims of mind and the concept of the +organism as a system of chemical reactions. The most fundamental +aspects of that herculean task, warned by the sign, No Trespassing, +we shall leave to the metaphysicians. The influence of the glands of +internal secretion upon the mind we must consider, but at present +postpone. Yet the hot-headed contenders on both sides may be reminded +of certain facts. + +We live in the most iconoclastic of ages. There are sane people alive +today going quietly about their business who deny the very existence +of consciousness. These heretics of course pooh-pooh absolutely the +lions of metaphysics. On the other hand, it may be pointed out to our +mechanists who believe in mechanism to the bitter end, that even if +man can be described entirely as a mere transformer of energy, there +is no reason why he cannot also be described as a transformer of +energy plus someone who makes use of the transformer and of the +energy transformed. The stone wall before the honest mechanist is the +abolition of purpose, and design, an old insoluble problem upon +his premises. Preach, until you are blue in the face, behaviorist +tropisms, in which man is pushed and pulled about in his environment +as are iron filings in a magnetic field. Think up objective +physiologies in which your life and mine become a series of +concatenated influences and compound reflexes. Play with words like +the concentration reflex when you mean idea, and the symbolic reflex +when you mean language. But your most rigid nomenclature will never +abolish the mystic personal purpose in the equation, no matter how low +the step in the animal series to which you descend. The declaration +that a man is dominated by certain glands within his body should not +be taken to give aid and comfort to those who would banish mind from +the universe. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HOW THE GLANDS OF INTERNAL SECRETION WERE DISCOVERED + + +Just what are the glands of internal secretion? And how have we become +possessed of whatever information about them we have? A brief review +of how the idea of a gland of internal secretion came into the human +mind and of the contributions that have converged into a single body +of knowledge is worth while. + +A gland is a collection of cells (those viscous globules which are the +units of all tissues and organs). It manufactures substances intended +for a particular effect upon the body economy. The effect may be +either local or upon the body as a whole. + +Originally, a gland meant something in the body which was seen to make +something else, generally a juice or a liquid mixture of some sort. +A classical example is the salivary glands elaborating saliva. The +microscope has shown us that every gland is a chemical factory in +which the cells are the workers. The product of the gland work is its +secretion. Thus the sweat glands of the skin secrete the perspiration +as their secretion, the lachrymal glands of the eyes the tears as +theirs. The collectivism of management and control is the only +essential difference between them and the modern soap factory or +T.N.T. plant. + +Man as a carnivor, and as a consequent anatomist, has been acquainted +with these more superficially placed glands for some thousands of +years. During all this time and during the epoch of the achievements +of gross anatomy, it was believed that the secretions of all glands +were poured out upon some surface of the body. Either an exterior +surface like the skin, or some interior surface, the various mucous +membranes. This was supported by the discovery of canal-like passage +ways leading from the gland to the particular surface where its +secretion was to act. These corridors, the secretory or excretory +ducts, are present, for example, in the liver, conducting the bile +to the small intestine. Devices of transportation fit happily into +a comparison of a gland to a chemical factory, corresponding thus +closely to the tramways and railroads of our industrial centers. + +Little more than a hundred years ago, it was observed that certain +organs, like the thyroid body in the neck, and the adrenal capsules in +the abdomen, hitherto neglected because their function was hopelessly +obscure, had a glandular structure. As in so much scientific advance, +the discovery or improvement of a new instrument or method, a fresh +tool of research, was responsible. The perfection of the microscope +was the reason this time. + +If one wishes to trace the idea of internal secretion by cells to an +individual, it is convenient, if not pedantic, to give the credit to +Theophile de Bordeu, a famous physician of Paris in the eighteenth +century. Bordeu came to Paris as a brilliant provincial in his early +twenties and by the charm of his manner and daring therapy fought +his way to the most exclusive aristocratic practice of the court. +Naturally a courtier, taking to the intrigues of the royal court like +a duck to water, making enemies on every hand as well as friends, and +with a fastidious and impatient clientele, he yet found time to dabble +in the wonders of the newly perfected microscope and to speculate upon +the meaning of the novelties revealed by it in the tissues. _He coined +the thought of a gland secretion into the blood_. + +It was in the year 1749 that he came to Paris from the Pyrenees, +a young medical graduate, destined to become the most fashionable +practitioner of his time. At the age of twenty-three he was holding +the professorship of anatomy at his alma mater, Montpelier, where +his father was a successful physician. At twenty-five he was elected +corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Sciences. A handsome +presence and a Tartarin de Tarascon disposition assured his success +from the start. The medical world was then composed of the emulsion of +charlatanry and science Molière ridiculed. Success stimulated envy and +jealousy. One of the richest of the older medical men set himself the +job of procuring his scalp. On a trumped-up charge of stealing jewels +from a dead patient--a favorite accusation against the doctors of the +eighteenth century--he had Bordeu's license taken away from him. The +good graces of certain women to whom Bordeu had always appealed, and +who indeed supplied the funds to get him started in Paris, rammed +through two acts of Parliament to reinstate him. Nothing daunted, he +returned to his quest for a court clientele, and was rewarded finally +by having the moribund Louis XV as a patient. + +This was the man with whom the modern history of the internal +secretions begins. Not content with adventures among the courtiers and +desperadoes of the most corrupt court in the most corrupt city of the +world, he went in for research. The high power microscope that came +into vogue when he was studying, revealed vague wonders which he +described in a monograph, "Researches into the mucous tissues or +cellular organs." But what makes him interesting is a slender volume +on the "Medical Analysis of the Blood," published in the year of the +American Declaration of Independence. The sexual side of men and women +aroused Bordeu's most ardent enthusiasms. Starting with observations +on the characters of eunuchs and capons, as well as spayed female +animals, he formulated a conception of sexual secretions absorbed +into the blood, settling the male or female tint of the organism and +setting the seal upon the destiny of the individual. Thus he must be +donated the credit of anticipating the most modern doctrine on the +subject. + +The generation after him witnessed the triumph of the cell as the +recognized unit of structure of the tissues, the brick of the organs. +It was soon found that the cells of the more familiar glands, like +the sweat or tear glands, resembled the cells of the more mysterious +structures named the thyroid in the neck, or adrenal in the abdomen, +of which the function was unknown. What had hitherto prevented +classification of the latter as glands was the fact that they +possessed no visible pathways for the removal of their secretion. So +now they were set apart as the _ductless_ glands, the glands without +ducts, as contrasted with the glands normally equipped with ducts. +Since, too, they were observed to have an exceedingly rich supply of +blood, the blood presented itself as the only conceivable mode of +egress for the secretions packed within the cells. So they were also +called the blood or vascular glands. + +The names which became most popular were those which represented a +contrast of the glands with the ducts, conveying their secretion to +the exterior, as the glands of EXTERNAL SECRETION and the glands +without the ducts, the secretions of which were kept within the body, +absorbed by the blood and lymph to be used by the other cells, as +the glands of INTERNAL SECRETION. How different these two classes +of glands are may be realized by imagining the existence of great +factories manufacturing food products, which would diffuse through +their walls into the atmosphere, to be absorbed by our bodies. + +There are certain terms for the glands of internal secretion which +are used interchangeably. They are spoken of often as the _endocrine_ +glands and as the _hormone_ producing glands. Endocrine is most +convenient for it stands for both the gland and its secretion. Hormone +is employed a good deal in the literature of the subject. But it +applies specifically to the internal secretion, and not to the gland. + +THE EXPERIMENTAL PIONEER + +All this clarification of the concept of the glands of internal +secretion occurred in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. +However, no inkling of their real importance to the body, of which +quantitatively they form so insignificant a part, was apparently +revealed to anyone. Not even the most daring speculation or brilliant +guess work in physiology engaged them as material. Thus Henle, the +great anatomist, calmly affirmed that these glands "have no influence +on animal life: they may be extirpated or they degenerate without +sensation or motion suffering in the least." Johann Müller, the most +celebrated physiologist of his day and contemporary of Henle, wrote +in 1844 and coolly stated, "The ductless glands are alike in one +particular--they either produce a different change in the blood which +circulates through them or the lymph which they elaborate plays a +special rôle in the formation of blood or of chyle." In other words, +they were dismissed as curious nonentities, of no real significance +to the running of the body. Laennec, the French founder of the Art of +Diagnosis in Medicine, once said that nothing about a science is more +interesting than the progress of that science itself. He might have +added that nothing either was more interesting than the contradictions +in that progress. For while these grand moguls of their sciences were +enunciating their dogmas, pioneers here and there were already setting +the mines that were to explode them. + +The experimental method, to the value of which biologists were +just beginning to awaken, was destined to be the vehicle of Time's +revenges. An application of it to the mysteries of sex was the +immediate occasion. Sex and sex differences have always more or less +obsessed the imagination of mankind. The volumes of theories about +them would constitute a respectable museum. Certain gross facts, +however, were known. The effects of loss of the sex glands upon the +configuration of the body and the predominating constitution in +animals and eunuchs have always attracted attention. The proverbs and +stories of all nations are full of references to them. But up to the +nineteenth century no controlled experimental work was ever carried +out regarding them. It was in 1849, that A.A. Berthold of Göttingen, a +quiet, sedate lecturer, carried out the pioneer experiment of removing +the testes of four roosters and transplanting them under the skin. It +was Berthold's idea to test whether a gland with a definite external +secretion, and a duct through which that secretion was expelled, +but which yet had powers over the body as a whole that were to be +attributed only to an internal secretion, could not be shown, by +a clean-cut experiment, to possess such an internal secretion. He +succeeded perfectly. For he found that, though, in thus separating the +gland from its duct and so cutting off its external secretion, the +action of the cells manufacturing that secretion was destroyed, the +general effects upon the body were not those of castration. The +animals retained their male characteristics as regards voice, +reproductive instinct, fighting spirit and growth of comb and wattles. +Whereas if the glands were entirely removed, these male traits, +peculiar to the rooster, were completely lost. The inference was the +existence of an internal secretion. + +To Berthold belongs the honor of being the first experimental +demonstrator who proved the reality of a gland with a true internal +secretion and the power it exercised through the blood upon the +entire organism. Besides, he showed that a typical gland of external +secretion could also have an internal secretion, a possibility never +before considered. That two kinds of cells could live within the same +gland: one set usually recognized as producing the external secretion, +the other evolving the internal secretion, was an astounding original +conception. + +ENTER CLAUDE BERNARD + +Science is supposed to be immune to the personal prejudices and +emotional habits of the vulgar. It is the tradition that a new +contribution to knowledge emerging from no matter how obscure the +source, should be hailed as a gift from the gods. But the sad truth of +the matter is that a new finding in science requires as much backing +as a new project in high finance or social climbing. Berthold, like +Mendel, the founder of genetics, was a great pioneer. But there was no +personage, no person of consequence, with no patronage by anyone of +consequence, no wife or kin, to push him, and no audience to stimulate +him. His poor four little pages of a report, published ten years +before Darwin's "Origin of Species," attracted not the slightest +notice. Buried in the print of a journal with a subscription list of +possibly two or three hundred, of whom perhaps two dozen may have been +interested enough to read it, but without any recorded reaction on the +part of any of them, it was a flash in the pan. Though it was good, +original, conclusive stuff, it was cut dead, absolutely, by the +scientific world. As a result, forty years elapsed before the +implications of his studies were rediscovered by the Columbus of the +modern approach to the internal secretions, the American Frenchman, +Brown-Séquard. + +It took a first class man of genius in his field, in Paris, with a +respected position in the whirl of its medical planetary system and +a university appointment, to boom and advertise the doctrine of the +internal secretions, so that people began to sit up and listen and +take sides--on the wrong grounds. This Frenchman was Claude Bernard. +At a series of lectures on experimental physiology delivered at the +College of France, in 1855, he coined the terms internal secretion and +external secretion and emphasized the opposition between them, on the +basis of an incorrect example, the function of the liver in the supply +of sugar to the blood. + +Just as Columbus reached America, carried on a series of logical +syllogisms, built upon unreal pictures of a straight path to the East, +Claude Bernard opened up the continent of the internal secretions to +the experimental enthusiasts of his time by a discovery which today +is not grouped among the phenomena of internal secretion at all. In +attempting to throw light upon the disease diabetes, in which there +is a loss of the normal ability of the cells to burn up sugar, he +examined the sugar content of the blood in different regions of the +body. He found that the blood of the veins, in general, contained less +sugar than the blood of the arteries, which meant that sugar was taken +from the blood in passing through the tissues. But the venous blood of +the right side of the heart contained as much sugar as the arterial +blood. Evidently, somewhere, sugar was added to the blood in the veins +before it got to the heart. The blood of the vein which goes from +the liver to the right side of the heart was then found to contain a +higher percentage of sugar than is present in the arteries. The vein +which transmits the blood from the intestines to the liver had +the usual lower percentage of sugar corresponding to the analysis +established for the other veins. The liver, therefore, must add sugar +to the blood on its way to the heart. Extraction of the liver then +revealed the presence in it of a form of starch, an animal starch, +which Bernard called glycogen, the sugar-maker. The origin of the +sugar added to the blood on its way from the liver to the heart was +thus settled. Bernard went on to hail glycogen and the sugar derivable +as the internal secretions of the liver, and to erect, and then drive +home, a theory of internal secretions and their importance in the body +economy. + +The case he had hit upon was exquisitely fortunate, as the liver had +hitherto been regarded purely a gland of external secretion, the bile. +Nowadays, glycogen and the blood sugar are not considered internal +secretions, because they are classified as elementary reserve food, +while the concept of the internal secretions has become narrowed down +to substances acting as starters or inhibitors of different processes. +Moreover, the process of liberation of sugar from glycogen itself in +the liver, upon demand, is today set down to the action of an internal +secretion, adrenalin. Claude Bernard's conception, like a novelist's +characters, has turned upon its creator, taken on a life of its own, +and evolved into something he never intended. He looked upon an +internal secretion as simply maintaining the normal composition of the +blood, which bathed alike and treated alike the democracy of cells. +Today, the blood is believed merely the transporting medium for the +internal secretion, destined for a particular group of cells. + +ADDISON'S AS THE FIRST ENGLISH CONTRIBUTION + +The years 1855-56 are red-letter years in the history of the glands of +internal secretion. They witnessed, not only the publication of +Claude Bernard's "Lectures on Experimental Physiology," but also the +appearance of a monograph by Thomas Addison, an English physician, +entitled "On the constitutional and local effects of disease of the +suprarenal bodies." In this, he described a fatal disease during which +the individual affected became languid and weak, and developed a dingy +or smoky discoloration of the whole surface of the body, a browning +or bronzing of the skin, caused generally by destructive tuberculous +disease of the suprarenal or adrenal bodies. Addison promptly put down +these constitutional effects of loss of the adrenal bodies to loss +of something produced by them of constitutional importance. He was +particularly struck by the change in the pigmentation of the skin, so +much so that his own designation for the affection was "bronzed +skin." Since then, however, the condition has been universally styled +Addison's Disease. + +There is something spectacularly mysterious and picturesque about most +of the malign, insidious effects of the disease which appealed at once +to a number of investigators. The most adventurous, the most daring, +the most imbued with enthusiasm for the experimental method, was the +American Frenchman, Brown-Séquard, who is acknowledged the father of +modern knowledge of the glands of internal secretion, though to Claude +Bernard belong the honors of the grandfather. + +BROWN-SÉQUARD THE GREAT + +Brown-Séquard, as the outstanding figure in the history of the glands +of internal secretion, deserves some notice as a personality. In the +words of the note-makers for novels and plays, he was a card. He was +born in 1817 at Port-Louis, on the island of Mauritius, off Africa, +then French property. His father was a Mr. Brown, an American sea +captain; his mother a Mme. Séquard, a Frenchwoman. Early in childhood, +the father sailed away on one of his voyages and never came back. The +mother thereafter supported herself and her son sewing embroideries. +At fifteen, Brown-Séquard, with the physical appearance of an Indian +Creole, was clerking in a colonial store by day, and composing poetry, +romances and plays by night. The call of Paris was in his blood, which +was indeed a supersaturated solution of wanderlust. + +Soon he was landed there to make his fortune in literature, only too +speedily to be disillusioned. Exhibition of manuscripts to a leading +literary light merely evoked curt advice to learn a trade or go into +business. He would have none of either and studied medicine instead, +earning his way by teaching as he learned. In the laboratories, he +made the acquaintance of people who more than once were to be his +salvation in the ups and downs of his career. In 1848 he was one of +the secretaries of the Society of Biology, newly founded by Claude +Bernard. + +Some trouble, perhaps some effect upon his health of cholera which +then swept Paris, caused him to return to his native Mauritius, to +encounter an epidemic of cholera. There he slaved manfully, for which +a gold medal was afterward struck for him. That over with, he embarked +in 1852 for New York, without a word of American, learning English on +board. This was the first of a series of voyages. As he often boasted, +he crossed the ocean sixty times, not a bad record for the days when +the _Mauretania_ was still in the womb of time. He made a hopeless +failure out of practice in New York, became so poor as to practice +obstetrics at five dollars a case, and married a niece of Daniel +Webster. Then he went back to Paris. Back to America next as Professor +of Physiology at the University of Richmond, Virginia, a job occupied +for a few months only because of his opinions on slavery, ostensibly +anyhow. + +To Paris then the rolling stone meandered again. So that soon after he +was offered and accepted the charge of a great newly opened hospital +for epileptics in London. That proved merely an interlude and in +1863 we find him back in his fatherland (if we may hold France his +motherland) as Professor of Neuropathology at Harvard. In New York +fame preceded him now with a thousand trumpets, so that on the day of +his arrival, he was kept busy seeing patients until night, when he +had to desist because of exhaustion. But still he did not prosper. An +unfortunate second marriage almost broke his heart, and an attempt +to found in New York a new medical periodical, the _Archives of +Scientific and Practical Medicine and Surgery_, got him into hot +water. Not until the death of Claude Bernard in 1878 left vacant the +chair of physiology in the College of France, did he find peace and +rest. He hastened to Paris, was appointed, and lived, in spite of the +most erratic of existences, to the ripe old age of 78, working up to +the last minute. + +Addison's monograph stimulated Brown-Séquard, in the year after its +printing, to reproduce the fatal disease experimentally by excising +the suprarenal capsules in animals. Addison was very modest in his +monograph. He stated that the first case of the malady had been +reported by his great predecessor at Guy's Hospital, London, Richard +Bright, the describer of Bright's Disease. Then he talks about the +"curious facts" he had "stumbled upon" and refers to an "ill-defined +impression" that these suprarenal bodies, in common with the spleen +and other organs, "in some way or other minister to the elaboration of +the blood." In the preface to his work he had spoken more confidently +of the fact that Nature, as an experimenter and a vivisector, can +beat the physiologist to a frazzle. Indeed, he begins like this: "If +Pathology be to disease what Physiology is to health, it appears +reasonable to conclude that, in any given structure or organ, the laws +of the former will be as fixed and significant as those of the latter: +and that the peculiar characters of any structure or organ may be as +certainly recognized in the phenomena of disease as in the phenomena +of health. Although pathology, therefore, as a branch of medical +science, is necessarily founded on physiology, questions may +nevertheless arise regarding the true character of a structure or +organ, to which occasionally the pathologist may be able to return a +more satisfactory and decisive reply than the physiologist--these two +branches of medical knowledge being thus found mutually to advance and +illustrate each other. Indeed, as regards the functions of individual +organs, the mutual aids of these two branches of knowledge are +probably much more nearly balanced than many may be disposed to admit: +for in estimating them we are very apt to forget how large an amount +of our present physiological knowledge respecting the functions of +these organs has been the immediate result of casual observations made +on the effects of disease." William James expressed the same thought +some decades later, when he emphasized that the abnormal was but the +normal exaggerated and magnified, played upon by the limelight, and +therefore the best teacher and indicator of the exact definition and +limitations of the normal. + +Addison, speaking before the South London Medical Society in 1849, +declared that in all of three afflicted individuals there was found a +diseased condition of the suprarenal capsules, and that in spite of +the consciousness "of the bias and prejudice inseparable from the hope +or vanity of an original discovery ... he could not help entertaining +a very strong impression that these hitherto mysterious organs--the +suprarenal capsules--may be either directly or indirectly concerned +in sanguification (the making of the blood): and that a diseased +condition of them, functional or structural, may interfere with the +proper elaboration of the body generally, or of the red particles more +especially...." A modern, acquainted with after developments, would +say that Addison was very hot upon the trail indeed. But withal, +though he must have been well aware of John Hunter's advice to Jenner +on vaccination, "Don't think, make some observations," his training in +the indirect reasoning and deductions of the clinician prevented him +from going right on to a direct experimental test of his theories. + +This Brown-Séquard proceeded to do. Removing the adrenal glands in +several species of animals, he found, meant a terrible weakness in +twenty-four to forty-eight hours, and death shortly after. If only one +were removed, there was no change apparent in the normal animal, but +death occurred rapidly upon removal of the other, even after a long +interval. Furthermore, transfusion of blood from a normal into +one deprived of its suprarenals prevented death for a long time, +indicating that the suprarenals normally secreted something into the +blood necessary to life. + +The years 1855-1856 beheld two other important glands of internal +secretion, the thyroid, the gland in the neck astride the windpipe, +and the thymus, in the chest above the heart, make their debut. + +The thymus was introduced by the great classic monograph of Friedleben +on the "Physiology of the Thymus," in which he mentioned the usual +forgotten pioneers: Felix Plater, a Swiss physician, who in 1614 had +found an enlarged thymus in an infant dying suddenly, and Restelli, +an Italian, who interested himself in the effects of removal of the +thymus more than ten years before. Friedleben believed that in the +young without a thymus, there occurred a softening of the bones, and +general physical and mental deterioration. He started the ball rolling +for a number of researches. + +Moritz Schiff, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, showed that excision of the +thyroid gland in dogs is invariably fatal. A number of physicians in +the first half of the century had reported certain remarkable symptoms +associated with enlargement of the thyroid gland, as goitre. In 1825 +the collected posthumous writings of Caleb Perry, an eminent physician +of Bath, England, recorded eight cases, in which, together with +enlargement of the gland, there developed enlargement and palpitation +of the heart, a distinct protrusion of the eyes from their sockets and +an appearance of agitation and distress. Schiff's paper was the first +to throw any light on the subject. But for some reason, probably the +same as in Berthold's forlorn experiments with the sex glands, the +work of a person of no importance was ignored, or perhaps the more +charitable view is that it was forgotten. Yet the tide of observation +kept sweeping in relevant data. + +In 1850, Curling, an English pathologist, studying the cretinous +idiots of Salzburg, written about centuries before by Paracelsus, +discovered that with their defective brain and mentality there +was associated an absence of the thyroid body, and accompanying +symmetrical swellings of fat tissue at the sides of the neck. Then +Sir William Gull in 1873 painted the singular details of a cretinous +condition developing in adult women, a condition to which another +Englishman, William Ord, of London, five years later donated the title +of myxedema, because of a characteristic thickening and infiltration +of the skin that is one of its features. + +Surgery then enters upon the scene. The great Swiss surgeon. Theodore +Kocher, performed the first excision of the thyroid gland in human +beings for goitre, in the same year. In 1882, J.L. Reverdin, another +surgeon of Geneva, noticed that in man complete removal of the thyroid +was followed by symptoms identical with those collected under the name +of myxedema, and used the phrase "operative myxedema" to emphasize +his conviction of the connection between them. Then Schiff, in +1884, neglected twenty-five years, came back, with an array of +demonstrations, proving that the various symptoms, tremors, spasms and +convulsions, following removal of the thyroid, could be prevented by +a previous graft of a piece of the gland under the skin, or by the +injection of thyroid juice into a vein or under the skin, or by the +ingestion of thyroid juice or the raw thyroid by mouth. + +A crystallization of ideas about the true function of the thyroid was +now inevitable. In 1884, Sir Victor Horsley produced an experimental +myxedema by removal of the thyroid in monkeys, resembling closely in +its symptom-picture the disease as it occurs in human beings. Möbius, +a German neurologist, came out boldly for the conception that a number +of ailments could be due to qualitative and quantitative changes in +the secretion of the thyroid, and that just as myxedema and cretinism +were due to an insufficiency of the secretion, Parry's disease was +to be ascribed to an excessive outpouring of it. The next steps +were easy. In 1888, Sir Felix Semon, as an outcome of a collective +investigation, established for all time that cretinism, myxedema and +post-operative myxedema were one and the same. + +It was bound to occur to someone that if human myxedema and animal +experimental myxedema were one and the same, Schiff's procedure of +prevention and cure by feeding thyroid gland by mouth in the latter +could be applied to the former. The idea occurred to two men, Murray +and Howitz, in 1891. Murray's patient, a Mrs. H., was shown before the +Northcumberland and Durham Medical Society, an English country medical +organization, in February, 1891. She was forty-two years old and had +borne nine children. The illness attacking her had begun insidiously, +with a gradual enlargement and thickening of her face and hands. +She had become very slow in speech and gait, sensitive to cold, and +languid and depressed in spirit to the point of inability to go about +alone. Murray, employing the glycerin extract of the thyroid gland of +a freshly killed sheep, injected twenty-four drops hypodermically, +twice a week. There was an immediate and marvelous improvement, which +continued steadily, Murray finding that it could be maintained by +feeding the gland by mouth. The features and skin returned to the +normal, speech quickened and she became able to walk about and live +her life without hesitation or assistance. She lived to the age of +seventy-four, dying in 1919. In the twenty-eight years, during which +it was always necessary to administer the thyroid, she consumed over +nine pints of thyroid, comprising the glands of 870 sheep. + +Giants and dwarfs and fat people have always interested people as +freaks, departures from the usual and the normal, and have formed the +stock of popular museum, circus and country fair. Every mythology has +concerned itself with them. The Titans among the Greeks, Og, Gog +and Magog among the Hebrews, are examples of the fascination of the +superlarge. John Hunter, the founder of experimental surgery, spent a +fortune in chasing after the skeleton of a famous Irish Giant in 1783. +Dwarfs have also fascinated--witness the short-limbed satyrs of the +Greeks and the dwarf gods (Ptah and Bes) of Egypt, as well as the +vogue of the court dwarf-buffoons, of whom Velasquez has left us some +portraits. Fat people, obesity as a manifestation of personality, have +aroused wonder and amusement the world over. The Fat Boy has always +furnished good sport to the Sam Wellers. + +All these characters, tall or short, fat or lean, are related to the +activity of a gland of internal secretion in the head, the pituitary, +which became a centre of interest in the late eighties. Because of its +situation, the opinion of the ancients was that it was the source of +the mucus of the nose, an opinion reinforced by the greatest anatomist +of the Dark Ages, Galen, and held up to the seventeenth century. In +other words, it was considered simply a gland of external secretion. +Experimental removal of the pituitary was essayed by Horsley in 1886, +the same man who two years before had reproduced myxedema successfully +in monkeys. Others succeeded his attempt. But the conclusions drawn +were uncertain or contradictory, resulting from the difficulties of +the operative technique of getting at a gland placed at the base +of the brain. Not until 1908 was the problem solved by Paulesco of +Bucharest, who devised a way of reaching it by trepanning the skull. +He was thus able to prove beyond a doubt that the pituitary gland was +essential to life, and that without it no animal could continue to +live for any length of time. Soon after, Harvey Gushing and his +associates at Johns Hopkins Hospital discovered that removal of part +of the gland was followed by a pronounced obesity and sluggishness. +A basis for the understanding of obesity and growth was then +established. + +In the eighties, there came to the clinic of Pierre Marie in Paris, +a pupil of the great Charcot, various women complaining of headache. +They also told him about an enlargement of their hands and feet, and +an alarming change in the bones of the face. He differentiated the +affection from its imitators, and created its present designation of +"acromegaly" (enlargement of the extremities). Also he correlated +their relationship to the giants who have been mentioned. Acromegalics +have been also likened to the Neanderthal Man, who had probably, as +the gorillas may have, an excess of the pituitary in their systems. +For four years he studied the morbid phenomena in the tissues of these +sufferers at last consigned to their end. First one, and then another, +and then a third and a fourth exhibited a striking hypertrophy of the +pituitary body and a consequent widening of the portion of the base +of the skull which cradles the gland. He proceeded to say so in +the graduating thesis of his pupil, Souza Leite. The inference +was inevitable that the entire process was to be put down to an +overactivity of the pituitary. Ever since, too, the growth of the +skeleton has been accepted as controlled by that gland. + +About this time another set of old observations came to life again, +related to those of Docent Berthold on the auto-grafting of the testes +of a cock, with complete retention of its sexual characters, which he +said, must be due "to the productive action of the testes, i.e., to +its effect upon the blood, and thence to the corresponding effect of +such blood upon the entire organism." Of course, stock raisers and +poultry fanciers have noted the interesting outcome of castration for +about as long as their professions have existed. And for ages the +diminution of sexual activity as a predecessor to the decadence of +senility has been harped upon. Rejuvenation, especially in connection +with sexual activity, as well as with tissue and spiritual elasticity, +has been one of the haunting phantoms of the imagination for as long +as we have records of articulate humanity. Together with El Dorado, +the Elixir of Youth has shared the honors with the Philosopher's +Stone. The idea of employing the chemical materials of the sex glands, +the testes or the ovaries, to bring back youth, to restore juvenility, +had not, as far as we know, occurred to anyone who at any rate put +himself on record, by word or deed, until 1889. The hero of the new +departure was the hero of so many daring adventures among speculative +experiments, Brown-Séquard. + +At this time the wanderer was an aged sage, seventy-two years old, +fit, as custom goes, only for retirement and resignation to the fate +of all flesh. The old passion of experimenting upon himself as well as +upon the guinea-pigs, dogs, cats and monkeys, by which he was always +surrounded, was as alive and kicking as ever. I suppose he had been +thinking for years concerning some method for the resumption of youth, +for we find him exclaiming, when the opportunity loomed of a great +laboratory on Agassiz Island, Long Island, on one of his recurrent +flights to New York: "Would that I were thirty!" And other passages in +his personal communications refer again and again to his consciousness +of growing old. The miracles that were being performed by injecting +thyroid and feeding thyroid in animals probably acted as the spark to +an inflammable mass of ideas long smouldering in the subcellars of his +mind. The effects were reported to the Society of Biology in Paris, +one memorable evening, June 1, 1889, in two notes on the results of +the hypodermic injection in man of the testis juice of monkeys and +dogs, and certain generalizations deduced therefrom. Such juices, he +stated, had a definite energy-mobilizing or, as he put it, dynamogenic +action upon the subject himself, stimulating amazingly his general +health, muscular power and mental activity. + +These experiments, their nature, the manner in which they were +conducted, the character and age of the experimenter, and the results +claimed, were exquisitely good stuff for ridicule. Cartoonists and +reporters leaped upon the theme with the avidity of the true-blue +interviewer. Paris, where to be ridiculed is to be killed in public +with the most ignominious of deaths, reacted as only the French +temperament can react. The wits of the salons crackled, the +bourgeoisie chortled, the proletariat roared. The Elixir of Life had +been discovered and it was excellent sport. + +But Brown-Séquard remained unshaken. He had all the roués of Paris +running to him, and consequent charges of quackery and charlatanism. +How much of these unsavory epithets really applied to him will not be +determined until we have a better acquaintance with his more intimate +life. A biography and collection of his letters is needed. But it is +certain that the general principles he arrived at, aided as much by +the wings of intuition as by the clues of incomplete and incompletely +controlled experiments, survive as the foundations of whatever we know +about the internal secretions, and all our present viewpoints. He +summed these up in 1891 as follows: + +"All the tissues, in our view, are modifiers of the blood by means of +an internal secretion taken from them by the venous blood. From this +we are forced to the conclusion that, if subcutaneous injections of +the liquids drawn from these parts are ineffectual, then we should +inject some of the venous blood supplying these parts.... We admit +that each tissue, and, more generally, each cell of the organism, +secretes on its own account, certain products or special ferments, +which, through this medium (the blood), influence all other cells of +the body, a definite solidarity being thus established among all the +cells through a mechanism other than the nervous system.... All +the tissues (glands and other organs) have thus a special internal +secretion, and so give to the blood something more than the waste +products of metabolism. The internal secretions, whether by direct +favorable influence, or whether through the obstacles they oppose to +deleterious processes, seem to be of great utility in maintaining the +organism in its normal state." + +The only part of this statement not conceded today is that relating to +the formation of internal secretions by tissues other than those of +which the cells are definitely glandular, that is secretory: as can be +determined under the microscope. Brown-Séquard added to the concept +of internal secretions, fathered by Claude Bernard, the idea of a +correlation, a mutual influencing of them and of the different organs +of the body through them. The nervous system had hitherto been +regarded as the sole means of communication between cells, by its +telegraphic arrangements of nerve filaments reaching out everywhere, +interweaving with each other and the cells. The Brown-Séquard +conception inferred the existence of a postal system between cells, +the blood supplying the highway for travel and transmission of the +post, the post consisting of the chemical substances secreted by +the glands. To be sure, the doctrine was only an inference, though +well-founded, of which the direct experimental proof was not to +be obtained until the researches of Bayliss and Starling. Yet to +Brown-Séquard belongs the immortal credit, if not of the originator, +at any rate of the resurrector of the idea of using gland extracts to +influence the body. The unwarranted hopes aroused by his enthusiastic +reports of rejuvenating miracles have long since been dissipated. +Moreover, they smeared the whole subject with a disrepute which clings +to certain narrow and unreasonable minds to this day. But as every +physiologist since has acknowledged, he was and remains the great +path-breaker in the conquest of the internal secretions. + +THE HORMONES + +The problem of the internal secretions was now attacked from another +angle. A great Russian physiologist, Pawlow, called attention to the +fact that the introduction of a dilute mineral acid, such as the +hydrochloric acid, normally a constituent of the stomach digestive +fluid, into the upper part of the intestine, provoked a secretion +of the pancreas, which is so important for intestinal digestion. He +explained the phenomenon as a reflex, a matter of the nerves going +from the intestine to the pancreas. + +His pupil, Popielski, threw doubt upon so easy an explanation, by +proving that the same reaction could be elicited even after all the +nerve connections between the gut and the spinal cord were severed. If +the relation was a reflex, it would have to be classed now as one of +those local nerve circuits, which are pretty common among the viscera, +a local call and reply as it were, without mediation of the great long +distance trunk lines in the spinal cord and the medulla oblongata. + +The work of Bayliss and Starling, two English physiologists, was +commenced then to test the hypothesis. They soon found that the +experiment could be so devised as to exclude any influence whatever on +the part of the nervous tissues, and yet result positively. Thus, if a +loop of intestine was so prepared as to be attached to the rest of the +body only by means of its blood vessels, all the nerves being cut, +putting some acid into it was still followed by a flow of pancreatic +juice, no less marked than when none of the parts about the piece +of gut had been disturbed. It was evident that the stimulus to the +pancreas was carried by way of the blood stream. That the stimulating +substance was not the acid itself, was shown by the failure of the +reaction to occur when the acid was injected directly into the blood +stream. Since there was this difference in the effects between acid in +the intestine and acid in the blood, it was manifest that the active +substance must be some material elaborated in the intestinal mucous +membrane under the influence of the acid. So they scraped some of the +lining of the bowel, rubbed it up with acid, and injected the filtered +mixture into the blood. They were rewarded by a flow of pancreatic +juice greater in amount than any obtained in their other experiments. +From the filtered mixture they isolated in an impure form, a solid +substance which, when introduced into the circulation, has a similar +action. To this, of which the exact chemical make-up is as yet an +unknown, they gave the name secretin. + +Secretin and its properties they used to generalize as a perfectly +direct and amply demonstrable example of an internal secretion. +Metaphors are no less valuable in physiology than in poetry. They +declared that the internal secretions appeared to them to be chemical +messengers, telegraph boys sent from one organ to another through the +public highways, the blood (really more like a moving platform). So +they christened them all hormones, deriving the word from the Greek +verb meaning to rouse or set in motion. As a science is a well-made +language, a new word is an event. It sums up details, economizes +brain-work and so is cherished by the intellect. The study of the +internal secretions has advanced by leaps and bounds since it became +convenient to speak of them as hormones. Withal, the brilliant work of +Bayliss and Starling stands as the third great foundation stone, +the first Claude Bernard's and the second Brown-Séquard's, in the +architecture of the modern concepts of the internal secretions. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE GLANDS: THYROID AND PITUITARY + + +The glands of internal secretion, the history of which, as tools of +thought, I reviewed in the previous chapter, have each an interesting +evolutionary story. Without some acquaintance with that story, the +rough outline of their physical architecture, and the particular work +they are called upon to perform in the body, no adequate understanding +of their influence upon types of human nature and personality is +possible. + +THE THYROID GLAND + +This gland consists of two maroon colored masses astride the neck, +above the windpipe, close to the larynx. These are bridged by a narrow +isthmus of the same tissue. They remind one of the flaps of a purse +opened up. The gland has always attracted much attention because its +enlargement constitutes the prominent deformity known as goitre. + +To begin with, the thyroid was once a sex gland, pure and simple. In +the lowest vertebrates and in the homologous tissues of the higher +invertebrates, the fractions of the thyroid are intimately connected +with the ducts of the sexual organs. They are indeed accessory sexual +organs, uterine glands, satellites of the sex process. From Petromyzon +upward that relationship is lost, the thyroid migrates more and more +to the head region, to become the great link between sex and brain. +How alive that function still is, is grossly shown by the swelling of +the gland with sexual excitement, menstruation and pregnancy. + +Relative to the body weight it is largest in the mammalia, and +smallest in the fishes. It therefore grows larger as the vertebrate +ascends in the scale. It has, in fact, developed in direct proportion +to and side by side with the fundamental, differentiating vertebrate +characteristics. Of these, the possession of a dry hairy skin instead +of a moist or mucus bearing, chitinous skin, the ownership of +an internal bony skeleton and a large skull, and a complicated +development of brain, are the diagnostic signs. Thyroid internal +secretion has a very definite controlling relation to all of them: to +skin, its hairiness, moisture and amount of mucus, to the growth and +size of the bones, especially the bones of the extremities and the +skull, and to intelligence and the complexity of the convolutions of +the brain. Injury to the thyroid, especially in growing animals, is +followed by profound retrogression or arrest of development in skin, +skeleton and brain. + +In the fishes and the cyclostomes the thyroid is represented only by +some small scrubby patches, little larger than the heads of pins, +scattered along the aorta, the great blood vessels from the heart, and +out a little way along each gill. It becomes larger and more compact +among the amphibians and reptiles, but still remains quite small. +Large and prominent among the birds and mammalia, it is largest and +most prominent among the primates and man. It is hence permissible to +think of the thyroid as a dictator of evolution, to crown it as the +vertebrate gland par excellence, and to call the typical vertebrate +brand marks secondary _thyroid_ characteristics in precisely the +sense of Darwin classing the horns of cattle as secondary _sexual_ +characteristics. + +In such enthusiasm for the thyroid as a determinant of evolution, its +pillar of cloud by day and column of fire by night, one should not +forget the other glands of internal secretion. In them all, we may +suppose, Life, tired of inventing merely prehensile, destructive and +reproductive organs, hit upon the happy thought of contrivances which +are in essence chemical factories to speed up the rate of variation +and so of a higher evolution. + +CREATOR OF THE LAND ANIMAL + +According to this conception the thyroid played a fundamental part in +the change of sea creatures into land animals. Experimentally, thyroid +has been used to transform one into the other. Thus the occasional +change of a Mexican axolotl, a purely aquatic newt, breathing through +gills, into the amblystoma, a terrestrial salamander, with spotted +skin, breathing by means of lungs, has long been known. Feeding the +axolotl on thyroid gland produces the metamorphosis very quickly, even +if the axolotl is kept in water. In the reptile house at the London +Zoological Gardens full-grown examples of the common black axolotl and +the pretty white variety are exhibited. Some are nearly three inches +long. Alongside are shown several examples of the amblystoma stage, +produced in one of the laboratories of Oxford University and at +the gardens by thyroid feeding. A variation of the thyroid in the +direction of increased secretion was probably responsible for the +first land animals. + +THYROXIN, SECRETION OF THE THYROID + +Under the microscope, as in the test tube, the thyroid shows +remarkable and unique features. Closed spherules lined by a single +layer of cells enclosing a gelatinous material known as colloid, which +stains deeply with acid dyes, comprise the units of its architecture. +Essentially, it may be pictured as a series of jelly bubbles secreted +by outlying cells. + +A relatively high percentage of iodine is the unique distinctive fact +in its chemistry. Discovered by Baumann in 1895, the presence of the +element has focused the intelligence of chemists upon the gland, +with the consequent demonstration of arsenic also in it. It was soon +manifest that the secretion of the gland was dependent upon the +iodine content for its activity. Active extracts of the thyroid like +thyreoglobulin and iodothyrin were proven to contain iodine, and to +become inactive when the iodine was removed. Efforts to isolate the +iodine containing active principle in pure form were fruitless until +the work of Kendall at the Mayo Foundation. He obtained it as a white, +finely crystalline, odorless and tasteless substance, heat stable, +and analyzable. The free form separates as a sheaf of fine needles. +Kendall at first called it the a-iodine compound, then named it +thyroxin. + +There are other internal secretions of the thyroid, with a function of +their own, that have no iodine. But they are secondary, and obscure. +Thyroxin is accepted today as the purified internal secretion of the +thyroid because all the effects of the whole gland may be elicited +with it. Thyroxin produces results with doses amazingly minute +compared with the quantity of whole gland necessary. Moreover, a dose +of thyroxin appears to last an organism in need of it over a period of +time; the other has to be administered continuously. + +Studies with thyroxin carried on in recent years have rounded out the +whole concept of the business of the thyroid in the body economy. +One may sum it up by saying that the thyroid secretion is the _great +controller of the speed of living_. The more thyroid one has, the +faster one lives; the less one has, the more slowly one lives. + +That is not to imply any direct proportion between the amount of +thyroid secretion in an individual, and the length of life to which he +is destined. The speed of living, in the chemical sense (which is the +fundamental sense), and the rate at which the chemical reactions go on +that constitute the process of life, are dependent upon the thyroid. +When the reactions go faster, more oxygen and food material are burned +up or oxidized, more energy is liberated, the metabolic wheel rotates +more quickly, the individual senses, feels, thinks and acts more +quickly. + +Likening one energy machine to another, the thyroid may be compared +to the accelerator of an automobile. That is a rough and superficial +comparison because an accelerator lets in more of the fuel to be +burned up, while the thyroid makes the fuel more combustible. It thus +resembles more the primer, for a rich mixture of gasoline and air +burns at a greater velocity than a poor one. But the action of thyroid +could really be simulated only by some substance that could be +introduced into the best possible of gasoline mixtures, to increase +its combustibility by a hundred per cent or more. For that is what +thyroid will do to our food. Nor has it only this destructive or +combustion side. Withal there is at the same time a constructive +action, for the process frees energy to be used for heat, motion or +other need. The thyroid, therefore, in addition to its rôle as an +accelerator, acts, too, as the efficient lubricator for energy +transformations. So we see it as accelerator, lubricator and +transformer of our energies. + +THE GLAND OF ENERGY PRODUCTION + +The isolation of thyroxin has made possible the determination of the +influence of the thyroid hormone upon the evolution of energy in any +higher animal organism. There is, for every individual, a constant, +known as the metabolic rate, or the combustion rate, a reading of the +rate at which his cells are consuming material for heat. The metabolic +rate is thus a gauge of the energy pressure within the organism. +It may be calculated by measuring the amount of carbon dioxide gas +exhaled during a unit of time, and the number of calories of heat +radiated by the skin simultaneously. A simplified device has lately +rendered it practicable to make actual determinations by a few +five-minute readings of the rate of oxygen absorption by the lungs. +Plummer, also connected with the Mayo Foundation, has shown that what +would amount to less than a grain of the thyroxin would more than +double the amount of energy produced in a unit of time. To be exact, +one milligram of thyroxin increases the metabolic rate two per cent. +That illustrates some of the power of the internal secretion of the +thyroid and its importance to normal life. + +THE MOBILIZATION OF ENERGY + +But not only is the height of pressure of energy in the cells +controlled by the thyroid. The mobility of that energy is also +controlled. Without it, rapid and large fluctuations of energy output, +and elasticity and flexibility of energy mobilization for any sudden +mental or muscular act, let alone an emergency, become impossible. A +woman suffering with myxedema, the condition described by the English +physician Gull as a cretinoid state supervening in the adult life +of woman, has an insufficient amount of thyroxin in her blood and +tissues. She is clumsy and awkward and will stumble when endeavoring +to walk upstairs. Any effort is almost paralyzed because the range +of fluctuation of energy, the ability to mobilize energy, in turn +dependent upon an ability to increase the metabolic rate, is limited. +In slang phrase, she cannot step on it. Her existence is set to go at +a rate in the neighborhood of forty per cent below the normal. By the +administration of thyroxin, her metabolic rate can be raised to any +desired figure, the spark can be adjusted, so to speak, to any point +we like, and it can be so maintained for years. + +In the normal animal, to be sure, the internal secretion of the +thyroid is not absolutely essential to life. So it contrasts with the +hormone of the minute parathyroids placed so closely to it, a minimum +dose of which is absolutely a prerequisite for continued life. The +fundamental chemical reactions within the cells occur in the complete +absense of thyroxin. But they go on in a relatively fixed, rigid and +unvarying way, confined within the narrow limits of a constant figure. +Under such conditions, the level of energy production is bound to be +low, and to remain low, and the modus of its mobilization slow and +unwieldy. With thyroid is introduced the trick of _catalysis_, or the +speeding up of the vital chemical reactions, through the agency of an +_intermediate_ which accelerates the process. It is par excellence the +great catalyst of energy in the body. (A catalyst is an intermediary +like the trace of water, which will bring about an explosion between +dry oxygen and hydrogen that without it have stayed inert with the +strongest currents of electricity.) Thus it supplies a mechanism not +only for quantity output of that subtle reality we label energy, but +also an apparatus for varying the available amount of it, and for +permitting the maximum range in ease and rapidity of its utilization. +The thyroid is still another device of life for procuring more and +more variation and differentiation, its goal, as far as we can peer +through the opalescent screen upon which its manifestations quiver. + +From another point of view, the thyroid may be looked upon as the +organ evolved for maintaining the same amount of iodine in the blood +as there is in sea water. Sea water was our original habitat, since, +like Venus, we have all come up out of the sea. + +The more intimate study of the composition of the blood has revealed +the most astonishing parallelism between it and the compounds of sea +water. The blood is sea water, to which has been added hemoglobin as +a pigment for carrying oxygen to the cells not in direct contact with +the atmosphere, nutrients to take the place of the prey our marine +ancestors gobbled up frankly and directly, and white cells to act as +the first line of defense. To keep the concentration of iodine in the +blood a constant, the thyroid evolved, since there is no iodine in +most foods and very little in those which do contain it. + +That a minimum amount of iodine in the food is necessary to health is +shown by the existence of goitre regions. Around some of the Great +Lakes in the United States, for instance, the water does not contain +enough iodine. As a result, numerous cases of goitre occur. Iodine in +the form of sodium iodide in small doses will act as a prophylactic. +The amount of iodine in the blood is about one or two parts to ten +millions, and that of the liver is about three or four parts to ten +millions. Since the liver is the most complex and active chemical +factory in the body, its appropriation of a greater amount of iodine +for itself is understandable. + +When thyroxin is administered in a single dose, there is a distinct +lag in the absorption of it by the tissues. A single dose does not +generate its maximum effect until the tenth day. This effect continues +for about ten days. Then there is a gradual decrease in the intensity +of reaction for another ten days. So that the length of time a single +administration of thyroxin functions within the body is about three +weeks. Again we have occasion to notice a protective device of the +cells. Since the presence of thyroxin in the tissues determines the +rate at which they burn themselves up, it is obvious that if there +were no mechanism for retarding its action, and at need varying it, +they really would set fire to themselves. That is to say, if the +tissues held a maximum of the thyroid internal secretion, and had to +take up more and more as it was fed out to them by the thyroid through +the blood, the pressure of energy production would attain the state of +a boiler without a safety valve. Even if self-destruction were avoided +by the ingestion of the largest quantities of energy-bearing foods, +rest for the cells would be difficult, if not impossible. + +The thyroxin in the tissues diminishes after a period of great +exertion, the thyroxin probably being carried back to the thyroid +gland and kept there as reserve until further demand. So it has been +discovered that during the winter months, the thyroid glands of beef, +sheep and hogs all contain much less iodine than during the summer +months. During the winter months, manifestly, more energy is required +to maintain body temperature, hence the gland surrenders more of its +secretion to the tissues and so keeps less of it itself. There must +be, too, a certain wearing out of the potency of the iodine with time. +Even dead inorganic catalysts, made of simple elements, wear out after +having been used time and time again. + +Though the thyroid is the supreme energizer, life is incompatible with +a certain excess of it. Death can be produced by successive daily +injections of its internal secretion. But it has, besides the +energizing effect, certain formative and nervous influences equally +marvelous. As illustrations, there are the cases of thyroid +deprivation in human beings, cretinism and myxedema, as well as +those in which it is believed there occurs an excess of the +thyroid secretion in the blood and tissues, the condition of +_hyper_thyroidism. + +CRETINISM AS THYROID DEFICIENCY + +Not that there is any arresting contrast of startling difference +between the phenomena presented by different species. The younger the +animal, the grosser the morbid symptoms witnessed. The animal fails to +grow. The bones and cartilage, except of the skull, fail to develop. +The abdomen projects and becomes large and flabby. The sex organs +atrophy. There is sterility. Pregnant rabbits abort, hens produce +very small eggs or none at all. These are the results of removing the +thyroid in animals. + +Apathetic, indifferent, dirty, awkward, apparently idiotic, describe +the human cretins. Their skin is rough and coarse, peeling in sheets. +In some it is considerably knarled and creased as in the aged, and in +others swollen, hard and resistant. The hair becomes shaggy and rough, +losing all luster, and tends to grow irregularly and fall out. The +temperature becomes subnormal and an anemia supervenes. There is a +distinct reduction in the resistance to infections and intoxications. + +Cretinism in the human is a condition in which the burning taper we +call Life flickers and smoulders and smokes. Thirty years ago it +was an example of the most hopeless idiocy. Whole populations were +afflicted with it. But neither man of science, nor bigot-fanatic, +assured by the Divine Confidence of its meaning as a visitation, +believed it could be modified an iota. Today, that inept word "cure" +may be applied to our power of attack upon it, provided it is +permitted to attack early enough. Modification, in the direction of +the most surprising betterment, is the miracle that has been wrought. + +The history of a cretin runs somewhat as follows: A baby is born, +which in all appearances seems normal. Perhaps the nose is a trifle +squatter than even the average new-born's flat nose. There may also be +abnormal sleepiness, greater even than that of the normal baby in the +first month or two in that there is no spontaneous awakening from +the coma for food. But in most cases this is put down to normal +variability, or maybe to that limbo of all a baby's troubles: +weakness. After some months, it is noticed that the infant is failing +to grow at the normal rate, either physically or mentally. Examination +at this time reveals a curious thickening of the dental ridges. Then +the tongue takes the centre of the scene, by becoming unusually thick +and prominent, to the point of projecting beyond the mouth at all +times, and interfering with breathing, when the infant is in a +recumbent position. + +More and more of the characteristics of the affection turn up. The +queer, repulsive, pitiful face of the cretins, which makes them all +seem brothers or twins, shapes itself. A yellowish, white or waxy +pallor; rough, dry, scaly, bloated skin; swollen, often wrinkled brow; +watery eyes, often almost concealed by the thickened eyelids; the +depressed pug nose with its wide, thick nostrils; large, erect ears; +the wobbly, drooling tongue, sticking out at one, yet not in derision; +the hair thin, and like tow in texture rather than human; eyebrows +and eyelashes are scant, and often absent; the nails short, thin and +brittle; the teeth, very late in coming, may be represented by a few +sharp points, irregular, decaying quickly, sometimes not succeeded at +all by those of the second dentition. + +Whatever growth occurs is irregular and disproportionate. The trunk, +though small compared with the head, appears massive against the +background of the diminutive extremities. The back is somewhat humped, +arching at the waist-line, while the abdomen protrudes like a balloon, +with a hernia, often, at the navel. The extremities are short, bowed, +cold, and livid, covered with rolls of the infiltrated skin, rolls +which cannot be smoothed out. Hands and feet are broad, pudgy, and +floppy, the fingers stiff, square and spade-like, the toes spread +apart, like a duck's, by the solid skin. Above the collar bones there +are frequently great pads of fat which sometimes encircle the narrow +bull neck. + +The mental state varies with the degree of deprivation of the internal +secretion of the thyroid. In the worst cases it is repulsively +vegetable. Even the intelligence common to the higher animals is +wanting. The cretins of the "human plant" kind, as they have been +nicknamed, will not recognize mother or father or any person about +them, or even a person from an object, and manifest no interest in +anything or anybody, not even toys. Hunger and thirst they manifest by +grunts and inarticulate sounds, or by screaming. They neither smile, +cough, nor laugh, but sit like sphinxes, breathing, but not reacting. + +There are, of course, all grades and varieties. There are those who +recognize parents and familiar faces, and exhibit some evidence of +affection for them, acquire a limited vocabulary, and then cease, no +progress possible even with the alphabet. They attain the size and age +of two or three years and there stop altogether, as if a permanent +brake were applied to the wheels of their growth. Some higher types +may even come to speak connected sentences, and exhibit a certain +mild spontaneity, though stupid and slow and abnormally deliberate, +resembling the acquired form of thyroid deprivation or insufficiency, +for which Ord invented the name myxedema. + +I have filled in with some detail this thumbnail sketch of thyroid +deprivation as it occurs in infancy to illustrate how wide a sweep the +gland's lariat embraces. Skin, hair, bones, muscle and fat, brain and +intelligence, growth and development, are modified precisely as the +size and shape of certain crystals are modified by the presence or +absence of ingredients in an apparently homogeneous solution. A +fertilized ovum, in which the predecessor of the thyroid gland is +present, that is to say, in which there is the seed and soil for its +sprouting, looks the same as one without that formative material. Yet, +when the time comes for the internal secretion of the thyroid to put +in its oar in the metabolic game, its presence or absence makes all +the difference in the world to the individual. + +In the middle of the nineteenth century, when the concentration of +phosphorus in the brain was established as significant, the cry for +the emphasis of that fact was--without phosphorus no thought is +possible. We can much more relevantly declare that without thyroid, +no thought, no growth, no distinctive humanity or even animality is +possible. For the epigram about phosphorus was bombast, since it can +be declaimed with equal truth that without oxygen, without carbon, +without nitrogen, without any of the food elements that go to make +up the chemical composition of brain matter, no thought is possible. +Indeed, if one were set upon the indictment of a single chemical +element as the begetter of consciousness, the prisoner at the bar +would have to be copper. There is more copper in the brain by a +considerable degree than in any other organ of the body. Which perhaps +will be exceedingly regretted by the patrons of the aristocracy of the +soul who would have it as an emanation of a deposit in the brain of +silver at least, if not gold. They are like the old lady who would +never permit herself to be cured of her ailments except by gold plated +pills. Copper, however, is not necessary to intelligence. Without +thyroid there can be no complexity of thought, no learning, no +education, no habit-formation, no responsive energy for situations, +as well as no physical unfolding of faculty and function, and no +reproduction of kind, with no sign of adolescence at the expected age, +and no exhibition of sex tendencies thereafter. + +EFFECTS OF FEEDING THYROID + +How subtly the internal secretion affects every phase and aspect of +child as well as adult, by doing something to the speed of activities +in their cells, is told straightway by the effects of it when eaten +or introduced into the skin or blood of various people. A cretin, +idiotic, dwarfish, deformed, hopeless, an incessantly prodding burden +of sorrow to the mother, who looks upon the masterpiece she had +labored to bring forth, and beholds a terrible gargoyle, becomes +transformed when fed thyroid. + +In a few days the cretin will get warmer, and require much less +wrapping and bed-clothing. With the improvement in circulation, the +color becomes better and the extremities lose their coldness. In a +week or so, irritability and resentment at disturbance appear. He will +begin to recognize and know his parents, smile and play. There is +a gradual return to the normal of the facial appearance, and a +resumption of growth. All kinds of marvelous growth effects occur. +Twenty teeth may be cut in six months. Coarse, rough dry, shaggy hair +becomes fine, silken, long and curly. The skin becomes soft, moist and +roseate. Inches in height may be added every month. Bright, active, +even talkative, are the descriptive terms an observer would apply +after a few months. A complete remaking of body and soul is apparently +affected. + +Yet, should the administration of the thyroid cease, an almost +immediate reversion to the original vegetative condition is +inevitable. After a few days, reactiveness slows down, the child will +speak only when spoken to, will sit quietly in a chair all day and +act semi-anesthetized. Gradually hair and skin return to the previous +cold-blooded animal state, and the whole picture of the cretin is in +full bloom. Supplying the internal secretion of the gland promptly +repeats the transformation. + +One wonders what is to be the ultimate fate of these reformed cretins. +Since the tale of the opening of life to them, once considered +hopeless idiots, is scarce a generation old, we have no data, as +yet, as to the character of their children or grandchildren, their +adventures and vicissitudes, in short, their life history. Those of +whom we have any record are normal and healthy school children or +workers, alive to the interests of childhood or their occupation +and social circles. No one outside their family knows that they are +cretins, and the most acute observer would be hard put to it to +suspect. What a theme for the reflections upon appearances the eminent +Victorians loved! + +There are possibilities the imagination may envisage. One may suppose +such a cretin, with all his other ductless glands intact, grown +successfully to manhood under careful medical guidance. No one but +himself is aware of his affliction, outside of his medical advisers. +Luck aids him to rise in the world, or perhaps he has been born with +a spoon of the precious metals in his mouth. Adolescence, love and +marriage dance their sequence. Our hero of course keeps his dread +secret to himself. Whether such an omission of confidence would +entitle his wife to a divorce is something courts will be called upon +to decide sooner or later. But, without anticipating, the honeymoon +involves a trip to the South Seas. A storm and a wreck throws them +alone on an island, tropical, easy to live on, and rescue in the +course of a few months certain. The man, to his horror, discovers that +he has saved of his medicaments only a pill box containing half a +dozen of thyroid tablets, his requirement being one a day. He sees +them go day by day. Finally they are all gone. He feels his faculties +slipping hour by hour. Shall he tell her? Indecision grips him, and he +delays until the day when his consciousness sinks to the point where +his mind no longer grasps his problem. The wife must endure the +spectacle of the enchantment of her husband, and his change from +gallant lover to dull animal ogre. A new version of Beauty and the +Beast! + +Cretinism as one manifestation of a soul without thyroid or without +enough thyroid is not all. The first great successes with thyroid were +achieved in adults, particularly adult women, exhibiting a peculiar +obesity, coldness, loss of hair and teeth and a remarkable lassitude +and torpor that might be summed up as a chronic drowsiness, like a +saturation of the blood with some narcotic drug. Or there may be a +melancholia, or a lack of ability to seize the finer points of a +mental process, or an argument treated in the abstract. Children +are said to be lazy, slow or dull. They experience an irritating +difficulty in understanding questions and expressing their wants and +desires, and so are declared to be vicious, or stupid. + +All these are grades of the degeneration which Ord, the Englishman, +named myxedema. At its worst it is a sort of bloating and drying of +the body and the mind. Then there is infantilism, which is helped by +the giving of thyroid extract. It differs from the ordinary cretinism +in that, while one is reminded of the latter by the physical stunting +and the other stigmata, there is a certain amount of intelligence +which enables the individual to hold his own while he is a child. He +becomes a grown-up baby: at twenty prefers the company of children of +ten, and passes under the evil influence of designing so-called normal +persons. So dominated he will lie, steal, start fires, commit almost +any crime, with no inherent flair for criminality, but because of a +lack of independent judgment and inability to resist suggestion, and +a desire to please friends. He is simply an overgrown child who still +loves to play with toys, laughs and cries, becomes angry or afraid, +unreasonably and ridiculously, and yells for mamma when thwarted or +scared. + +So much for what happens when there is not sufficient of the thyroid +secretion in the blood and tissues. Now to consider the effects of +an excess of it, the condition called hyperthyroidism, as the +insufficiency of it is labelled subthyroidism. Too much thyroxin can +be introduced into the system of a normal individual, or even a cretin +by the simple administration of too large doses or over too long +a time. Also a train of symptoms similar to those evoked by an +oversecretion of the thyroid may be mobilized by the taking of too +much iodine. Great sorrow, great joy, a sudden severe jolt to the +nervous equilibrium, sexual excitement, an overwhelming anger or grief +may leave in their wake a permanent hyperthyroidism. The symptoms are +the reverse of cretinism and myxedema. There is an over-excitability +of the nerves in place of sluggishness, and an over-reactivity of the +whole organism to its environment. The heart's action is too fast, and +under the slightest stimulus gets faster to the point of obtruding +itself into the conscious mind as a palpitation. Instead of the +lowered temperature and coldness of the cretin, there is a heightened +temperature, one or two degrees above the normal, and a feeling of +heat. The individual has a high warm color, does not sleep well, +becomes or remains thin no matter how much he or she eats, is +abnormally susceptible sexually, may suffer from a definite insomnia, +is emotional, and perspires freely. Alert, neurotic or high-strung, +magnetic, and imaginative are some of the descriptive adjectives +applicable. The eyes are bright and prominent, large and beautiful, +when they have not reached the stage entitled "pop-eyed." Or they may +even become so protuberant and bulging as to develop the expression of +one staring aghast at some ineffable horror. The latter is the feature +of only the severest types, when there is an associated goitre, the +combination designated as exopthalmic goitre. + +There are, too, individuals in whom hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism +are mixed, or rather alternate. At one time they present the phenomena +of the one, at another of the other. They are the people who complain +of the cyclic quality of their moods and purposes. Their mood will +be a heaven of exaltation and exhilaration, and then descend into a +slough of despond from which they feel themselves inextricable. They +are always talking about the ups and downs of their mental states. +Headache and languor and fatigability, dry skin and lack of appetite +for food or exertion on one day or for one week, give way on the next +day, or for the next week, to an energetic gayety, and sweaty, flushed +skin, a prominent appetite for food and every sort of activity. Driven +to be forever on the go, for one period, in the next they feel like +lying down most of the day, with no inclination for any life whatever. +The stage of depression may go as far as a melancholia, the stage of +stimulation as far as mania. They may simulate manic-depressive or +cyclic insanity. Something restrains them, and holds them bound as in +a vise in the one cycle. And then they are driven on beyond themselves +by some invisible whip in the next. + +THYROID AS DIFFERENTIATOR + +Besides the action of the thyroid as energizer, lubricator, and growth +catalyzer, it has a remarkable power as a differentiator of tissues. +It determines the embryonic etchings of the different organs which in +their totality comprise the unique individual. Every multicellular +animal must first have existed as a single cell, the impregnated ovum. +With the body and personality of the ovum, the creature is one and +continuous, literally something the single cell has made of itself by +sub-dividing and differentiating. In the process, the cell mass often +goes through stages which stand out as individualities in themselves, +that appear on the surface absolutely unrelated. So the caterpillar +and the butterfly, to the naïve child, seem as far apart as worm and +bird. In the case of the frog, the tadpole as a first sketch seems +completely an impossible and wild absurdity. Yet we know that there is +an orderly progression of events, a propagation of cells, a forward +going arrangement of chemical reactions, that results in expansion and +intricate complication of the organism. Just what the forces at work +in this most mysterious of all natural processes are, has been an +intellectual mystery that the best minds of the race have attempted +to get rid of with words like pangenesis (Darwin). Words of Black +(Mediterranean or Greek and Latin) origin, as Allen Upward has named +them, always cover a multitude of ignorances. The glands of internal +secretion, here, as in so many other dark places, provide the open +sesame to certain long closed doors of biology. They offer themselves +to us as the first definitely tangible agents which are known to keep +the process of growth going, and undoubtedly initiate the marvelous +unfolding of tissues and functions, organs and faculties summed up as +development or differentiation. + +Thus by the direct feeding of thyroid at particular points in the +differentiating history most curious effects have been elicited. If +the gland is made part of the nutriment, the bathing environment, of +the tadpole, a hastening of its metamorphosis is attained. The tadpole +lives not out its day as a tadpole, but precociously turns into a +frog. But such a frog! It is a miniature frog, a dwarf frog, a frog +seen by looking through the wrong end of the telescope, a frog not +magnified, but micrified. Frogs have been so created the size of +flies. There has occurred a splitting of the two reactions which +ordinarily go hand in hand: the reaction of growth which is just brute +increase of total mass or weight and volume, and the reaction of +differentiation which is the finer process. The picture is a frog, but +a frog the size of a tadpole, a frog which has missed its childhood, +adolescence and youth, skipping over these transition stages into the +adult age, as a pigmy. + +It is all as if a baby were suddenly to grow a beard and moustache, +evolve and shed teeth, and acquire the manner of an earnest citizen, +and yet retain the height and weight of a baby. That the spectacle +of such a superbaby is not quite the most fantastic of all +improbabilities is shown by the condition of progeria, first recorded +by the Briton, Hastings Guilford. A queer spectacle in which a child +incontinently grows old without having lived--in the course of a few +weeks or months. You look upon him and see senility on a small scale, +but with all its peculiarities: wrinkled skin, apathy, gray hair and +all the rest of it. All we can say about it is that it is probably due +to a paralysis of all the glands of internal secretion, a removal +of their influence upon the cells. Contrariwise to the feeding of +thyroid, removal of the thyroid of tadpoles will prevent their +development into frogs. If iodine is then fed to them, say mixed with +flour, normal metamorphosis will occur. If Body is the tool chest +which we carry about with us, as Samuel Butler said, then to the +thyroid belongs the name of tool-maker. + +Another function of thyroid that must be taken into consideration is +what has been spoken of as its antitoxic function--in plainer English, +its power to prevent poisoning, or to increase resistance against +poisons, including the bacteria and other living agents which +cause the infectious diseases. Each molecule of food, ingested for +assimilation into our substance, accumulates a history of wanderings +and pilgrimages, attachments and transformations beside which the +gross trampings of a Marco Polo become the rambling steps of a +seven-league booted giant. In the course of its peregrinations, it +becomes a potential poison, potential because it is never allowed to +grow in concentration to the danger point. The thyroid plays its rôle +of protector like all the internal secretory machines. In an animal +deprived of a thyroid the feeding of meat shortens life--a single +sample of how it works to guard against intoxication from within. The +feeding of thyroid will also raise the ability of the cells to stand +poisons introduced from without--intoxications of all sorts. Alcohol +and morphine will affect in much smaller doses the subthyroid person +than the normal or the hyperthyroid. As regards the infections, which +directly or indirectly kill most of us, the injection of thyroid will +increase the content in the blood of the protective antibodies which +preserve us, temporarily at any rate, against malignant invaders. The +opsonins, for example, those substances which butter the bacteria so +that the appetite of the white cells for them is properly roused, are +mobilized by thyroid feeding or injection. Other substances in the +blood which destroy and dissolve bacteria are also increased. The +thyroid probably performs these functions by sending its secretion +to the cells directly responsible for the immunity reactions, and +stimulating them to activity. + +A sketch of the thyroid like the foregoing shows it as the wondrous +controller of vitality and growth, and indefatigable protector against +intoxicants and injuries. When it is sufficiently active, life is +worth while; when it is defective, life is a difficult threatening +blackness. That would make it out as the gland of glands. It is +tremendously important, without a doubt, in normal everyday life. But +no more so than the other members of the cast. The position of star it +may claim, but in vain. The other glands of internal secretion to +be sketched will each, when the marvels of its business in the +cell-corporation are considered, present itself as candidate for the +honors of the president. Justice should give fair credit to all +the organs which fabricate the reagents of individuality, and the +regulators of personality. + +THE PITUITARY + +In the human skull, the pituitary is a lump of tissue about the size +of a pea lying at the base of the brain, a short distance behind the +root of the nose. It is of a grayish-yellow color, unpretentious and +insignificant enough in appearance, and so long neglected by the +scientists who boast their immunity to the glamor of the spectacular. +Guesses at its nature date back to Aristotle. + +Like most of its colleagues among the glands of internal secretion, +it is really two glands in one, two glands with but a single name. At +least it consists of two different parts, distinct in their origin, +history, function and secretions, but juxtaposed and fused into what +is apparently a homogeneous entity. They are conveniently spoken of as +the anterior gland and the posterior gland. + +In the embryo, the anterior gland is derived by a proliferation of +cells from the mouth area. The posterior gland represents an outgrowth +of the oldest part of the nervous system. When it is traced back along +the tree of the vertebrate species, it is found to be present in all +of them. An ancient invention, its precursor has been identified in +worms and molluscs and even among the starfish. "The pituitary +is practically the same, from myxine to man." A trusted veteran, +therefore, among the internal secretory organs, its importance can be +surmised. + +To understand the story of the pituitary, variously acquired bits of +information concerning it have been assembled and fitted together like +the fragments of a picture puzzle, as Cushing has so well put it. Here +and there pieces stick out, obviously out of place. The relations of +some of them to one another or to the whole design are not at all +clear. Parts appear to have been irrevocably lost, or not yet to have +turned up. Chance bystanders will select odd figures and articulate +them into a new harmony. Yet out of the jumble of fragments, a fairly +respectable insight has been gained in less than a half century. + +The pituitary is cradled in a niche at the base of the skull which, +because of its form, is known as the Sella Turcica or Turkish saddle. +So situated, an operative approach to it is overwhelmingly difficult. +On the other hand, X-ray studies are favored. "Nature's darling +treasure" it might be called, since there has been provided a skull +within the skull to shelter it. + +Under the most highly magnifying lenses of the microscope, three kinds +of cells have been distinguished. The anterior gland is a collection +of solid columns of cells, surrounded by blood spaces into which their +secretion is undoubtedly directly poured. A gelatinous material, +presumed to be the internal secretion of the gland, has, in fact, been +observed emerging from the cells into the blood spaces. The posterior +lobe, or gland, consists of secreting cells producing a glassy +substance which finds its way into the spinal fluid that bathes the +nervous system. The spinal fluid itself is a secretion of another +gland at the base of the brain, the choroid. Nerves and internal +secretion are associated here with a closeness symbolic of their +general relations. + +From each portion of the gland (to stick to the accepted nomenclature +of speaking of the two glands as one) an active substance has been +isolated. Robertson, an American chemist, separated from the anterior +lobe a substance soluble in the fat solvents, like ether and gasoline, +which he christened tethelin. But P.E. Smith has shown that the active +material is soluble neither in boiling water nor in boiling alcohol, +the typical fat solvent. A number of facts favor the idea of the +anterior lobe cells as stimulants of growth of bone and connecting +and supporting tissues generally. From the posterior lobe, pituitrin, +believed its internal secretion, has been obtained in solution. + +Pituitrin is a substance of many marvelous functions. In general, it +controls the _tone_ of the tissues, of involuntary or smooth muscle +fibres of the blood vessels and the contractile organs of the body +like the intestines, the bladder and uterus. When injected, it will +slowly raise the blood pressure and keep it raised for some time, and +will increase the flow of urine from the kidneys and of milk from the +breasts. It will also cause an intense continued contraction of the +bladder and the uterus. It is also said to control the salt content of +the blood upon which its electrical conductivity and other properties +depend. Normally, there is a certain fixed ratio of the salts in the +blood, which keeps them like the ratio in sea-water. Again, we have +an example of the curious atavism of the internal secretions. The +thyroid, remember, keeps the iodine concentration of the blood like +that of the ocean, our original habitat. Pituitrin likewise does its +part to maintain our internal environment as near as possible to what +was once the surrounding medium. A substance somewhat similar has been +found in the skin glands of toads. + +The extraordinarily well protected position of the pituitary, its +persistence throughout life, and its abundant blood supply, emphasize +its vital importance. No other gland of internal secretion can +adequately substitute for it. Complete expiration means death, in two +or three days, with a peculiar lethargy, unsteadiness of gait and loss +of appetite, emaciation, and a fall of temperature, so that the +animal becomes cold-blooded, its temperature the same as that of the +atmosphere it occupies. If only part of the anterior lobe is taken +away, there occurs a remarkable degeneration of the individual. The +degeneration is not a mucinous infiltration of the skin and the +internal organs which occurs with thyroid deprivation, but a fatty +degeneration, with a tendency to inversion of sex. A singular +somnolence, a dry skin, loss of hair, a dull mentality, sometimes +epilepsy, and a noticeable craving for and tolerance of sweets appear. +These are but a few of the observations obtained in experimental +sub-pituitarism, that is, underaction or insufficient secretion of the +pituitary, produced by removing part of the anterior gland. + +If such an experimental sub-pituitarism is started in infancy, for +instance in puppies, there is a cessation, or marked hindering and +slowing of growth. That is, dwarfs are artificially created. Apropos, +pathologists have shown that in several true human dwarfs the gland +is rudimentary or inadequate. All of which goes hand in hand with the +evidence that the skeleton stands directly under the domination of the +pituitary. + +REGULATOR OF ORGANIC RHYTHMS + +There are certain other singular by-effects of the gland in its +relation to the periodic phenomena of the organism like hibernation, +sleep, and the critical sex epochs of both sexes. In hibernation, or +winter sleep, the animal in cold weather passes into a cataleptic +state in which it continues to breathe, more deeply but more slowly +than when awake, but shows no other signs of consciousness or life. +A lowered blood pressure and a marked insensitivity to painful and +emotional stimuli go with it. There is a preliminary storage of starch +in the liver, and of fat throughout the fat depots of the body. These +are so like what happens after part of the pituitary is removed, that +a comparison of the two becomes inevitable. Common to both conditions +is a drop in the rate of tissue combustion or metabolism, which can +be relieved by injection of an extract of the pituitary, a rise of +temperature occuring simultaneously. Moreover, examination of the +glands of internal secretion of hibernating species, like the +woodchuck, during the period of hibernation, shows changes in all of +them, but most marked in the pituitary, the shrunken cells staining +as if they too were asleep, or in a resting stage. The characteristic +alive qualities of these cells return, without relation to food +or climate, when the animal comes to in the spring, at the vernal +equinox. Hibernation may, perhaps, be put down to a seasonal wave of +inactivity of the pituitary gland. + +Now winter sleep may be looked upon as an exaggeration of ordinary +night sleep, the latter differing from the former only in its brevity. +In the natural sleep of non-hibernating species there occurs, too, +a fall in temperature. Moreover, they all, even man, have a certain +capacity for winter sleep, as the experiences of travellers and +explorers in the arctic regions indicate. In certain parts of Russia, +where there is a scarcity of food during the winter months, the +peasants pass weeks at a time in a somnolent state, arousing once a +day for a scant meal. Just as the sex glands influence the body and +mind profoundly with a certain cyclic periodicity of activity and +inactivity (rut, heat, menstrual period and so on), which has been +demonstrated to have a very close functional relationship with the +pituitary, so sleep and hibernation will bear interpretation as +products of a temporary dormancy of the same gland. We have, then, +to set up in the place of Morpheus and Apollo, the new gods of the +internal secretion of a chemical-making bit of the brain, as an +explanation of the rhythms of sleep and wakefulness. + +There are individuals who go about outside of hospital walls, +quasi-normally, who are semi-hibernators or partial hibernators, and +who are really in a state of subpituitarism. They are people who may +have something wrong or inferior with their pituitary, but not to the +extent of interference with their daily life. They go about with their +type stamped upon them for the seeing eye. The classical type is +obese, with fat distributed everywhere, but more so in the lower +abdomen and the lower extremities. They are slow and dull, and +sexually inactive, often impotent. They are sometimes tall, but most +often dwarfish, and may be subject to epileptic seizures. They recall +the picture of what happens to young dogs partially deprived of the +pituitary. Dickens delivered a perfect likeness of an extreme degree +of the condition in the Fat Boy of the "Pickwick Papers," whose +employment with Mr. Wardle consisted in alternate sleeping and eating. + +WHEN THE PITUITARY OVERACTS + +All grades of overaction of the pituitary exist. Then its peculiar +power to act as a stimulant to the growth of bone and the soft +supporting and connecting tissues like tendons and ligaments comes +into play. If the overaction or excess of secretion begins in +childhood or adolescence, that is, before puberty, there results a +great elongation of the bones, so that a giant is the consequence. Now +giants have always appealed to the imagination of the little man, and +have had all kinds of wonderful abilities ascribed to them by him. The +giants and ogres of folk-lore and fairy tales are favored with the +most extraordinary mental advantages. Direct and analytic acquaintance +with the giants of our own day, as well as a probing of their conduct +in the past, has shown that normal giants--persons of exceptional size +free from physical or mental deformities--are rare. There are people +with _hyper_-pituitarism who exhibit the highest mental powers. In +them is an increased activity of the posterior lobe in association +with enlargement and hyperfunction of the anterior, overgrowth is not +so marked, and the individual is lean and mentally acute. But the +ordinary giant is one in whom there is degeneration of the pituitary +after too much action of the anterior and too little of the posterior +glands. A tumor or disease process in the gland is most often +responsible. + +If the overaction of the anterior happens after puberty, when the +long bones have set, and can not grow longer, a peculiar diffuse +enlargement of the individual occurs, especially of his hands and feet +and head. The nose, ears, lips and eyes get larger and coarser. +As these people are rather big and tall to begin with, the effect +produced is that of a heavy-jawed, burly, bulking person, with bushy +overhanging eyebrows, and an aggressive manner. For there is, too, +something distinctive about their mentality which has been as often +portrayed as those of the pathologic giant. Rabelais' most famous +character, Gargantua, belongs to the group. We recruit more +drum-majors than prime ministers from among these people. They +often suffer much from torturing boring headaches, and a consequent +despondency and feeling of hopelessness which colors gray the entire +spiritual spectrum. Up to a certain point these sufferers have a +remarkable alertness and capacity. When conscious of the malady, they +often meet it with a doggedly courageous optimism, which is another +characteristic, although women occasionally commit suicide. + +In both the semi-hibernators who remind one of cattle, and in the +giant or acromegalic types who remind one of the anthropoid ape, there +develops a distinct diminution of sexual life. An abnormal process in +the anterior gland, whether of oversecretion or of undersecretion, +may interfere with the proper functioning of the posterior gland, the +secretion of which is tonic not only to the brain cells, but also to +the sex cells. Thus, young animals deprived of the pituitary will not, +if male, grow spermatozoa, nor ripe ova in the female. Moreover, the +feeding of pituitary increases sexual activity. In the case of hens, +this has been demonstrated to be about thirty per cent by a pretty +experiment. At a time of the year when eggs diminish, six hundred +and fifty-five hens laid two hundred and seventy-three eggs upon an +ordinary diet. When pituitary was added to their food for four days, +the number of eggs rose to three hundred and fifty-two, an increase of +seventy-nine. In addition, the fertility of the chicks born of these +eggs was augmented, especially if both parents had been fed on +pituitary. There are other aspects of the relation of the pituitary to +sex, which will be treated in another chapter. + +THE BONY CRADLE OF THE PITUITARY + +Always, in attempting to understand the pituitary, it is necessary to +remember that it is tightly packed in the bony cradle, the Turkish +Saddle or Sella Turcica. Should some stimulus, local, or in the blood, +arouse the gland to growth, a good deal will depend upon whether it +has room to grow in, or it will make room by eroding the bone. With +space for the formation of a large anterior and posterior pituitary +gland, there will be created the long, lean individual, with a +tendency to high blood pressure and sexual trends, great mental +activity, initiative, irritability and endurance. An outstanding trait +of these favorites of fortune is that they remain thin no matter how +much food they consume, and they have the best of appetites. They +often are subject to severe headaches because of intermittent swelling +of the gland against the bone of its container. + +If the bony container is or becomes too small for its contents, it +is interesting that along with the other signs of pituitary +insufficiency, such as undersize, obesity, and asymmetry, there +developes conspicuous moral and intellectual inferiority. The +unfortunates suffer from compulsions and obsessions and lack +inhibitions. They are the pathological liars with little or no +initiative or conscience--amoral, not merely theoretically, but +instinctively and unconsciously, with all the certitude and perfection +of the unconscious accomplishment. + +THYROID AND PITUITARY + +The thyroid and the pituitary have often been compared. The anterior +gland and the thyroid arise from almost the same spot in the embryonic +oesophagus, the thyroid being an outgrowth in front, the anterior +pituitary an outgrowth behind of the same soil. They both control +growth marvelously, also the differentiation, the mass and intricacy +of the tissues. But they differ in the site of their control. The +thyroid bears more directly upon the inner and outer coverings of the +body, the skin, the skin glands and the hair, the mucous membranes, +and the irritability and the preparedness for response of the nerves. +The pituitary acts more upon the framework of the body, the skeleton +and the mechanical supports and movers. Bone and ligament, muscle +and tendon seem to be within its immediate sway. The secretion or +secretions of the pituitary diffuse directly into the fluid bathing +the nervous system, supplying beneficent stimulants and aiding in the +abstraction of harmful waste. So while the thyroid raises the energy +level of the brain, and the whole nervous system, as a byproduct of +its general awakening effect upon all the cells of the body, the +pituitary probably stimulates the brain cells more directly, perhaps +in the manner of caffeine or cocaine. + +The difference between the thyroid and the pituitary might be put this +way: that while the thyroid increases energy evolution and so makes +available a greater supply of crude energy, by speeding up cellular +processes, the pituitary assists in energy transformation, in energy +expenditure and conversion, especially of the brain, and of the sexual +system. In short, the thyroid facilitates energy production, the +pituitary its consumption. The pituitary appears therefore as the +gland of continued effort. Hence fatigability, an inability to +maintain effort, is one of the prominent complaints when there is +destruction or an insufficiency of it for one reason or another. As +such, it contrasts with the glands of emergency effort, known as the +adrenals. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ADRENAL GLANDS, THE GONADS, AND THYMUS + + +Like the pituitary, each adrenal gland is a double gland, that is, +consists of two distinct portions, united together, one might say, by +the accident of birth. It would be confusing, however, to speak of +each as two glands, because there are, as a matter of fact, two +separate adrenal glands, one in the right side of the abdomen, and the +other in the left. Each gland is composite, or duplex. How the two +parts came to be united is a long story, interesting but too long to +be recounted here. In fishes they are apart and independent. + +Each adrenal is a cocked hat shaped affair, astride the kidneys, +easily recognized because of its yellowish fatty color. Indeed, for +centuries the glands were not given a separate status as organs, but +were passed up as part of the fat ensheathing the kidney. In childhood +and youth, in common with the other glands, they are relatively larger +and more prominent than in the adult. Also, at every age, the amount +of blood passing through them is very large compared to their size. +Their tremendous importance in the body economy accounts for their +being so favored. + +The two parts of which each gland is composed, are known as the cortex +or outer portion (literally the bark) and the medulla or inner portion +(literally the core). No clean-cut boundary sharply delimits the two, +as strands and peninsulas of tissue of one portion penetrate the +other. In the history of their development in the species and the +individual, and in their chemistry and function, a sharp difference +contrasts them. + +In the embryo, the cortex is derived from the same patch that gives +rise to the sex organs, the ovaries in the female, and the testes in +the male, described as the germinal epithelium. How intimately the +two sets of glands are connected is neatly pointed by this fact of a +common ancestor. All vertebrates possess adrenal glands. In the lowest +of the vertebrates, Petromyzon, the two parts are distinct, the cells +of the cortex-to-be are situated in the walls of the kidney blood +vessels, projecting as peninsulas in the blood stream, the blood +sweeping over and past them. The medulla-to-be consists of cells +accompanying the vegetative nerves. Among reptiles, the two become +adjacent for the first time, and among birds one part occupies the +meshes of the other. The size of the cortex varies directly with the +sexuality and the pugnacity of the animal. The charging buffalo, for +example, owns a strikingly wide adrenal cortex. The fleeing rabbit, +on the other hand, is conspicuous for a narrow strip of cortex in its +adrenal. Human beings possess a cortex larger than that of any other +animal. + +No definite chemical substance has as yet been isolated from the +cortex. That remains a problem for the investigator of the future. But +certain observations, especially concerning the relation between +the development and behaviour of the so-called secondary sex +characteristics, those qualities of skin, hair and fat distribution, +physical configuration and mental attitudes, which distinguish the +sexes, and the condition of the gland, indicate clearly that an +internal secretion will be isolated, and that it will in its activity +furnish certain predictable features. + +Three different layers of cells, arranged in strings, that +interpenetrate to form a network directly bathed by blood, that breaks +in upon them from _open_ blood vessels, compose the cortex. Most +remarkable is this method of blood supply for it is exceedingly common +among the invertebrates and rare among the vertebrates. + +In certain disturbances of these glands, especially when there are +tumors, which supply a massive dose of the secretion to the blood +presumably, peculiar sex phenomena and general developmental anomalies +and irregularities are produced. If the disease be present in the +fetus, taking hold before birth, and so brought into the world with +the child, there evolves the condition of pseudo-hermaphroditism. The +individual, if a female, presents to a greater or less extent the +external habits and character of the other sex. So that she is +actually taken for a man, although the primary sex organs are ovaries, +often not discovered to be such except when examined after an +operation or death. How closely such an occurrence touches upon the +problems of sex inversion and perversion comes at once to mind. + +If the process involving the adrenal cortex attacks it after birth, +the symmetrical correspondence and harmony of the primary sex organs +and the secondary sex characters are not affected. But there follows +a curious hastening of the ripening of body and mind summed up in the +word puberty, a precocious puberty, with the most startling effects. +A little girl of 2, 3, or 4 years of age perhaps will come to exhibit +the growth and appearance of a girl of 14. She begins to menstruate, +her breasts swell, she shoots up in height and weight, sprouts the +hair distribution of the adult, and the mentality of the adolescent, +restless, acquiring, doubting, emerge. A tot bewitched into puberty! +A boy of six or seven may suddenly, in the course of a few weeks or +months, become a little man, robust, rather short and stocky, but +moustached, with the muscular strength and sexual powers of a man and +thinking as a man. It is all as if into some fermentable medium or +solution a little yeast were dropped that changed the quiet calm of +its surface into a bubbling, effervescing revolution. It suggests at +once that maturation, the transformation of the child into the man or +woman, must be due to the pouring into the blood and the body fluids +of some substance which acts like the yeast in the fermentable +solution. The adrenal cortex is one source of the maturity-producing +internal secretions. + +If trouble in the adrenal cortex starts after puberty, phenomena of +the same type, but of a different order, exhibit themselves. A woman, +say in the thirties, becomes thus afflicted. Slowly or quickly her +body will be covered by an abundant growth of hair, more or less of a +beard and moustache appear upon the face, her voice will become deep +and penetrating, her muscles will harden, and she will show a capacity +for hard physical labor. Sexually she appears to be made over, +masculinity now predominates in her make-up. Virilism is the name by +which the French in particular have popularized the knowledge of the +condition. Virilists have to shave or be shaved regularly and are not +bothered in the least by the cares, responsibilities, jealousies and +anxieties of personal beauty, for the change in their spirituality +makes them immune to the preoccupations of the feminine. The cause of +such a transformation in a previously entirely normal woman has been +found to be a tumor of the adrenal cortex. + +But not only is sexuality, and the conduct of the secondary sex +characters, connected with the adventures of the adrenal cortex. The +development of the master tissues of the body, the brain, the pride +and darling of evolution, is in some subtle way correlated with +it. The adrenal cortex contains more of the phosphorus-containing +substances of the general nature of those found in the central nervous +system than any other gland or non-nervous tissues in the body. During +human intrauterine life the adrenal glands are large and conspicuous, +in the first half of the second month being twice as large as the +kidneys. Most of this relatively huge size, which happens in the human +alone, and not in other animals, is due to enlargement of the cortex. +Should this preponderance of the cortex over the medullary portion not +occur in the human, that is, if the proportions remain like those of +other animals, the brain fails to develop properly, or an entirely +brainless monster is generated. The human brain, therefore, probably +owes its superiority over the animal brain, to the adrenal cortex, in +development anyhow. The growth of the brain cells, their number and +complexity is thus controlled by the adrenal cortex. + +Besides its action upon the sex cells and the brain cells, the +internal secretion of the adrenal cortex acts upon the pigment cells +of the skin, blunting their sensitiveness to light. In degeneration +of the interior of the gland, which destroys the medulla, but not the +cortex, the color of the skin is left unmodified. If, however, the +cortex is invaded, as happens most often in the classical tuberculosis +of the adrenals which drew the attention of the Englishman Addison +to them, then a darkening of the skin, which may go on to a negroid +bronzing, follows. That means an increased sensitiveness of the +pigment cells of the skin to light. Skin color control may therefore +be looked upon as an adrenal cortex function. + +So much is known about the adrenal cortex. Upon the medulla, the +interior gland of the gland, there has been lavished an amount of +attention beside which the cortex is to be classed as a neglected +wall-flower. Nearly everything that possibly could be determined +about an internal secretion has in its case been settled or plausibly +guessed at. The cells manufacturing the secretion, its exact chemistry +and function, its action upon the blood, the liver and spleen, the +heart and lungs, the brain and nervous system, have been minutely +investigated, studied and charted. Its source in the food, its fate in +the body, its place in the history of the individual and the species, +its importance as a weapon in the struggle for existence, and the +survival of the fittest have been made the subject of an astonishing +number of researches, considering the short period of scarce three +decades that intensive science has centered its barrage upon it. + +In the first place, the medulla contains numerous nerve cells, +belonging to the vegetative, also called the sympathetic nervous +system. But these nerve cells are merely minor notes of the symphony. +The motif is settled by a majority of large, granular cells, which +stain a distinctive yellowish-brown when the gland is fixed in a +solution of bichromate of potash. All chromium salts, in fact, stain +the therefore labelled chromaffin cells. The characteristic staining +power appears to be dependent upon, or correlated with, the presence +of the internal secretion of the medulla of the adrenal, adrenalin. +For the content of adrenalin, as calculated chemically, and the +depth of stain as seen under the microscope, rise and fall together. +Chromaffin reaction and adrenalin content go together. The poisonous +skin glands of the toad have been found to give a marked chromaffin +reaction, and to contain a large amount of adrenalin. Other masses +of cells in the human body, especially along the course of the +sympathetic nervous system, have been shown to give the reaction and +to contain adrenalin. + +The erratic Brown-Séquard pounded and hammered away for more than +thirty years on the importance to life of the adrenal glands, since +death occurred so quickly after their removal. But it was not until +Schaefer, the Scotch physiologist, (who has done more than any other +living man to stimulate study of the internal secretions) found that +an extract of them, when injected into a vein, produced a remarkable +though temporary rise of the blood pressure, that a real enthusiasm +for its investigation was generated. As the upshot, a number of other +significant properties besides the first of blood-pressure raising, +have been put down to its credit. Chemical tests demonstrated that +it originated in the medulla. The exact amount of it present in the +medulla, in the blood issuing from the adrenals and in the circulation +in general have been determined. The concentration in the blood is +about one part in twenty million, while there is about a hundred +thousand times as much stored in the gland as reserve. In infections +and intoxications, after muscular exertion, and with profound +emotions, there is a decrease of it in the gland and an increase in +the blood. Pain and excitement, especially fear and rage, will bring +about its discharge from the gland. With its entry into the blood, +there is a tremendous heightening of the tone, a _tensing_, of the +nervous system. The nerve cells become more sensitive to stimuli, +more sugar is poured into the blood from the liver, more red blood +corpuscles are squeezed into the circulation from the blood lakes of +the liver and spleen. There is a redistribution of the whole blood +mass, a good deal of it being withdrawn from the internal viscera, and +hurried to the skeleton muscles and the brain. The heart beats more +strongly, the eye sees more clearly, the ear hears more distinctly, +and the breathing is more rapid. The temperature rises, the hair of +the head and the body becomes erect, the skin gets moist and greasy. +It will help a fatigued muscle to regain its normal tone. In short, it +has a reinforcing action upon the nutritive properties of the blood, +the tone of the muscles, and the activity of the brain and the +vegetative nerves. + +Chemists set themselves the task of discovering just what was the +substance possessed of such extraordinary and hitherto unimagined +properties. The pure adrenalin was isolated, capable of evoking all +the reactions of the impure adrenal extract mixtures. The final +triumph was the preparation of it artificially in the laboratory, +its synthesis. When a substance can be synthesized in the chemist's +laboratory, it means that its composition has become thoroughly +understood. Here at last was an example of those mysterious internal +secretions, the existence of which had indeed been postulated and +proven, but which had never actually been inspected by the eye of +mortal man. To have it in a test-tube, indeed to possess it in large +quantities in bottles, to be able to manipulate and examine it without +fear of the co-action of admixed impurities, to see it with the eye, +and to taste it with the tongue, was truly a marvel. The miracle +aroused at once scores of researches. + +THE GLAND OF COMBAT AND FIGHT + +Considering its effects, one is reminded at once of the similarity +to the expression of a primitive emotion like anger or fear. So, by +turning a relation upside down, it was argued that if artificial +adrenalin could produce all these effects of an emotion like fear, the +emotion itself should produce an increase of the natural adrenalin in +the blood. This was found to be the case. Cannon of Harvard has built +up an entire theory of the adrenal as the gland of emergencies upon +the basis of these effects. In the facing of crises the adrenal +functions as the gland of combat. And indeed, as I have mentioned, +the more combative and pugnacious an animal, the more adrenal it has, +while the timid and meek and weak have less. + +The Glands of Combat, the glands of emergency energy, the glands +of preparedness,--such are the adrenal glands when viewed from the +adrenalin standpoint. A picture of its activity in the evolutionary +scheme of struggle and survival is something like the following: +meeting an enemy, the animal is put in danger. It must fight or flee +for its life. In either case, certain conditions must be fulfilled, if +the body of the animal endangered is to be saved. To prevent injury to +itself, and to do as much injury as possible to the foe--that becomes +its immediate urge and necessity. Of the two animals, if in one the +heart should begin to beat more strongly, the blood pressure to rise, +the blood to flow more rapidly through the attacking instruments, the +muscles, the teeth and claws, the brain and its eyes, while the other +animal experiences none of these, the former will be the victor in +fight or flight. Adrenalin may be looked upon as the invention for the +mobilization at a moment's notice, or as we say, after generations of +use, by instinct, of all these visceral and blood advantages in the +struggle of combat or flight. + +The nature of instinct, in its relation to the glands of internal +secretion, is a problem for another chapter. But we may note that the +James-Lange theory of an emotion regards it as a consciousness of the +very changes in the organism adrenalin causes. Since adrenalin is the +starter of the whole process, and since McDougal has defined emotion +as the feeling aspect of an instinct, just as an instinct may +be defined as the motor aspect of an emotion, the adrenals as +emotion-genetic, and instinct-genetic, play a part in the most +profound processes of the subconscious and unconscious. + +THE MECHANISM OF FEAR + +We may therefore visualize a mechanism of fear. An instant excess of +adrenalin occurs in the blood of, say, a cat when it is alarmed by the +sight of a dog. In that cat, at the image of its hereditary enemy, +certain brain cells vibrate. A nerve tract, in use as the line for +that particular message in a hundred thousand generations of cats, +whirrs its yell to the medulla of the adrenal gland. Through the tiny, +solitary veins of the glands, an infinitesimal quantity of the reserve +adrenalin responds. And with what an effect! The blood, that primary +medium of life, the precious fluid that is everything, must all, or +nearly all, be sent to the firing line, the battle trenches, the +brain and muscles, now or never. So the blood is drafted from the +non-essential industries--from the skin where it serves normally to +regulate the heat of the body--from the digestive organs, the stomach +and intestine, which must forsooth stop now, since if the organism +will die, their last effort of digestion has been done--from the liver +and spleen, great chemical factories in normal times, but now of no +moment. Besides, should they be wounded, it is better they should +be bloodless, and so run the least chance of bleeding to death, or +getting infected, for the more tissue there is around, the greater the +danger of infection. So, like the skin, the liver which usually holds +in its great lakes and vessels about a quarter of all the blood in +the body, is almost drained and blanched. At the same time, its great +storehouses of sugar open their sluices and pour into the blood, +increasing its sugar content by about a third because the combustion +of sugar is the easiest way of getting energy free in the cells, sugar +being the most quickly burned up of all the foods, and so the great +food of the muscles and the heart. The poisons of fatigue, acid +products of the contraction of muscles, are antagonized and +neutralized by substances formed in the course of the oxidation of the +sugar. Adrenalin, too, is directly fatigue antagonist. It causes the +blood to clot faster than under ordinary circumstances. It erects the +hair of the animal, and dilates the pupils of the eyes. There is an +increase of the apparent size, all of which are to intimidate the +enemy, like an Indian's painting of his face blue and green. It +also--but what else does it not do? + +The story of adrenalin would have delighted the heart of Samuel +Butler. His "Note Books," opulent as they are, would have been the +richer in pages and pages with his comments on it. Contending as he +did with the pompous, dogmatic mechanism worship of the new scientific +clique of his time on the one hand, and the superstitions of the old +theological caste on the other, he had to fight the hardest kind of +guerrilla warfare in defense of the Purpose of Life. Adrenalin, that +weapon of a gland tracing its ancestry back to the begetter of the +brain itself, for brain and adrenal gland both have evolved from the +small nerve ganglia of the invertebrates, would have backed up to the +hilt his argument, which he had to elaborate on the indirect grounds +of analogy and induction. Essential for defense, and for protection,-- +an organ in which everything necessary for the stratagems of retreat, +or the offensives of attack, are supplied ad libitum, while everything +non-essential or detrimental to the matter of the moment is inhibited, +arrested and suppressed--no more perfect sample of the design with +which Life is drenched could be imagined by the most closeted of +passionate idealists. + +FAILURE OF THE ADRENALS + +As the gland of acute stress and strain, the adrenals in modern life +are called upon to function more heavily and frequently than in the +past. As a matter of fact, the life of the beast of jungle and field, +as well as of savage and barbarian, is just as full of emergencies and +shocks as that of the average city man or woman. In the case of the +latter, however, inhibitions, education, and the conditions of modern +living, improper food, sedentary indoor confinement, and universal +rack and noise, have undoubtedly made greater and greater demands upon +the adrenal glands. Chemical quantitative studies have shown that by +repeated stimulation, the adrenal glands may be exhausted of their +reserve supply of secretion, which returns only insufficiently if not +enough time is given for recuperation. There results a condition of +temporary or chronic adrenal insufficiency, supposedly an insufficient +functioning of the gland as a whole. In persons so afflicted there +appears a fatigability, a sensitiveness to cold, cold hands and feet, +which are sometimes mottled bluish-red, a loss of appetite and zest in +life, and a mental instability characterized by an indecision, and a +tendency to worry, a weepishness upon the slightest provocation. + +A certain number of the temporary breakdowns or nervous prostrations, +which seem to be growing more common or fashionable, may be sometimes +traced to such a deficiency of normal response to the needs of +everyday conflict by the adrenal gland. In some, mental and physical +elasticity are totally lost, and even the slightest exertion in +either field often causes so much weariness and exhaustion as to be +prohibited. Depression and even melancholia are associated with the +fear of not being able to accomplish good work hitherto easy and +enjoyed. Sometimes they are obsessed with the thought that they have +lost their nerve completely, and so dread to commit themselves in even +the most trivial of situations. The vacillating frame of mind is so +distressing at times as to arouse thoughts of suicide. When these +symptoms concur in the type of personality whom I shall describe +as the unstable adrenal-centered individual, there is evidence for +explaining the process as the effect of an insufficiency of secretion +by the adrenal gland. + +Shock, collapse, heart failure and sudden death following abnormal +emotion, like an attack of rage, or the terrors of a railroad +accident, or bad news, or excessive exertion like running a long race +or climbing a high mountain when in poor general health, as the phrase +goes, or in the terminal stages of infections like epidemic influenza +or Asiatic cholera, have been put down to an acute insufficiency of +the adrenal gland. A lowered temperature, blood pressure, and blood +vessel tone, exhibited in tests of the response of the skin to +stroking, are present in all of these and point the same moral. + +In the second half of the 19th century, an American physician, Beard, +described Neurasthenia, a general disturbance of the body and mind, +not properly classifiable as a disease, but serious enough to +incapacitate or at least greatly limit the sufferer. The neurasthenic +is to be recognized by the fact that the most painstaking objective +examination of his organs reveals nothing the matter with them. Yet, +according to his complaint, everything is the matter with him. He +cannot sleep when he lies down, he cannot keep awake when he stands +up. He cannot concentrate, but still he is pitifully worried about his +life. The slightest irritant causes him to go off the handle. As +he works himself up into his hysterical state as a reaction to a +disagreeable person or problem, irregular blotches may appear on +his face and neck. Generally, his hands and feet are clammy and +perspiring, his face is abnormally flushed or pallid, the eyes are +worried or starey, unwonted wandering sensations involving now this +area of the body, or now that obsess him. As the blood pressure is +too low for the age, the circulation is nearly always inadequate and +palpitation of the heart is a frequent complaint. So frequent, that +attention is often centered upon the heart, a diagnosis of heart +disease is made, and the unfortunate is doomed for life--to brood +over horrible possibilities. The brooding over themselves and their +troubles is one of the distinctive features of the whole complex. +Neurasthenia may masquerade as any organic disease. An individual with +a soil for a neurasthenic reaction to life will become neurasthenic +when confronted by any stone wall, including a serious ailment within +himself. + +Beard's Neurasthenia leaped at once into the limelight. It was seized +upon and applauded in Europe as a good new name for an old condition, +observed particularly in Americans abroad to rest from the fatigues of +the get-rich-quick games of industrial speculators. In fact, the name +of the American Disease was given to it. Various theories about the +effects of climate, sunlight per square inch and unit of time, oxygen +content of the air, and so on, were offered up upon the altar of +scientific explanation. Sir Arbuthnot Lane, famous protagonist of +Lane's intestinal kink, said that all Americans were neurasthenic. +Neurasthenia became one of the most popular of diagnoses, and remains +so today. + +Neurasthenia, regarded as a reaction of people to the stress and +strain of life, has without a doubt increased. The most casual of +observers will tell you that the generation of the Great War is a +neurasthenic generation. It takes its pleasures too intensely, +its pains too seriously, its troubles too flippantly. But what is +neurasthenia? Beard himself regarded it as a chronic fatigue and loss +of tone of the nervous system, a literal interpretation of his term. +That the conception, as far as it goes, is valid is proved by the fact +that it is the neurasthenics who furnish the majority of the clientele +of the cults, the Christian Scientists, the osteopaths and the +chiropractors, and who are the subjects of the faith and miracle +cures, like those of Lourdes. That is because their particular +disease, or what appears to them to be their very own disease--and +they certainly cherish their ailments--is but an expression of, a +compensation for, indeed a consolation for, the underlying feelings of +insufficiency or inferiority. Were there no moral code, were there +no social system, nor the consequent inculcated conscience to be +responsible to, there would be no such disguising symptom as +the disease which preoccupies the consciousness. The feeling of +insufficiency would be there, and would be recognized as in itself +the disease. To the physiologist and the psychologist, the feeling of +insufficiency is the disease, no matter how spectacular the overlaying +phenomena--a cripple on crutches or a man blind and speechless. Shell +shock is now acknowledged to belong to this group. + +Now one of the outstanding effects of disease of the adrenal glands is +the feelings of muscular and mental inefficiency. And as a matter +of fact, a good number of observations conspire for the idea that a +certain number of neurasthenics are suffering from insufficiency of +the adrenal gland. The chronic state of the acute phenomenon, known as +the nervous breakdown, really represents in them a breakdown of the +reserves of the adrenals, and an elimination of their factor +of safety. In the light of that conception, the great American +disease--dementia americana--is seen to be adrenal disease--and the +American life to be the adrenal life, often making too great demands +upon that life, and so breaking down with it. + +ADRENAL EXCESS + +The converse of adrenal insufficiency, that of adrenal excess, also +exists. In certain types of the middle-aged, a high blood pressure, +accompanied by a great capacity for work, has been shown to be +associated with hypertrophy of the cortex. In women, there is a +degree of masculinity, as the adrenal in women makes for masculinity, +neutralising more or less the specifically feminine influences of +the internal secretions of the ovary. Such women possess a vigor and +energy above the normal, and command responsible positions in society, +not only among their own sex, but also among men. They are the ones +who, in the present overturn of the traditional sex relationships, +will become the professional politicians, bankers, captains of +industry, and directors of affairs in general. + +THE GONADS + +(_Sexual, Puberty or Interstitial Glands_) + +The gonads is the name applied to the generative or reproductive +glands considered collectively. In the male, they are the testes; in +the female, the ovaries. They are, therefore, sometimes called the +sexual glands. As they possess definite canals for the removal of +their gross secretion, the specific reproductive cells, ova or +spermatozoa, to a surface of the body, they are first of all glands of +external secretion. But they have been also found to hold secretory +cells not concerned with the making of the reproductive corpuscles, +but, as all the evidence indicates, with the manufacture of an +internal secretion. These interstitial cells form the interstitial +gland. A classic example of a gland of internal secretion lodged in +the interstices of a gland of external secretion is thus furnished by +the gonads. + +ORIGIN OF SEX TRAITS + +The history of sex goes back far in the scheme of life. The +immortality of the ameba was at one time one of the indisputables of +biology. Then some observations were made which threw doubt upon a +long accepted fact, now declared a dogma. Lately, opinion has veered +back to immortality. But in the case of a close relative of the ameba, +the one-celled animal known as the paramecium, union with another +paramecium, true conjugation, has been proved necessary to prevent +death sooner or later. Sex here appears in its most primitive form, on +the basis of exchange of necessary materials, between individuals to +prevent death, their own having been, so to speak, worn out, in the +course of metabolism. + +Specifically different sexes come later, when mortality is a universal +fate, as a means of rebirth and escape from death. Then the sexes +develop their latest function, most prominent among the younger +vertebrates, of acting as nature's most potent method of variation and +differentiation. In the pursuit of the different, nature has exalted +sex, and the intensity of the sex life. As far as the preservation of +a species is concerned, and the reproduction of the individual, the +asexual methods, budding, for example, would have done well enough. +But when it comes to enacting a different individual apart from the +effects of environment, sex stands out as the favored method of Life. + +The development of the sexes and the sexual life brought a new element +of conflict into the living world. Before the advent of the sexes the +conflict was essentially for the means of existence, food alone. But +with the sexual life came a conflict for sex pleasure, a competition +among members of the same species for the same individual as their sex +partners. The result was the introduction of a factor in evolution +which Darwin examined so closely in the "Descent of Man." + +The sex conflict has been the cause for the origin and the survival +of certain physical and mental traits, helpful in sex attraction, sex +combat, the growth of the embryo, and the nutrition and safety of the +young of a species,--in short, the whole process of sexual selection. +The proportions of the skeleton, the distribution of hair and fat, the +construction of organs of attack and defense, the color of the skin, +the cyclic processes of preparation for impregnation, the oestrus or +heat period in animals, the menstrual period in the human being, the +psychic reactions to danger and combat have all been thus determined. +That man is bearded while woman is not,--that woman has potentially +functional breasts while man has not,--the aggressive pugnacity of +man contrasted with the more passive timidity of woman, have all been +evolved in the sex struggle, surviving because most effective in that +struggle. These so-called secondary sexual characteristics are an +expression of the influence of the internal secretion of the gonads, +or the interstitial glands. Some call them puberty glands, because +their ripening initiates puberty. + +We know that these interstitial glands, to stick to that name, (rather +than to the name of the puberty glands, since they serve not only +to induce puberty but to maintain maturity) are the actual primary +dictators of the process by which male and female are distinguished, +if not created. Castration was probably the first surgical operation +carried out for experimental purposes, suggested no doubt by a +curiosity concerning its effects. Trepanning of the skull, the +geologic record indicates, was done even by the cave man. But as an +experimental operation, castration seems to hold the primary position +in the annals of surgery. + +Its effects noted, the satisfaction of one of the lower human +instincts, jealousy, popularised it. From the days of Semiramis, +eunuchs have been commonplace figures of the East, their function +definite: to guard the harems of the powerful. The age of Abdul Hamid +witnessed no diminution of the barbaric tortures by which children are +prepared for the profession. It is to the credit of England that in +its dominions in the Orient the practice has been abolished. But it +goes on even today. According to the best authorities, four out of +five of these victims at the auto-da-fe of a vicious human instinct +die immediately or soon after from exhaustion due to pain and +infection. Not all of the ancient nations countenanced the brutal +horror. The Hebrews placarded castration an unpardonable sin, making +it a sin to castrate even animals. Nor was any man so mutilated +permitted to worship in the house of the Lord (Deuteronomy xxiii, 11). +Yet we have evidence that the latter Jewish kings employed foreign +eunuchs in their harems, who often held the most important positions +as ministers of the court. + +Besides the eunuchs, another group of people have presented material +for the study of the interstitial glands. These are the Skoptzi of +Russia and the Lipowaner of Roumania. Among them castration is a +religious ritual. Mankind has always been most brutal to itself in the +name of the ideal. These sects were founded because in the eighteenth +century an antipode of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young discovered this +passage in Matthew xix, 12. + +"For there are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's +womb, and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men: and +there be eunuchs _which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom +of heaven's sake_. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." + +He decided that he was inspired to spread the gospel of castration. A +sect was founded who thought that surgery was the easiest way to enter +the gates of Paradise, and they multiplied and fructified. The sect +exists today, and some of the most interesting studies of the internal +secretion of the interstitial glands have been made among them. + +Related to acquired eunuchism is the condition of eunuchoidism, the +eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb. Baron Larey, the +great surgeon of Napoleon's armies, was their first painter. He was +the only altruist Bonaparte said he had ever met in his life. He +portrayed a group of soldiers with peculiarly high-pitched voices, +smooth and hairless skins, and atrophied generative organs. A somewhat +similar picture is evolved in certain types of insufficiency of +the pituitary gland. Features of the picture are exhibited with +disturbances of the other internal secretory glands also, like the +thymus. + +But a host of experiments and data prove the interstitial glands to be +the direct controllers of elementary sexuality and the specific sex +traits of male and female. Beginning with Berthold back in the first +half of the nineteenth century, who studied the fowl, a number of +observations have been made on the effects of excision, translocation +and transplantation of these glands. + +The results of the experiments and observations can be summed up as +follows: if the male individual is castrated before puberty, that is, +before the advent of the sexual life, secondary sex qualities do not +develop. In males, the generative organs do not grow, hair on the face +does not appear, hair elsewhere on the body remains generally scanty, +the voice continues as high-pitched as the child's, there is more +or less muscle weakness, obesity, and mental sluggishness. In other +words, we have an effeminate man, technically a eunuch. In the +castrated female, the pelvis does not grow to the normal feminine +size, the breasts do not swell as they should, more or less hair comes +out on the face, the voice is low-pitched, and tends to be rather +husky, the legs are longer, and again, the mentality is dulled. That +is, a masculine sort of woman is produced. + +In short, the castrated male takes on a feminine type, and the +castrated female, a male type. In either case there is also an +infantilism, a retention of the infantile mental traits, a lack of +development of the adult mental attitudes and reactions. Now, if +in the castrated male is transplanted an ovary, the positive +characteristics of the female are evoked, such as enlarged mammary +glands, and a tendency to secretion of milk. Experiments have also +been reported in which a uterus was also placed in such an animal, +with a means of entry, and pregnancy followed. If in the castrated +female a testicle is planted, the masculine traits become much more +marked and striking. A direct exchange of the male and female +rôles can thus be achieved. Castration after puberty cannot modify +profoundly structures like the skeleton which are already completed. +Yet it may unquestionably bring about definite retrogressive changes +in the secondary sex characters: reduction or loss of virility, +diminution of facial and body hair, and a general presenility or +hastening of senility. + +How remarkably these interstitial cells influence the entire structure +and vitality of the organism is indicated by these facts. How much +they have to do with sexual impulses, sexual excitement, and sexual +desire, what the Freudians have popularized as the libido, and how +subtly they act upon the coming and duration of adolescence and +maturity, as well as sexual precocity and peversions, we shall +consider in a later chapter. But it is enough now to remember that +these interstitial glands are the primary dictators of the genital +sense and flair of the individual. In any attempt at measurement of +men and women, the quality and quantity of the internal secretion +of the interstitial cells must be respected as a fundamental +consideration. The womanly woman and the manly man, those ideals of +the Victorians, which crumbled before the attack of the Ibsenites, +Strindbergians and Shavians in the nineties, but which must be +recognized as quite valid biologically, are the masterpieces of these +interstitial cells when in their perfection. They are such solely +because of the right concentration in the blood of the substances +manufactured not only by these cells, but by all the glands of +internal secretion. For it cannot be repeated and emphasized too often +that the interstitial cells of the sex glands are most sensitive to +all kinds of other influences, and, in particular, the other internal +secretory organs. They may indeed be watched as an index scale or +barometer of the general tone of the whole internal secretion system. +Sex variations offer a variety of clues to variations, disturbances, +predominances and abnormalities in all the components of the ductless +gland association. + +To take a single instance, the development of the long bones is +dependent upon the handling of food lime by the body. Eunuchs and +eunuchoids, that is, individuals with insufficient internal secretion +of the interstitial cells, have longer bones and more fragile bones +than the normal. Vice versa, those with an excess of the secretion +have shorter and thicker bones. The earlier the onset of menstruation, +which means puberty, the shorter the extremities, as the action of the +internal secretion of the ovaries closes the story of the growth of +the long bones. + +The ovaries are a most important factor in the regulation of the power +of the organism to keep lime in the bones. If they over-secrete in an +excess which cannot be taken care of by the other glands of internal +secretion, the body loses lime, a softening and curving of the bones +occurs, and the most horrible deformities and tortures for the +sufferer. Taking out the ovaries has cured some of the afflicted. +Administration of the antagonizing gland extracts has helped others. +An Italian, Bossi, in 1907, used adrenal gland curatively. More +recently, a British student of the subject, Blair Bell, was given the +direction of the treatment, at long range, of a number of cases in +India, the land of chronic pregnancy with insufficient food, and +consequent oversecretion of the ovaries, with the typical softening of +the bones. At his suggestion pituitary was used successfully. + +Some of the glands of internal secretion act as accelerators to the +sex glands. Others act as retarding antagonists. Among the most +important of the latter is + +THE THYMUS + +The thymus is the gland which dominates childhood. It appears to do so +by inhibiting the activity of the testes or ovaries. Castration causes +a persistent growth and retarded atrophy of the thymus. Removal of the +thymus hastens the development of the gonads. + +Situated in the chest, astride the windpipe, it descends and covers +over the upper portion of the heart, overlapping the great vessels +at the base of the heart. It is a brownish red mass, which when cut +presents the spongy effect of a sweetbread. The more intimate view +of detail revealed by the higher powers of the microscope shows +conglomerations of the white cells of the blood known as lymphocytes. +But scattered through the substance of the gland, between these +lymphocytes, like the interstitial cells of the sex glands placed +between the sex cells, are peculiarly staining cells in whorls. +Of which there are many more in the thymus of embryonic and early +postnatal life, known after their discoverer as Hassal's Corpuscles. +They are believed by some to elaborate the specific internal secretion +of the thymus. Present in all vertebrates, there seems to be more of +it in the carnivora than in the herbivora, like the thyroid. + +Concerning the exact function of the thymus, we are a good deal at +sea. The latest opinion about the results of extirpation even in young +and growing animals is that they are nil. Yet there is a certain +justification for proclaiming the thymus the gland of childhood, the +gland which keeps children childish and sometimes makes children out +of grown-ups. There is a quantity of data for that proposition. In +the first place, the curve of rise of growth of the gland seems to +coincide with the period of childhood, the curve of its decline with +the period of adolescence and the rise of the sex glands. In the +past, it was accepted, that with puberty the thymus atrophied and +was replaced by some sort of fatty tissue. Nowadays, it is held that +secretion cells persist throughout life. When the extent of this +persistence is too great, the gland being from five to ten times as +large as the normal, a number of other features become prominent to +make the extraordinary individual, the status lymphaticus, who amid +the hazards of life will react in an extraordinary way. He will be +taken up in the consideration of internal secretion personalities. + +Then there are the varied and remarkable phenomena of thymus +enlargement and hyperactivity in childhood itself. When an enlarged +thymus is present in an infant, the initiation of breathing in the +new-born, the introduction of the newcomer to the oxygen of the air, +may be an exceedingly prolonged, difficult, matter. Such a baby is +said to be born blue, and the breathing may be stridorous for days, +becoming normal for a time, to be followed later by spells of trouble +in breathing, breathlessness or breathlessness with blueness, and +threatened extinction. Sometimes these spells come out of a clear +sky in an apparently healthy child. That some poison, probably an +oversecretion of the thymus, is responsible is shown by the relief +obtainable by X-ray shrinkage of the gland, or the surgical removal of +a part of it. + +Moreover, the gland is influenced by and influences the factors +of body weight and growth with an extreme readiness and lability. +Deficient general undernutrition leads to rapid decline in its weight. +Back in 1858, the pioneer student of the thymus, Friedleben, declared +that the size and condition of the thymus is an index to be the state +of nutrition of the body. Underfeeding for four weeks will reduce it +to one thirtieth the normal. It seems to act as a storage and reserve +organ, affording some protection against the limitation of growth by +lack of food material. In exhausting or wasting disease, the weight +of the gland sinks much more quickly than other glands. Scattered +instances have been reported of children growing, putting on inches in +height and expanding mentally, when thymus was fed to them, in whom +every other measure previously tried had failed. A French study of +over four hundred idiotic children with normal thyroids reported that +over three fourths had no thymus at all. Everything points to the most +direct and close relation between the gland and nutrition and growth, +but with nothing tangibly definite like our knowledge of the thyroid +and the pituitary. + +There is evidence that the thymus is involved in the health and +efficiency of muscle cells and muscularity. Certain tumors of the +thymus, presumably destructive of the gland substance proper, and +thus cutting off its secretion, are accompanied by a singular muscle +weakness and atrophy of the muscle cells, entirely out of proportion +to the general damage suffered by the other cells of the body when +affected by the poison of a malignant growth. Also, the thymus has +been discovered diseased in certain mysterious progressive muscular +wastings. A remarkable fatigability of muscles, which appears after +the slightest exertion, is a feature. The feeding of thymus has caused +muscle cramps which apparently depends upon an increased excitability +of the muscle nerve endings. + +Feeding of thymus to some of the lower creatures of the animal kingdom +will completely hold up differentiation. Take the unfolding of the +specialized tissues and organs which transform the tadpole into the +frog and the chrysalis into the butterfly. A tadpole kept supplied +with enough thymus in a nutrient medium will swell into an +extraordinary giant tadpole, but will not change into a frog. +Recently, this experiment has been contradicted. Yet this effect +corresponds to the conception of its importance in childhood as a +retardant of precocity, physical and mental. Clinical observations +emphasize that in childhood it is the chief brake upon the other +glands of internal secretion which would hasten development and +differentiation, checking them perhaps for a given time and so +profoundly influencing growth. + +THE PINEAL + +The pineal is another gland which has been credited with similar +abilities and a like holding-the-reins-tight-in-childhood function +among the cells. Like the thymus, it has been supposed one of the +distinctive organs of childhood and to die with it. Generations of +anatomists solemnly asserted, repeating each other's mistakes with the +aplomb of the historians who declare that history repeats itself, that +the pineal body was a useless, wastefully space consuming vestige of a +once important structure. That was the view in that century of grandly +inaccurate assertions, the nineteenth. Not that they relegated it with +that statement to the limbo of the dull and the uninteresting. Quite +the contrary. They conferred upon it a distinguished romance and +mystery by identifying it as the last heir and vestigial remnant of +a third eye, situated in the back of the head, which may still be +observed in certain reptiles. Imagine it! Somewhere, stuck away in a +cranny of the floor of your head and mine, is this descendant of an +organ that once sparkled and shone, wept and glared, took in the stars +and hawks and eagles, and now is condemned to eternal darkness and an +ineffectual sandiness. Today, we have not discarded that view of its +history, but we know a little more regarding its composition and +function. + +What and where is the romantic object? It is a cone-shaped bit of +tissue hidden away at the base of the brain in a tiny cave behind +and above its larger colleague, the pituitary. Microscopic scrutiny +reveals that it is made up in part of nerve cells containing a pigment +similar to that present in the cells of the retina, thus clinching the +argument for its ancient function as an eye. But the outstanding and +specifically glandular cells are large secreting affairs, which too +reach back to the tidewater days of our vertebrate ancestors, when +Eurypterus and other Crustaceans were engrossed with the fundamental +problems of brain versus belly. Besides these, there are the singular +masses upon which has been fastened the unnecessarily opprobious +epithet of brain sand. These, noted and commented upon from the +earliest times, consist of collections of crystals of lime salts, +sometimes small, lying about in discrete irregular masses, and +sometimes grouped into larger mulberry-like concretions, varying +much in size. These brain sand particles have become of practical +importance in the detection of pineal disease because they, like all +lime salts, will stop the X-rays, and so can be photographed. + +For a long time, indeed up to scarcely more than a few decades or so +ago, the pineal was believed to have no present function at all, or at +least no ascertainable or accessible duty in the body economy. That +it might perhaps be, in a sense, a gland of internal secretion was +a despised theory. Then a classic case, the most extraordinary and +curiosity-piquing sort of case, with symptoms involving the pineal +gland, in a boy, was reported by the German neurologist, Von Hochwart. +That boy provoked a little army of researches. He came to the clinic +complaining about his eyes and other troubles which pointed pretty +definitely to a brain tumor as the diagnosis to pigeon-hole him. +Nothing extraordinary about him in that respect. But the story told by +his parents was quite extraordinary, even to the jaded palate of the +clinic professor and his assistants. They said that he was a little +over five years old, a statement conclusively proved correct at his +death. Up to the time at which his illness began, he had been quite +normal in size, intelligence and interests. But with the onset of his +misfortune, he had begun to grow, and rapidly until now he looked +and corresponded in all measurements to a normal boy of twelve or +thirteen. Hair developed all over his skin, most prominently and +abundantly in the typically hairy places of adults. His voice became +low-pitched, and most remarkable of all, his sexuality and mentality +precocious. He became capable of true sexual life and is said to have +asked many questions about the fate and condition of the soul after +death. On one occasion he remarked reflectively: "It is odd how much +better I feel when I let other children play with my toys than when I +play with them myself." Other statements attributed to him imply the +most astounding maturity of thought and mental process. Headaches +finally came, and he died about four weeks later. The cause of the +whole bizarre tragedy was found to be a tumor of the pineal gland. + +As has happened before in medical history, no sooner was the one +prodigy reported, than a score of others of the same ilk sprang into +the limelight. Cases of precocious genital development, especially, +some of them occurring as early as the second year of life, were +linked with them. It is an interesting point to be noted that in +these, as in those started by an overaction of the adrenal cortex, it +is premature masculinity that is stimulated. The adrenal cortex must +be classed as a gland of masculinity. The pineal possibly acts as a +brake upon the adrenal cortex. + +Very soon after the report of Von Hochwart's prodigy appeared, an +experimental research on the pineal was begun in New York. The pineal +glands of a number of young bullocks were obtained and used for +feeding, to see whether an overaction of the internal secretion +could be produced. Guinea pigs, kittens and rabbits were used. The +experiments covered about two years in time. Of a dozen small +kittens, the subjects outgrew the controls rapidly in activity, size, +intelligence, and resistance to intercurrent disease. Of ten small +rabbits, the controls weighed about a third less than the subjects, +which were strikingly clean, active, fat and salacious. + +Feeding of the gland was then extended to a particular class of +defective children, children with well-shaped heads, normal eyes, +symmetrically functioning limbs, excellent digestion, strong muscles +and generally, normal, sometimes rapid growth. It is to them, +particularly when mental normality has progressed up to the eighth, +tenth or twelfth year and stopped, that the term "moron" has been +applied. They have been a hopeless lot, belonging to the limbo of the +incurables. Moreover, they, emphatically the physically normal ones, +differ from one another enormously in the extent to which mental +operations are possible. As all transitions and degrees exist, no +definite classification and subdivision of them has been made. Yet +ever since the cretin, once looked upon as an eternally damned +defective, was transformed by thyroid feeding into an apparently +normal being, there has been no dearth of effort to find the right +kind of internal secretion to fit their desperate situations, but in +vain. In defectives with definitely, organically damaged brains, +no result of course was to be expected. In those of any class over +fifteen, no response has been elicited by feeding pineal gland. In the +others the results have been contradictory. + +A set of observations have related the pineal to muscle function, +inviting comparison of it with the thymus. There is a singular muscle +shrinking and deforming disease, known as progressive muscular +dystrophy, hitherto a complete and unsolved mystery. Newer studies +of the pineal in this disease during life by means of the X-ray have +shown it calcified, that is, buried in lime salts, which signifies put +out of business. Recently thus another hint as to its function has +been ferreted out. + +The tadpole as a reagent to test out the growth effects of different +glands of internal secretion has also been employed for the pineal. +Ten-day-old tadpoles fed on pineal present a marked translucency of +the skin due to a retraction of the skin pigment cells. Now without a +doubt a number of as yet unknown growth and metabolic effects follow +exposure of the body to the complete gamut of light rays. The +interesting suggestion follows that the pineal influences the body by +varying the degree of light ray reaction. + +The pineal, the ghost of a once important third eye at the back of +our heads, still harks back in its function to a regulation of our +susceptibility to light, and its effect upon sex and brain. So it +becomes one of the significant regulators of development, with an +indirect hastening or retardation of puberty and maturity according +as it works in excess, or too indolently. It appears thus the blood +brother of the adrenal cortex which also influences the skin pigment +and so susceptibility of the organism to light, brain growth and sex +ripening. It is interesting that Descartes, in 1628, considered the +pineal the seat of the soul. + +THE PARATHYROIDS + +Sometimes imbedded within the substance of the thyroid in the neck, +sometimes placed directly behind it upon the windpipe, are four tiny +glands, each about the size of a wheat seed, the parathyroids. For +long they were swamped in the nearness of their great neighbor, and +considered merely a variable part of it. There are some who contend +that even today. But it has been proven that they are separate, +individual glands, with a structure and function of their own, and a +definite importance to the body economy. + +On the animal family tree they appear early, contemporaneously with +the thyroids. In the embryo they develop from about the same sites. +And very often they look very much alike under the microscope, +especially when the cells are in certain quiescent stage of secretion. +Yet they are wholly independent in nature, activity and business. + +First experimenters upon the effects of removal of the thyroid were +confused by contradictory findings with different animals because in +some they would take out the parathyroids at the same time without +knowing it, and in others they would not. That possibility suggested, +more careful dissectors accomplished the job of extirpating the +thyroid while leaving the parathyroids intact and vice versa. In +consequence some definite information about the parathyroids is +available, even though their internal secretion has never been +isolated, or its existence established as more than an inference. + +When the parathyroids are removed, an astounding increase in the +excitability of the nerves follow. It is as if the animal were +thoroughly poisoned with strychnine. The slightest stimulus will make +him jump, or throw him into a spasm. When the excitability of the +nerves is measured by an electrical instrument it is found augmented +by from five hundred to one thousand per cent. The reflexes, those +automatic responses of brain and spinal cord to certain stimuli and +situations, become enormously sensitive, so that merely letting the +light into a darkened room will make the subject of the experiment go +into a series of convulsions. + +On the chemical side, an explanation for these nervous phenomena has +been advanced. Lime in the blood and cells appears to be necessary in +a number of ways. In the making of bone and teeth, in the coagulation +of the blood, in the keeping of fluid within the blood vessels, and +in maintaining the tone of the nerves, it plays a major rôle. Now the +parathyroids, among all the glands of internal secretion, seem to act +as the prime regulators of the amount of lime held within the blood +and cells. For when the parathyroids have been completely and +aseptically excised, without injuring any other organ, immediately the +body begins to lose lime. Something has gone out of it that helped +it to bind lime, and without that essential something, the internal +secretion presumably of the parathyroids, the lime departs. As +a conspicuous consequence the teeth fail to develop properly, +particularly as to their enamel, for which lime is an essential +constituent. Hair is lost, there is a general wasting, the nails get +brittle, and the bones soften, and the animal dies. Supplying lime +directly, particularly by direct injection into the blood, will +relieve the symptoms. + +In man, a condition of nervous over-excitability has been described +as tetany. It occurs most often in the young, the pregnant, or in +vomiting after operations. All sorts of tests have related the malady +to the phenomena succeeding parathyroid deprivation, and they are now +looked upon as aspects of it. Individuals have been reported suffering +from an insufficiency of the internal secretion of parathyroids, +with a sudden extreme depression, nervousness and restlessness, an +inability to sleep or sit still, and a tremulous handwriting. Such +reports round out the evidence for the importance of the parathyroids +in an understanding of the factors which control growth, especially +as regards lime utilization, for without lime properly handled no +building of cells is possible. Also the parathyroids are necessary to +a steadiness of muscle and nerve. + +THE PANCREAS + +The business of the parathyroids concerns the keeping of lime in the +body. Another gland, the pancreas or sweetbreads, this time within the +abdomen, a close neighbor of the solar plexus, alias the abdominal +brain, is occupied with holding and hoarding sugar in the body, +particularly in the liver, the great sugar warehouse. This matter +of retaining sugar and controlling its output is one of the utmost +significance for growth and metabolism, the resistance to infections, +the response to emergency situations, and in general to the +mobilization of energy for physical and mental purposes. For without +sugar sufficiently at hand for the cells, no muscle work or nerve +work, the essentials of the struggle for existence, are possible. + +The pancreas is an organ with both an internal and external secretion. +The external secretion, long known, evolved by the major portion of +the gland, is poured into the small intestine to play the star in +digestion. Scattered here and there among the definitely glandular +cell groups creating the external secretion are smaller collections of +cells, called the islets of Langerhans, which have been demonstrated +to elaborate the internal secretion. There are about a million of +these islands in each gland. The hormone has been called insuline. +Unlike most of the glands with a double secretion in which the +internal is absolutely independent, and so to speak, unconscious of +the external, these two of the pancreas are often disturbed together, +perhaps because trouble easily hits them both together. + +Quite the most well-known disease due to disturbed internal secretory +function of the pancreas is diabetes. An enormous amount of work has +been spent upon the various aspects of it as a mystery. Hundreds of +papers in a dozen languages upon the subject are in existence. In a +nutshell, they have established pretty well that diabetes is a disease +in which there is an excess of sugar in the blood and urine because of +an insufficient amount of the secretion of the islands of Langerhans +in the pancreas. Removal of the pancreas makes the body, essentially +the liver, unable to retain sugar, as well as unable to burn up sugar +for energy. The situation is comparable to a locomotive with its coal +bins leaking, and the coal itself acting as if made of slate or some +equally uncombustible or only partially combustible material. + +The control of sugar mobilization from the liver, where it is stored +as glycogen or animal starch, is divided between the pancreas and +the adrenals, the pancreas acting as the brake, the adrenals as the +accelerator of the mechanism. Adrenal and pancreas are therefore +direct antagonists, the pans of the scale which represents sugar +equilibrium in the organism. Diabetes may be regarded as a disturbance +of the adrenal-pancreas balance, assisted by events which produce +adrenal overwork like great or prolonged emotion, or by strain of the +pancreas, effected by over-eating for example. + +There are other minor glands of internal secretions. But those +considered are by far the most important and the most recently +explored. In a summary, one would classify them as follows: + + _Name Secretion Function_ + 1. Thyroid Thyroxin Gland of energy production + Controller of growth + of specialized organs + and tissues--brain + and sex + + 2. Pituitary-- Gland of energy consumption + and utilization--continued + effort + anterior Unknown Growth of skeleton and + supporting tissues + posterior Pituitrin Nerve cell and involuntary + muscle cell, brain and sex tone + + 3. Adrenals The Gland of Combat + cortex Unknown a. Brain growth--tone + development of + sex glands + medulla Adrenalin b. Energy for emergency + situations + + 4. Pineal Unknown a. Brain and sex development + b. Adolescence and puberty + c. Light and maturity + + 5. Thymus Unknown Gland of Childhood + + 6. Interstitial Testes in male Glands of secondary + glands of Ovaries in female Sex traits + + 7. Parathyroids Unknown a. Controllers of lime + metabolism + b. Excitability of + muscle and nerve + + 8. Pancreas Insuline Controller of sugar + metabolism + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GLANDS AS AN INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATE + + +Now in considering each gland of internal secretion as a separate +entity, and labelling it with certain properties and actions, we of +course commit the usual sin of the intellect: the sin of abstraction +and isolation of its material. This crime of analysis the intellect +commits every day in the search for truth. Before its dissection, it +seems to have to dip the elusive article in a fixative, and bottle it +in a vacuum. + +Yet nothing in reality is more of a changing flux than the body in all +of its parts and tissues and organs. And of all these, the glands of +internal secretion stand out as the most susceptible to change. Made +to react to stimuli of offense and defense, instantaneously responsive +to situations involving energy exchanges and protective reflexes, +they are never for any minute the same or alone. They never function +separately. Each influences the other in a communicating chain. Let +one be disturbed, and all the others will feel the impact of the +disturbance and vibrate with it. + +Any break in the somatic or psychic equilibrium, a blow or an +infection, or a startling thing seen, or a worrisome thought felt, +will start a process going. This will only wind up when every gland +has been somehow touched, and a final equilibrium reestablished. The +thyroid, maybe, was first excited, and then in turn the adrenals, with +a boomerang reinforcing effect upon the thyroid, and at the same time +a stimulating effect upon the pituitary. Each gland is thus influenced +and influencing, agent and reagent in the complex adjustments of the +organism. + +ENDOCRINE CO-OPERATIONS + +The body-mind is a perfect corporation. Not quite perfect, for +continually there arise little insurgencies, inadequacies and +frictions to which in time it will succumb. Yet, in the efficiency of +its co-operations, and in the co-ordination of the needs and supplies +of producer, middle man, and consumer, there is no one of the great +organizations of the captains of industry which can for a moment +approach it. + +Of this corporation the glands of internal secretion are the +directors. But the huge corporation, not to topple over with its own +unwieldy size, must be composed of smaller units, each within itself +a corporation, and governed by a directorate. There are, in the +corporation-organism, different departments and bureaus, subdivisions +of function, which constitute the smaller corporations within the +larger corporation. These subsidiary companies have their own glands +of internal secretion as their directors. + +Thus, the growth of the brain is presided over by the adrenal cortex, +the thyroid, the thymus and the pituitary. They determine the size of +the brain, the number of its cells, the complexity of its convolutions +and the speed of its chemistry, which means the speed of thought and +memory and imagination. As its directorate, therefore, they may be +entitled. The disturbance of one of them means the disturbance of all +of them, and a consequent deleterious effect upon the brain. Now take +the burning up of sugar in the organism, the great material source +of energy, which is controlled by the pancreas, the adrenals and +the liver, the thyroid and the pituitary. Together they form the +directorate of sugar metabolism. But, as is evident from a glance at +the membership of the growth directorate, and comparing it with the +directorate of sugar metabolism, there are some members who are +present on both boards. An infection, an illness, an ailment, an +exaltation or intoxication of such members will produce reverberations +in both directorates. A disturbance of sugar metabolism might then +cause a disturbance of growth. The advantages and disadvantages +are before us of having, in the glands of internal secretion, an +interlocking directorate, rulers over all the varied and manifold +activities of the organism. + +Behind the body, and behind the mind is this board of governors. +Indeed, from the administrative and legislative points of view, the +body-mind may be said to be governed by the House of Glands. It is the +invisible committee behind the throne. Upon the throne is what? Man, +the most baffling of complexities. Man who is not a mind, but owns a +mind--Man who is not a body, but possesses a body, just as he might +have a motor car, a fortune or a calamity. Back of all his daily +activities, behind the life of body-mind is the mysterious unique +individuality, the Ego, the Psyche or the Soul. Lately, a competitor +with these ancient and honorable terms has come upon the scene as the +Subconscious. In that darkened No Man's Land is determined a man's +destiny. The endocrine association stands out as at least the most +important physical determinant of the states and processes of the +subconscious. + +ANTAGONISMS AND CO-OPERATIONS + +As within a corporation there are factions and cliques, influences +that always work together, and forces that are always pulling in +opposite directions, so within the interlocking directorate of the +ductless glands there are antagonisms and inhibitions, co-operations +and compensations. One gland will assist the action of another's +secretion with its own, or will in turn be stimulated to secrete by +it. Another will throw out its secretion in order to neutralize the +effects produced. Or its own activity will be depressed or completely +inhibited by it. Thus the pituitary arouses the interstitial glands +and vice versa, whereas the pancreas and the thyroid are mutually +inhibitory. Indeed, whole systems of glands may work in unison, or be +pitted against each other in certain situations, especially when +the organism is subjected to conflicting impulses with the clash +of opposing instincts, like fear and anger. In general there is +reciprocity and team work among the internal secretions. + +A certain minimum amount of each must be present if life is to +continue along the normal lines. Whether there is to be an excess +of any one secretion above this minimum, or a deficiency below it, +decides the fate of the individual. If there is deficiency of one, the +other members of the directorate attempt to make up for what has been +lost, and to carry on its work by an extra effort, to substitute. Or, +released from the discipline of the deficient member, or the necessity +for antagonizing it, they may be released from its stimulus to +secrete, and produce less of their own specific secretion. A general +reaction all along the line will accompany overaction, oversecretion, +of one gland. Due to consequent stimulations and depressions of +other glands, some may be excited by the event to overwork--some to +assist--others, to act as antidote for--the excess secretion, while +still others, relieved of a burden, do not have to supply as much of +their quota under the circumstances and so shut down, or limit their +output. + +It is important to get clearly in mind these subtle inter-reactions of +the different ductless glands. They may be antagonistic in their end +effects because of the opposed functions of the nerves or organs +stimulated. There are inhibitions and restraints produced when a gland +will send out its secretions to stop another gland secreting. There +are compensations resulting when because of insufficiency of a gland, +others will endeavour, by manufacturing more of their own secretion, +to compensate for the loss. There are mutual co-operations, +partnerships, when a gland will oversecrete to assist another, or in +response to another which is also oversecreting. There are losses +of balance, so that when one gland ceases secreting, another will +simultaneously or soon after. Normal secretion, oversecretion or +undersecretion are thus adjusted, but leave a train of after effects. + +So with loss or insufficiency of the thyroid, there may be pituitary +overgrowth, because the pituitary may act as vicar for the thyroid. +The thyroid and thymus are antagonistic, for the thyroid hastens +differentiation, puberty and the coming of sexual maturity, while the +thymus delays and retards them and prolongs the period of childhood. +The thyroid and the pancreas are antagonists, for when the thyroid +has been excised, the pancreas appear no longer necessary to act as a +break upon the mechanism of sugar liberation into the blood from +the liver. The thyroid stimulates the interstitial glands, for +menstruation and pregnancy are impossible with no thyroid or an +insufficient thyroid. Removal of the pituitary makes the thymus shrink +because the restraining influence of the latter is no longer needed. +But there is an enlargement of the thyroid to compensate. In castrates +there is an increase in the size and number of the cells of the +anterior pituitary, again a compensation or substitution effect. The +pituitary and the adrenal cortex are mutually assistant, alike in +their influence upon the tone of the brain and sex cells. + +THE KINETIC SYSTEM + +So there are combinations of glands to assist or restrain others, or +to control a body function, or to determine the domination or abeyance +of an instinct. One such has been named the kinetic system because it +comes into play in situations which demand prompt adaptation without +hesitancy, and a consequent immediate transformation of static or +stored energy into kinetic or active energy. According to this +conception the brain, the adrenals, the liver, the thyroid and the +muscles together constitute a machine very much like an automobile. +The self-starter of the machine is the brain, with storage battery +(composed of stored past memories) and ignition combined. The thing +seen without, or the idea felt within, act as the initial sparks, +while the adrenals, as the carburetors, permit the freer flow of fuel, +sugar, from the liver. The thyroid works as the accelerator, the +original impulse finally landing upon muscles keyed up and supplied +with food to meet the situation, be it that of removing a poison, +removing an aggressor (attack) or removing the individual himself +(running away). When one is exhausted by exertion and emotion, injury, +intoxication or infection, it is these members of the kinetic system, +the brain, the adrenals, thyroid and liver, which are exhausted. +Exhaustion diminishes when the activity of the brain is diminished by +anesthetics, and cured when it is abolished by sleep. + +If the adrenal gland may be called the Gland of Emergency energy, the +Kinetic System is entitled to the name of Council of Emergency Defense +for the organism. The Kinetic Drive is the name that has been given to +the whole system at work. It is one of the best examples we have of +inter-glandular co-operations and reactions in reply to the threat of +danger or the hint of pleasure. + +THE CHECK AND DRIVE SYSTEM + +Another instance of the complexity of these inter-glandular reactions +is furnished by the thyroid and the adrenals. The thyroid and the +adrenals are mutually stimulating--when the thyroid oversecretes, the +adrenal dittos, and vice versa. Yet they have directly opposed effects +upon the economy--because they act upon antagonistic portions of +the involuntary or vegetative nervous system, the system which is +independent of the will. Before proceeding further, it is worth while +sketching this division of the nervous system. + +In the construction of a motor car from the point of view of absolute +control of it at every moment, the first thought of the mechanic is an +adequate _brake_ and an efficient _regulator_ of speed, instruments +antagonistic, but necessary to work simultaneously or alternately. +The involuntary or vegetative nervous system is built upon the same +principle. It supplies every organ in the body beyond the control of +the will (that is to say, the brain) with two sets of filaments which +have opposing functions. One group of filaments in general increases +or activates the function of the organ to which it is distributed. The +other group of filaments, when tingling, inhibits or prohibits that +function. They are like the two buttons on the wall which regulate +the supply of electricity to incandescent bulbs, one switching on the +current, the other switching it off. It has been agreed to call the +stimulative or activating portion the autonomic or drive system. To +its antagonist has been left the older name of the sympathetic or +check system. It is because they do not both act upon these two +components of the vegetative nervous system, but only upon one, that +the thyroid and adrenal though in themselves complementary, come to +exert opposite effects. For the internal secretion of the thyroid has +a selective affinity for the autonomic or activating system, while +that of the adrenals has a selective affinity for the sympathetic or +inhibiting system. + +In the stomach, for instance, extracts of the adrenal glands have been +proved to intensify the function of the sympathetic or check system +in different degrees, so that there is a lessening of the amount and +acidity of the gastric fluid. On the other hand, thyroid extracts will +intensify the action of the autonomic or drive system, so that the +amount and acidity of the digestive juice is increased. + +The stomach cell may, therefore, be regarded as a test-reagent for +the different internal secretions, as they affect the check and drive +systems. + +These constitute an automatic device for regulating the activities of +every organ. Three factors enter into the mechanism. One is the amount +of the circulating internal secretions. Another is the organic and +functional integrity of the nerve filaments comprising the check and +drive systems. The third consists of the number and vitality and +limitations of the terminal receiving cells acted upon by the nerve +filaments, which in their turn have been acted upon by the internal +secretions. Upon every organ, including the mind, through the brain, a +stimulus from without or within will act according to its ability to +influence one or others of these factors. + +Normally, the check and drive systems are properly balanced. But under +stress and strain the balance is upset. Indeed, the Kinetic Drive may +be defined as a mechanism contrived in the course of evolution as the +normal, healthy mode for meeting stress and strain. The Kinetic chain +of organs, brain, adrenals, liver, thyroid and muscles, began working +together in desperate situations for their possessor ages ago. +Successful in helping him to survive, they have survived as a +functional unit. + +It was probably evolved in the Post-Tertiary Era, about twenty million +years ago, when the coming of the carnivores introduced direct +body-to-body conflicts, and their concomitants, a quick and versatile +nervous system. During the Tertiary epoch the earth basked in the heat +of a tropical sun nearly everywhere on its surface. The luxuriant +vegetation of the torrid zone flourished and swarmed, for the +temperature all over was what it is today at the equator. Gigantic +vegetarians were the animals, creatures like the dinosaurs, enormous, +gargoylean monsters, of an incredible size and strength, but clumsy +and grotesque, with small brains and little intelligence. For what +need was there for brain and intelligence when food lay about so +abundantly at hand for them to gorge themselves. As there was no +competition for food, there were no enemies. + +Then as the earth evolved and grew cooler, vegetation failed, the +ancestors of the present carnivora appeared, the fathers of the +wolf and tiger, light, lithe and pugnacious, with senses acute and +ferocious weapons of attack, who set out to destroy everybody. They +destroyed pretty nearly all of the huge leaf-eating species, and only +the more plastic and smaller ones, who were more keen-sensed and +swift-footed (of whom the deer and antelope, horse and ox are the +descendants), escaped. The smallest either took to the air to become +the bat, or, like the forerunners of the squirrel and ape, took to the +trees. + +It was the coming of the carnivores, therefore, that accelerated the +development of brain matter, and started the process which created +man. But in the millions and millions of years of conflicts, instincts +grew into being that sank deep into bone and marrow. The most +fundamental reflexes, those immediate responses to irritation or +danger, were laid down, and among them the drive and check system. +When the animal had decided to fight its enemy or was forced to fight, +or determined to prey, then was the time for the drive system to do +its utmost to speed up everything that would help in the fight, while +the check system came into play to hinder whatever would interfere or +burden in the fray. First the drive mechanism must have been hit upon, +and then the value of the check devices must have been found in fear +and flight, and especially in hiding and simulation of death, when +even breathing had to be inhibited. Until finally there developed, for +everyday use, a complete check and drive nerve machinery for every +organ, to be used according to the exigencies of the moment, with the +thyroid as the primary stimulant and controller of the drive system +and the adrenal as the primary dictator over the check system. + +THE HARMONY OF THE HORMONES + +All the glands, in fact, work in unison, with a distribution of the +balance of power that diplomatists might envy. In the co-ordinating +synchronism, the vegetative nervous system plays the part of an agent +that acts as well as is acted upon. The chemical interaction of the +internal secretions is not the only way in which they influence each +other. For, as the case of the thyroid and the adrenal so well shows, +secretions which, when directly interacting, are mutually reinforcing, +when affecting nerves, may become clashing opponents. + +The Kinetic Chain is about as good a case as there is of the glands of +internal secretion co-operating. The Check and Drive systems, with the +adrenals and thyroid opposed, are one of the best instances of their +antagonisms. Besides, there are a number of other relationships +between them that might be cited. They all bear with more or less +pressure, positive or negative, upon the sex glands which will be +considered in its place. If one wished to consider all the glands in +their pro and anti relations, a separate volume would be required. + +THE VEGETATIVE APPARATUS + +The combination of the internal secretions and the vegetative system +has been spoken of as the vegetative or autonomic apparatus. The +vegetative apparatus is the oldest part of the nervous system. +And some acquaintance with its constitution is necessary to any +understanding of the possibilities of control of human nature. + +For modern thought does not regard the brain as the organ of mind at +all, but as one unit of a complex synthesis, of which mind is the +product, and the vegetative apparatus is the major component. That +involves the blasting of the last current superstition of the +traditional psychology, the dogma that the brain is the exclusive seat +of mind. + +That an animal is a vast concourse of cells is one of the accepted +fundamentals of biology. What is not so generally taken into +consideration is that the assemblage is formed by the agglutinations +of millions of years, and that it is hence composed of parts of +different ages and pedigrees, some exceedingly ancient and hoary, some +middle-aged, and some relatively new and recent. In the invertebrates, +who date further back in the history of the planet than any +vertebrate, the nervous system consists of discrete patches of nerve +cells, the ganglions composing the ganglionic system of which the +vegetative or autonomic nervous system of man is the direct descendant +and representative. The brain and central nervous system are +definitely later acquisitions, imposed upon the original stratum of +the check and drive machine. + +The primitive chassis of the mechanism, so to speak, is the so-called +vegetative nervous system. Grouped with that system are the primeval +breathing, feeding and reproducing inventions, the viscera boxed up +in the chest and abdomen. The third partner is the glands of internal +secretion, which act upon the viscera both directly and indirectly +through the check and drive effect upon the vegetative nerves. +The glands are like tuning keys, by which certain strings in the +instrument may be tightened, so that its vibratory activity is +increased, or they may be loosened, the vibrations decreased, the +activity lessened. Tuning up the motors is a constant process in the +organism. Finally, there are the large nerve masses at the base of the +brain known as the basal ganglia, which contain the nerve centers for +the co-ordination of the other three. All these together constitute +the oldest family of the corporate organism. Beside them, the brain +and the face and the prehensile organs are mere parvenus. + +THE OLDEST PART OF THE MIND + +Granted, then, that this vegetative apparatus is the most deeply +rooted core of our being. What warrant is there for the grandiloquence +of the phrase: the Oldest part of the Mind? There is, indeed, room for +rhetoric, even poetry, here. For all the evidence points to it as the +rightful occupant of the throne upon which Shelley placed his Brownie +as the Soul of the Soul. Or to put it in another way, we think and +feel primarily with the vegetative apparatus, with our muscles, +especially the involuntary, with our viscera, and particularly with +our internal secretions. Whenever there is thought and feeling, there +is movement, commotion, precedent and concomitant, among these. They +are the oldest seats of feeling, thought and will and continue to +function as such. + +Just what evidence is there for this conception? In the first place, +there is the fascinating story of the origin of vertebrates from +invertebrates of the sea scorpion or spider type. Then there is a +whole group of data which demonstrate that the primitive wishes which +make up the content of a baby consciousness are determined, settled by +states of relaxation or tension in different segments or areas of the +vegetative apparatus. According to this, the brain enters as only one +of the characters in the play of consciousness. It is just the organ +of awareness by the organism of itself as an integer which must adjust +itself to the specific condition within the disturbed vegetative +apparatus. Consequently the brain emerges not as the master tissue, +but as merely the servant of the vegetative apparatus. + +Consciousness is a circuit. Swinging around in it are the +wish-feelings generated by the vegetative dynamo. From each viscus, +from the stomach and intestine, from the kidneys and bladder, from +the liver and spleen, from the blood-vessels, from all the glands +of external and internal secretion, there flow along the vegetative +nerves, to and from the brain, energies of various qualities and +intensities. All the members of the vegetative apparatus are more or +less active, and so all our wishes are all more or less active. All +our working hours we are aware of hunger, satiety or indifference, of +a desire to empty the intestine or bladder, or of a lack of necessity +of doing so, of a state of tranquillity of the blood-vessels and sweat +glands, or of a perturbation of them, of a varying tensity of even the +muscles that are, as we say, under the control of the will, of the +state, in fact, of all the elements of the vegetative complex. The +stream of feeling which constitutes the undertow of consciousness +originates outside of the brain altogether, and is composed of +currents arising from viscera, muscles, blood-vessels and glands. + +Now the component currents are of different sizes and positions and +variable degrees of warmth. That is another way of saying that whether +or not a current is to become the center of the stream, or to approach +it, or whether it is to be hot, cold, or tepid, depends upon the +degree of activity of the various parts of the vegetative apparatus. +A convenient name for this is _tonus_. Tonus can be experimentally +watched and measured. Thus hunger, the most primitive of the +wish-feelings, has been found to be simultaneous with certain +characteristic contractions of the stomach. Stop those contractions, +and you stop the hunger. The contractions begin slowly and weakly, +and no awareness of them occurs in the mind. As they grow stronger, +consciousness becomes a sensation rather like an itch somewhere in +the upper abdomen, and accompanied sometimes by a sense of general +weakness. The vegetative activity going on as a current almost on the +outside of the stream of feeling has swelled and warmed, and so forced +itself, in a manner of speaking, into the center of the stream. Or if +you will, the rest of the stream has to arrange itself around it as +the center. A similar mechanism for the tonus of the other members +of the vegetative system, and how they determine consciousness and +behaviour is understandable. It has been shown that when the bladder +tone and the intestinal tone are of a definitely measurable size, one +has the desire to empty them. The same applies to the sex glands. +The pressure within a viscus is dependent upon the ratio between the +amount of contraction of the involuntary muscle in its walls, the +external pressure, and the quantity of its distending contents, the +internal pressure. The resultant quotient, the internal pressure +divided by the external pressure, measures the intravisceral pressure. +The primitive wish-feelings are the direct expressions of the various +intravisceral pressures, or tones. The primitive soul is an awareness +of the fused primitive wish-feelings of themselves as a whole, and of +the struggle between them for recognition, isolation, and, as we say, +satisfaction. This satisfaction consists in a degradation of the +highest intravisceral pressure to a point at which some other +intravisceral pressure becomes higher and therefore predominant. + +PHYSICS OF THE WISH + +Mind, consciousness, may then be portrayed as an ocean comprised of +mobile current layers, complexes built up around the awareness of +different intravisceral pressures. A shifting hierarchy of such +pressures form the points of focusing of consciousness that result in +conduct. Behaviour may be defined as the resultant of the organism's +pressure against the environment's counter pressure until there is +a sufficient reduction of the specifically exciting intravisceral +pressure. Just as water flows to its own level, so will conduct flow +to reduce intravisceral pressure to its own level. A physics of the +soul comes into prospect, in which a mathematical analysis will state +the process quantitatively in terms of some common unit of pressure. + +Not only conduct, but also character, because it is past conduct +repeated, associated, and fixed, will be so statable. For +intravisceral tonus or pressure is not simply or only an acute or +passing affair. There is for it a persistent or average figure, +the so-called normal for it, below which or above which the acute +situation will bring it. _Character_ is a _matter then of standards +in the vegetative system_. Character, indeed, is an alloy of the +different standard intravisceral pressures of the organism, a fusion +created by the resistance or counter pressure of the obstacles in the +environment. Character, in short, is the grand intravisceral barometer +of a personality. + +Thus the comfortable, healthy, happy, well-balanced, progressive, +constructive, virile personality is one in whom there is a +continuously harmonious reduction of the intravisceral pressures in +the environment called society. For in a gregarious creature, like +man, fellow beings are the most powerful determinants of negative and +positive vegetative pressures. Not so well rounded are other types +existing because of inferiorities or excesses of the standard visceral +tone. There is, for instance, the sexually cold type, comfortable by +creating for itself an anaphrodisiac environment composed of pressures +that can be fitted into its own. Or there may be an insufficiency of +standard pressure in the alimentary tract, and we have the ascetic, +mal-nourished, striving, uplifting type. Different types will be made +by the permutations and combinations of factors that determine the +intravisceral pressure and the environmental, i.e., social resistances +or counter pressures. + +INTERNAL SECRETIONS DETERMINANTS OF VEGETATIVE PRESSURES + +Now of all the different factors which determine the tones, that is to +say, the internal pressures, of the various parts of the vegetative +apparatus (including all structures not controlled by the will in +the term), the internal secretions or hormones are by far the most +important. This significance is conferred upon them because it is +by their activities primarily that these pressures are produced, +regulated, lowered and heightened; in short, controlled. We have seen +how the thyroid and adrenal hold the reins of the drive or check +systems in the vegetative apparatus. Together with the other ductless +glands, they decide the advance or halt, forward or retreat, tension +or relaxation, charge and discharge, of the visceral--involuntary +muscle--blood vessel combination which is at the core of life. Here +again they emerge as the directorate. + +Carlson, the Chicago physiologist, who probably knows more about being +hungry than any other man on the planet, once demonstrated that the +injection of an ounce or two of the blood, which means the internal +secretion mixture, of a starving animal, into one not starving +increased the signs of hunger and the accompanying hunger contractions +of the stomach. There can be no doubt that hunger is the expression of +a certain specific concentration of internal secretion or secretions +in the blood. When the quantity, in the cycles of metabolism, becomes +sufficiently great, it stimulates the stomach to contract in a way +which augments the pressure within it to a point at which the feeling +of hungriness, and the wish to satisfy it, or to get rid of it, +becomes imperative, and the dominant of consciousness. + +Without doubt the sexual cravings are likewise so determined. Sex +libido is an expression of a certain concentration, a definite amount +peculiar to the individual, of the substance manufactured by the +interstitial cells, circulating in the blood. It arouses its effects +probably by (1) increasing the amount of reproductive material in +the sex glands in a direct chemically stimulating effect upon the +germinative cells, and so raising the internal pressure within them, +(2) stimulating the involuntary muscles within the walls and the +canals of the sex glands, and so, by augmenting the tenseness of the +muscles, elevating the total intravisceral pressure, (3) by a direct +chemical and indirect nervous effect upon the brain, the muscles, the +heart, as well as the other glands of internal secretion stimulating +the organism as a whole. Though the isolation in pure form of the +substance or substances involved has never been scientifically +achieved, their inference is entirely justified. It is indeed the only +comprehensible mechanism conceivable that will fit all the known facts +about the matter. And even though the assertions of Brown-Séquard were +only the exaggerations of a semi-charlatan, it is certain that some +day in the near future the particular substance, that he claimed he +had discovered, will be handed about in bottles for the inspection of +the curious. + +Besides thyroxin, adrenalin, and the libido-producing secretion of the +interstitial cells, the substance produced by the paired glandlets, +situated behind the thyroid, the parathyroids, have a profound +influence upon the vegetative apparatus and the vegetative nervous +system. These direct the lime exchanges within the cells of the +organisms, including the nerve cells. It has been shown that lime is, +relatively, a sedative to cells. It raises the threshold or strength +of stimulus necessary to evoke a reaction. Removing the parathyroids +means removing the lime barrier, for with their deficiency there is a +change in, and then an escape, from the blood, of the lime, by way +of the kidneys. The result is sometimes an enormous increase in the +excitability of all the cells, and especially of the vegetative +apparatus. What that means for the individual whose comfort depends +upon a stability of the intravisceral tones and pressures may be +readily imagined. + +The pancreas likewise acts as a sedative to the vegetative apparatus. +In particular, this applies to the sugar mechanism in the liver under +the discipline of the check and drive organization. The adrenal and +the pancreas are the direct antagonists in the struggle for control of +sugar. Removal of the adrenals will cause a decrease in the amount +of sugar in the blood, while removal of the pancreas will produce an +increase. Excess of sugar in the blood may thus be concomitant with +changes of character considered incorrigible. + +In different locales of the vegetative apparatus, as indeed of +the body in general, the directorate seems to be handed over to a +committee of control, generally made up of two members working +in opposing directions. Such a division of power in the general +directorate is analogous to the small holding corporations which +divide functions in, for example, the United States Steel Corporation. +The relative ratios of tonus in these smaller internal secretion +balances are of the utmost significance as causes of differences +in the vegetative apparatus, which are the basis of differences in +structure, power, and character between individuals. + +THE GENERAL LAWS OF THE DIRECTORATE + +Our knowledge of the glands of internal secretions as an interlocking +directorate presiding over all the functions of the organism is still +exceedingly meagre. As yet, we seem to be knocking at the portals +of the chemistry of the imponderable. There are holes in the bronze +doors, and we glimpse the unfathomable distances of unexplored +regions. But we do see something, and we do glimpse a beginning. +Already the outlines of a differential anatomy, and a different +physiology and a differential psychology, which will explain to us +the unique in the constitution, the temperament and character of +an individual, emerge. It is worth while, before proceeding to the +details, so valuable to a society which would become rational, to +summarize the general principles emerging, expressing the directing +powers of the ductless glands over the individual. _They may be +regarded as the present postulates of a new science of the whys and +wherefores separating and setting apart, as so recognizably distinct, +those peregrinating chemical mixtures: men and women_. + +1. The life of every individual, in every stage, is dominated largely +by his glands of internal secretion. That is, they, as a complex +internal messenger and director system, control organ and function, +conduct and character. The orderliness of human life, in the +sequential march of its episodes, crises, successes and failures, +depends, to a large extent, upon their interactions with each other +and with the environment. + +2. One or several of the glands possesses a controlling or superior +influence above that of the others in the physiology of the individual +and so becomes the central gland of his life, its dominant, indeed, so +far as it casts a deciding vote or veto, in its everyday existence and +incidents as well as in its high points, the climaxes and emergencies. + +3. These glandular preponderances are at the basis of personality, +creating genius and dullard, weakling and giant, Cavalier and Puritan. +All human traits may be analyzed in terms of them because they are +expressions of them. + +4. Specific types of personality may be directly associated with +particular glandular prominences, so that we have the thyroid-centered +types, the pituitary-centered types, the adrenal-centered types, etc. +These are the classic Three, the prototypes in their purity most +easily described and recognized. + +5. Combinations of these, as well as of other glands--with joint +predominance--occur and indeed form the majority of populations. The +phenomena of varieties in species are thus explained. + +6. Internal secretion traits are inherited, and variations in heredity +are essentially the structural representation of the resultant of a +parallelogram of forces exerted by each of the parental prepotent +glands. If they are of the same type, they may reinforce each other: +if not, inhibitions and compensations will come into play. Mendelian +laws may apply. + +7. The process of evolution, as the play of natural selection upon +these variations, becomes comprehensible from a new standpoint. + +8. Certain diseases, and disease tendencies, both acute and +constitutional, as well as traits of temperament and character, and +predetermined reactions to certain recurring situations in life, +are rooted in the glandular soils that compose the stuff of the +individual. + +9. The subconscious, of which the vegetative apparatus is the physical +basis, leads back to the internal secretions for the profoundest +springs of its secrets. We shall see how and why. + +10. Given the internal secretory composition, so to speak, of an +individual--his endocrine formula--and so his intravisceral pressures, +one may predict, within limits, his physical and psychic make-up, +the general lines of his life, diseases, tastes, idiosyncrasies and +habits. + +11. Within limits, if the previous history of an individual is known, +his physical appearance may be approximately described, and his future +outlined. + +12. Conversely, given the physical and psychic composition of an +individual, and his past history, one may deduce the internal +secretion type to which he belongs. + +Examples: + + A. One Thyroid-centered Type has + Bright eyes + Good clean teeth + Symmetrical features + Moist flushed skin + Temperamental attitude toward life + Tendency to heart, intestinal and nervous disease + + B. One Pituitary-centered Type + Abnormally large or small size + Musical--acute sense of rhythm + Asymmetrical features + Tendency to cyclic or periodic diseases + + C. One Adrenal-centered Type + Hairy + Dark + Masculinity marked + Tendency to diphtheria and hernia + +These are some of the master types. They have their variants depending +upon the influences of the other glands, especially the interstitial +cells of the sex glands. + +ANTE-NATAL DEVELOPMENT + +In their ensemble, the glands of internal secretion wield a +determining influence upon the development of the individual from +his very inception. If his various powers may be conceived of as an +orchestra, they may be said to conduct it from the very beginning of +its movements, and to cease only with its termination. From the moment +when the spermatozoon penetrates and fecundates the ovum, the fate +of the future being is settled by their disposition. The seal of his +destiny is soaked with their substance. + +POST-NATAL DEVELOPMENT + +Every particle of protoplasm, every granule of the impregnated ovum +carries the representatives of the parental ductless glands. As a +consequence, they transmit chemically, with no figure of speech +involved, the peculiar familial, racial and national characters from +progenitors to offspring. They confer upon the child a number of the +properties commonly recognized as inherited. All those features which +distinguish Caucasian from Mongolian, Scandinavian from Italian, +Italian from Jew are determined by them. + +In short, at every step of his life, in every relation and +association, in every expression of the inner forces that control his +being, the normal individual is influenced by his internal secretions. +Let us now see how. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +HOW THE GLANDS INFLUENCE THE NORMAL BODY + + +The origin of the remarkable differences between individuals that +distinguish species, varieties and families, has long been one of the +chief puzzles of biology. It may indeed be called the leading puzzle, +which led Darwin on to the collection of the data that culminated in +the "Origin of Species." The why of the Unique is the fundamental +problem of those who would understand life. + +An explanation is an attempt at a consistent and persistent, sometimes +an obstinate clarity of mind. A vast number of observations gathered +by laboratory experimentalists as well as by those naturalists of the +abnormal, physicians in active practice, prove that the construction +of the individual both during development before maturity, and +maintenance during maturity, his constitution, in short, is directed +by the endocrine glands. It is possible now to present an explanation +of the individuality of the individual. + +To assert that variation is responsible for the individual, that it +is the mechanism which isolates him as a being like none other of his +fellows, not even his parents, brothers, and sisters, is merely to beg +the question. What is variation? The internal secretion theory of the +process offers, for the first time, an explanation that is coherent +and comprehensive, based upon concrete and detailed observations. +It provides an adequate interpretation of the numberless hereditary +gradations and transitions, blendings and mixtures. It suggests a +control of heredity in the future. + +THE PURE TYPES + +In the pure types, only one gland, either by being present in great +excess above the average, or by being pretty well below the average, +comes to exercise the dominating influence upon the traits of the +organism. As the strongest link in the chain, or as the weakest, it +rules. The others must accommodate themselves to it. Among them as +commanders of growth, development and normal function, it holds the +balance of power. In every emergency it stands out by its strength or +by its weakness. It thus creates its own type of man or woman, with +attributes and characteristics peculiar to itself. These pure types, +as we have seen, are mainly the thyroid, the pituitary, and the +adrenal-centered. + +Each with the signs peculiar to it can be identified among the faces +that pass one in the street. And they differ so markedly among +themselves that they provide a new and accurate means of classifying +varieties among the races of the species: man. The thyroid type +differs as much from the adrenal type as does a greyhound from a +bull-dog. The greyhound has a certain size, form, character and +capacity. The bull-dog has similar qualities which are yet quite +different. Each is built for a particular career. Among human beings, +the pure thyroid type is easily distinguished from the pure adrenal +type, and both of these from the pure pituitary type. Each is stamped +with a significant figure, height, skin, hair, temperament, ambition, +social reactions and predisposition to certain diseases. + +THE MIXED TYPES + +Among the mixed types, the lines of distinction are less clear, and so +they are more difficult to classify. The mixed types may be said to +be hyphenated. In them, two or even three of the internal secretory +glands conflict for predominance. The combined action makes for a +resultant modification in the primary glandular markings and effects. +A hyphenated classification thus becomes inevitable. Especially is +this so if the two glands are mutually antagonistic and inhibitory. +A compromise effect is then necessitated. Or an individual may be +dominated by one gland at one period of his life and by another at a +later period. One of the glands, the thyroid, for example, will show, +by the traces it has left upon the earliest developing features, that +it was in control at the very earliest dates of his history, while +other signs will disclose the more recent influence of the adrenal +or of the pituitary. The combination becomes classifiable as the +thyroid-pituitary type, or as the thyroid-adrenal type. + +That the external features as well as the chronic diseases of human +beings are controlled by some common factor has long been suspected. +Inquiries into morbid phenomena with a hereditary trend yielded +information that has paved the way for the internal secretion theory. +It has long been known that certain diseases effect only certain +individuals of a definite constitution. Apoplexy, diabetes, +arteriosclerosis, Bright's disease, are met with almost exclusively in +what the older clinicians talked about as the apopleptic type. On the +other hand, they said, anemias, tuberculosis, hemophilias, scrofulas +occurred more among the lymphatic type. But they had no idea whatever +of the true functional basis of the two different types. The truth +as we of today view it is that these two types represent different +textures of human beings, fabricated of different internal secretions. +They are really two different breeds of the species Homo Sapiens. The +materials being different, the color and feel of them is different, +and the resistance to wear and tear is different. + +ENDOCRINE ANALYSIS + +The modes of classification glimpsed at are certainly exceedingly +broad and sweeping. It is well enough to establish types and classes. +But beneath them are sheltered the infinite possibilities of +permutations and combinations, which explain the countless variety +and complexity of form and function. Every individual born among the +vertebrates, for example, must have a certain definite amount and +percentage of pituitary gland, anterior and posterior, pineal, +thyroid, parathyroid, thymus, adrenal, pancreas, interstitial and +so on. Now if, to state it in terms of percentages, for the sake of +argument, the pituitary is 25, the pineal 10, the thyroid 36, the +parathyroids 15, the thymus 29, the adrenals 60, the pancreas 49, the +interstitials 72 (the gland when acting maximally to be graded as +100), we see at once how different such an individual must be from one +who has, say, pituitary 84, pineal 39, thyroid 26, parathyroid 42, +adrenals 96, pancreas 22 and interstitials 89. One obtains at once +from the contrasts of such figures some idea of the possibilities. As +each point plus or minus must count to produce some difference in the +individual, the results are manifest. Varying within the numerical +limits imposed by genus, species, variety and family (which limits +are probably responsible for the persistence of the particular genus, +species, variety, or family) the individual becomes an individual +because of the relative values of the percentages in his blood and +tissues of these different internal secretions. We thus begin to gain +an insight into the patterns according to which men, women and animals +are woven. + +We are, as yet, far from an exact endocrine analysis of the +individual. But we know that the endocrines rule over growth and +nutrition, a vast dominion which incorporates every organ and every +tissue. By enhancing or retarding the nutritional changes, the growth +of the organ or tissue is favored or restricted. The size and shape of +an individual, as a whole, as well as of the specialized cell masses +composing him, as hands and feet, the nose and ears, and so on, are +therefore controlled by them. Whether an organism is to be tall or +short, lean or corpulent, graceful or awkward, is decided by their +interactions. These, like human covenants, vary with the different +reactions of the parties to the contract. And so a great deal depends +upon whether they work harmoniously or discordantly, and upon which +does the most work and which the least. + +Undersecretion and Oversecretion + +It is when a gland, either in the course of development, or because of +the influence of starvation, shock, injury, poisoning or infection, +begins to undersecrete or oversecrete that its effects upon growth and +nutrition become grossly manifest. A veritable transfiguration of the +individual may occur, the black magic of which may perplex him for +a lifetime. A man, made eunuchoid by an accident or by mumps, will +observe in himself astonishing changes in his constitutional make-up, +mentality and sexuality. He would be more astounded to learn that +beneath the appearances, the changes, so alarming him, there are +profound alterations in the rate at which he is taking in oxygen, +burning up sugar, accumulating carbon dioxide and excreting waste +byproducts through the kidneys, which are responsible for them. + +The differences between the normal and abnormal are only a matter of +degree. And so, to be sure, are differences between types. But it is +hard to realize that the striking distinctions between the thyroid +type and the pituitary, comparable, as said, to the differences +between a greyhound and a bull-dog, are dependent solely upon +quantitative variations in the general and local speeds of metabolism, +among the cells. + +DIVISION OF LABOR + +Besides the antagonisms and co-operations between them, there are +certain lines along which the glands, in their effects, specialize. +The thyroid, for instance, is concerned specially with the regulation +of the shape, form and finish of an organ. The pituitary shines at the +periods of developmental crises, determining them and modifying them. +It exerts the greatest influence upon the time of eruption of the +teeth, both the temporary and the permanent, the onset of puberty, the +recurrence of menstruation in women, and the time of occurrence of +labor. The interstitial glands distribute the basis of the powers and +limitations of masculinity and femininity. Abnormalities of these +glands also affect the individual all along the line, in all of his +aspects. So affected he may apparently change into a wholly different +being. He may change in size, in the shape of his head, feet and +hands, as well as in his habits, aptitudes and dispositions. So he may +find it necessary to purchase an entirely different size of hat, more +commodious clothes, and newly fitting gloves and shoes. At the same +time, his family, relatives and friends, discover that the erstwhile +generous, frank, neat and punctual and liked, has become stingy and +suspicious and slovenly and hated. And all because a gland has begun +to undersecrete or to oversecrete. The transformation will be slight +or marked, depending entirely upon the extent of impairment, positive +or negative, of the gland involved. + +But it is not only in the shaping of the normal individual's +architecture that the internal secretions dominate. Over that subtle +something known in all languages as vitality, expressive of the +intensity of feeling, thought and reactions in cells, they rule +supreme. Gay vivacity and grim determination, the temperament of a +Louis XIV, and the soul of a Cromwell, are the crystallizations of +these chemical substances acting upon the brain. + +INTERNAL SECRETION VARIETIES + +There is no better way of illustrating the influence of the internal +secretions upon the normal than the analysis of the variation of +traits with variations in glandular predominances. The general build +of an individual, his skeletal type, the proportion between the size +of his arms and that of his legs, as well as that between his trunk +and his lower extremities, whether he is to be tall, lanky and +loutish, or short, squat and dumpy, are to be considered. Different +facial types are the expressions of underlying endocrine differences. +The head and skull offer a number of clues to the controlling +secretions in the blood and tissues. Whether the forehead is to be +broad or narrow, the distance between the eyes, the character of the +eyebrows, the shape and size and appearance of the eyes themselves, +the mould of the nose and jaws and the peculiarities of the teeth, are +all so determined. The skin, in its color, texture, the quantity +and distribution of its fatty and other constituents, eruptions and +weather reactions, is influenced. Also the mucous membranes, the +color and lustre and structure of the hair, as well as its general +distribution and development, are hieroglyphics of the endocrine +processes below the surface. Whether the muscles are massive or +sparse, atrophied or hypertrophied, soft or hard, easily fatigable +or not, bespeak conditions in the glandular chain. In short, we must +regard the individual as an immensely complicated pattern of designs +traced by the hormones as the primary etchers of his development. +Though it must be admitted that the number of unknown and unsolved +relations in the pattern are still enormously great, enough has +been established to make possible a rough working analysis of the +particular, unique organism placed before us for examination as Mr. +Smith, Mrs. Jones, or Miss Smith-Jones. + +WHAT IS THE NORMAL? + +Anthropologists, from the beginning of anthropology, have battled +in vain for a satisfactory inclusive definition, or, at least, +description of the normal. With the introduction of the biometric +method, the goal at last appeared within sight. A cocked hat curve +expressing the distribution and range of the normal looks formidable. +The attainable turned out a mirage, for the curves constructable by +the measurement of traits of a population only proved the truth of the +old axiom that all transitions and variations between extremes exist. +The Problem of the Normal seemed more elusive than ever. And the best +that could be done for the elucidation of its mystery, was to apply +and observe the law of averages. + +From the endocrine standpoint, the reason for this becomes clear. The +biometric method concerned itself with externals, with, as it were, +symptoms. Since these external signs are but manifestations of the +inner chemical reactions, of which the internal secretions are the +determining reagents, or factors, with permutations and combinations +possible in all directions, the diversity and variability of each +individual and his traits stands explained and understandable. The +normal, as the perfect or nearly perfect balance of forces in the +organism, at any given moment, emerges as a more definite and real +concept than that which would abstract it from a curve of variations. +Moreover, since the directive forces within the organism are +pre-eminently the internal secretions, the normal becomes definable as +their harmonious balancing or equilibrium, a state which tends not to +undo (as the abnormal does) but to prolong itself. + +The potential combinations and compensations, antagonisms and +counteractions, attainable within the endocrine glands as an +interlocking directorate, point the cause for the elusive quality of +the normal. Tall men and short men, blonde women and dumpy women, +lanky hatchet-faced people, stout moon-faced people, Falstaff and +Queen Elizabeth, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, Disraeli and +Walt Whitman, Caesar and Alexander, as well as Mr. Smith and Miss +Jones come within the range of the normal. There are all kinds and +conditions and sorts of men and women, and all kinds and sorts and +conditions of the normal, because an incalculable number of harmonious +relations and interactions between the endocrines are possible, and +do actually occur. The standard of the normal must obviously not be +a single standard, but a series of standards, depending upon which +glands predominate, and how the others adapt themselves to its +predominance. Adrenal-centered types, thyroid-centered types, +pituitary-centered types, thymus-centered types, as well as hyphenated +compounds of these, such as the pituitary-adrenal types, exist as +normals. They can be conceived of as normal types because they exist +as normal types. + +THE SKELETAL TYPES + +Now men, for as long as we have any knowledge of their thoughts and +classifications and attitudes, have been accustomed to first think +of one another, to classify and size one another as tall or short, +slender or broad, thin or corpulent. The biological necessity, indeed, +instinct of the one animal to relate the other animal to aggressive or +harmless agencies in his surroundings, accounts for this. Relatively, +of course, for all these modes of description imply offensive or +defensive possibilities of the stimulus for the recorder in relation +to himself. The interest in stature is fundamental, and has persisted +in the most civilized, nations. The relationship of height and weight, +as well as of length and breadth, to other physical traits, have +formed the subject of scientific study. There is, for instance, the +classification of Bean, who divided mankind generally into two types, +those of a medium size, stocky long legs and arms, large hands and +feet, short trunk, and face large in comparison to the head (the +meso-onto-morphs) and those who were either tall and slender, or small +and delicate, with the smaller face, eyes close together, long, high, +narrow nose, and trunk longer as compared with the extremities (the +hyper-onto-morphs). Bean showed, too, that the hypers (to use a short +word to contrast with the mesos) were present to the extent of almost +a hundred per cent in a series of tuberculosis, and about ninety per +cent in a series of central nervous system disease. All of which is +exceedingly interesting and suggestive, but throws no light upon the +underlying mechanisms of statures. + +STATURE AND GROWTH + +Stature is essentially determined by the growth of the long bones. +They are the pace-makers, and the muscles and soft tissues follow the +pace they set. Now the primary determinant, catalyst or sensitizer of +the growth of the long bones is the anterior pituitary. All statures +should therefore be first scrutinized from the point of view of the +pituitary. Individuals over six feet tall or under five feet five +inches should be looked upon as having a pituitary trend. This +pituitary trend may be primary, due to its own undergrowth or +overgrowth, or it may be due to lack of inhibition from the sex glands +such as occurs in eunuchs and eunuchoids, or excessive or premature +inhibition from them as happens in certain salacious dwarfs. + +The long bones grow at a point of junction between the bone proper +and an overlying layer of gristle or cartilage, known as the zone of +ossification. It is upon this zone of ossification that the various +growth influences appear to focus and concentrate their efforts, among +them the internal secretions. After growth has been finished, that is, +after adolescence, these zones of ossification close, so that growth +is no longer possible unless they become reactivated. Upon the zone of +ossification must act the pituitary, and indirectly the thyroid, the +interstitial cells, the thymus and the adrenals. Individuals oversized +or undersized either belong to the pituitary type, or if hyphenated, +have the pituitary as one of the dominants in their composition. The +necessities of child-bearing determine a greater angle between trunk +and lower extremities in the female. Underactivity of the pituitary, +for instance, will prevent the development of the normal angle. The +ratio in length of the upper limbs to the lower is a fairly constant +relationship for each sex normally Deviations occur with a break +somewhere in the chain of cooperation of the internal secretions +controlling the growth of bone. + +HANDS, FINGERS AND TOES + +The size and shape and general configuration of the hands, fingers +and toes are details that tell an endocrine tale. Students of hands +naturally have grouped them as the long slender and the short, broad, +the bony and the well-filled out, the tapering fingers and the stumpy. +The character of a hand is determined anatomically by the length and +breadth of the bones, the amount and distribution of fat, and the +thickness and elasticity of the skin. Over these, the essential +control lies in the pituitary and the thyroid. So we find that +pituitary types have, when there is oversecretion, large bony, gross +hands, spade-shaped, or when there is undersecretion, hands that are +plump, with peculiarly tapering fleshy fingers. The hyperthyroid has +long slender fingers, the subthyroid pudgy, coarse, ugly foreshortened +hands, often cold, and bluish. + +FACIAL TYPES + +An artist will see in a face the past history of generations, a +narrative of the adventures of the blood, a record of tears and +smiles, wrinkles and dimples, the victories and defeats of buried +drudgery and romance. These signatures which the Faculty of Life have +scribbled or engraved over it as upon a diploma, bespeak for him +spiritual moments. To the student of the internal secretions the +lines, expressions, attitudes are important for they tell of the state +of tensions and strains in the vegetative apparatus with which they +are inseparably connected. It is when one comes to the consideration +of the face as a complex of brows, eyes, nose, lips and jaws that he +becomes most interested. For in the modeling and tone of every one of +the features each of the endocrine glands has something to say. In +consequence there has been described the hyperpituitary face, and the +hyperthyroid face, the subthyroid face and the subpituitary face, the +adrenal face, the eunuchoid face and the ovarian face and also the +thymic. + +To bring to mind an immediate complete image of the hyperthyroid face, +one should think of Shelley. The oval shape of it, with the delicate +modeling of all the features, the wide, high brow, the large, +vivacious, prominent eyes with the glint of a divine fire in them and +the sensitive lips all belong to the classical picture. Generally +flushed over the cheek-bones, there is undoubtedly a certain +effeminate effect associated with it. At least, it is the least animal +and brutish of the faces of man. + +On the other hand, the subthyroid face is that of the cretin and +cretinoid idiot, in a mild degree. So characteristic that we recognize +the portrait in the descriptions of Pliny in early Roman tunes and of +Marco Polo in his Asiatic travels. Coarseness, dullness, pudginess are +its keynotes. Irregular features, tendency to wide separation of the +eyes and pug nose, sallow, puffy complexion, waxy thickened nose and +eyelids, deep-set, listless, lacklustre eyebrows, and thick prominent +lips comprise the catalogue of the physiognomy. On the whole, the sort +of face one passes in the street as stupid and common. But there are +a number of fascinating and marvelous varieties of the stupid and +common. + +The adrenal face is most often dark or freckled. It tends to be +irregularly broadish. It is hairy, one is struck forcibly. There is a +low hair line, which makes the brow appear rather low, and there is +a good deal of hair over the cheek bones. The adrenal type is round +headed. + +The face of the hyperpituitary is striking and pretty sharply defined. +It is long and narrow, with a tendency to prominence of the bony +parts. Square, protruding jaw, high, thin, straight nose, emphasized +eyebrows, and marked cheek-bones, comprise the leading points in its +composition. On the other hand, the subpituitary is more rounded and +trends toward the full moon effect, the chin recedes, the cheek-bones +are buried under fat, the nose spreads more and is flatter. In its +general expression, there is a complacence and tranquillity which is +often mistaken for sleepiness, and often actually is dullness. + +The eunuchoid face is usually fat with puffy eyelids. The skin is +smooth and cool, marble-like often, poor in pigment and color. +Sometimes it is sallow, wrinkled and senile in a man in his early +twenties. At others, it is distinctly feminine in its hairlessness, +and the delicate texture of the skin, as well as in the clean-cut +patterning of the features. Every gradient between premature senility +and sex inversion is encountered. + +The thymic face frequently stamps its possessor at sight. Its owner +has a smooth, soft skin, with little or no hair, and a dead white or +"peaches-and-cream" complexion. One wonders, when unacquainted with +the type, who the man's barber is, or where he learned to shave +himself so well. It may be curiously velvety to the touch and swept by +a faint sheen. Among children occur the most exquisite samples of the +kind designated as the angelic child. The face is finely moulded and +beautifully proportioned, features artistically chiselled, eyes blue +or brown with long lashes, cheeks transparent with rapid, fleeting +variations in coloring, thin lips, and oval chin. In the adult, the +chin is receding, and the mouth seems underdeveloped in one variety. + +THE TEETH + +As closely connected with the internal secretions as are the bones of +the face and the skull are the teeth. Tooth formation is essentially a +modified bone formation. And as the bones of the face are influenced, +so are the teeth influenced. But as each tooth is a miniature organ, +inspectable by the eye as a unit, the action of the ductless glands +is more obviously reflected for the observer to read. By their teeth +shall ye know them. Upon the whole history of the evolution of each +tooth, in the growth of the dental follicle and its walls, the +fruition of the dentinal germ, the making of the enamel organ, the +dental pulp, the cementum and the peridental membrane, the endocrines +leave their mark. + +There are certain general statements about the teeth and the internal +secretions that can be made. The teeth of the thyroid types are +pearly, glistening, small and regular; in other words, the teeth to +which poets have devoted sonnets. The pituitary types have teeth that +are large and square and irregular, with prominence of the middle +incisors, and a marked separation or crowding of them. The +interstitial types have small irregular upper teeth, with turned, +stumpy or missing lateral incisors. The thymus types have youthful, +milky white teeth that are thin and translucent, and scalloped or +crescentic at the grinding edge. The teeth of the adrenal type are all +well-developed, tend to have a yellowish color, with a reddish tinge +to the grinding surfaces. + +The degree and regularity of development of the middle upper cutting, +biting teeth, as distinguished from the grinding molars, the middle +and lateral incisors, and the canines offer further guides to the +endocrine constitution analysis. The size of the central incisors +seems to be directly proportional to the degree of pituitary +predominance. On the other hand, the size and regularity of +the lateral incisors seem proportional to the influence of the +interstitial cells. When these are inferior in the make-up of an +individual, the lateral incisors are nearly always distorted. The +size of the canines appears to be a measure of adrenal activity. Long +sharply pointed canines mean well-functioning adrenal gland equipment +to start in with, inherited from a bellicose progenitor. + +No individual peculiarities of the teeth are accidental. Just as the +absence of hair on the face in a man or a moustache effect in a +woman stand for some definite stress or strain in the mechanics of +interaction of the internal secretions, so likewise do variations in +dentition, as to the time of eruption of the teeth, their position and +quality, and their resistance to decay. + +Proper balance between the thymus and pituitary will permit the +eruption of the teeth within the normal time limits, both the milk +teeth and the permanent teeth. When there is equilibrium between the +pituitary and the gonads, the teeth will be regular in shape and +position. Carious teeth, in children and adults, sometimes indicate +endocrine imbalance. Thyroid and adrenal balance determines the +resistance to decay of the molars. Early decay of the molars in +children is significant of insufficiency of the thyroid. When the +first permanent molar, which should appear in the upper arch in its +usual position between the sixth or eighth years, does not, there has +been a prenatal disturbance of the pituitary, according to Chayes +and others. Rapid decay of the teeth in childhood should always call +attention to the parathyroids. + +In pregnancy, the teeth suffer particularly because of disturbances of +the endocrines. The saying, "A tooth for every child," is said to have +its equivalent in every language. The bicuspids and second permanent +molars erupt around puberty, when profound readjustments are going on +among the glands of internal secretion. They consequently suffer with +their abnormalities or divergences from type. The teeth thus furnish a +good deal of information concerning the distribution of the balance of +power among the hormones. + +THE SKIN + +The skin is influenced in its color, moisture, hairiness, texture, fat +content and disease vulnerability by the endocrines. The question of +color is very interesting, for it is probably the expression of the +blending action of the different internal secretions. Davenport, the +American student of heredity and eugenics, has shown that neither +white nor black skins are either perfectly white or perfectly black, +but are mixtures in various proportions of black, yellow, red and +white. The exact percentages of the pigments in each particular skin, +can be determined by means of a rotating disc. Thus a white person's +skin may have the following composition: + +Black 8% Red 50% + +Yellow 9% White 33% + +The composition of the skin of a very black negro may be: + +Black 68% Red 26% + +Yellow 2% White 7% + +Now the fact that in Addison's disease in which the adrenals are +destroyed there occurs a coincident increase in the black in the +skin, and other evidence pointing to adrenal implication in dark +complexioned white people, as well as in those possessing pigmented +spots, seems to indicate the adrenals as controllers of the black +and white factors. Davenport has concluded that there are two double +factors for black pigmentation in the full-blooded negro which are +separately inheritable. The determinants of the red and yellow have +still to be worked out. + +The moistness of the skin, as perspiration, depends upon the number +and activity of the sweat glands. It varies with the water content of +the body, the state of the vegetative nervous system, and the body +temperature. Thus the skin of the hyperthyroid and the subadrenal +is soft and moist, because of their antagonistic effects upon the +sympathetic system. The subthyroid and the hyperadrenal have dry +and harsh skins for the same reason, if no other glands intervene. +However, in both of the latter, if there is a persistent thymus, the +skin will retain the bland quality of adolescence. + +There is a curious variation among the different internal secretion +types in the reaction of the skin to stroking. When the skin, +especially the skin over the shoulders, the breasts and the abdomen, +is stroked with some blunt object, the blood vessels react either by a +greater filling up or emptying of themselves. The latter occurs most +regularly in the subadrenal types, the former in the hyperthyroid. +Both forms of reaction run parallel to the different check or drive +effects of the vegetative apparatus. With too much drive, that is, too +much thyroid, there is the flushing reaction; with too little check, +that is, with too little adrenal, there is the whitening. These +differences probably explain the emotional reactions of the face. In +anger, for example, some people become a dead white, others a fiery +red. Whether one will do one or the other may depend upon the relative +predominance of the thyroid or of adrenal in the individual. + +In the distribution of fat beneath and throughout the skin all of the +endocrine glands appear to have a voice. The typically hyperthyroid +and hyperpituitary individuals tend to be thin, as well also as those +who have well-functioning or excessively functional interstitial +cells. In all of these the administration of the respective internal +secretions increases the burning up of material in the body, and all +of them have a higher rate of tissue combustion than their confreres, +with a subthyroid or subpituitary keynote in their cell chemistry, or +with insufficient interstitial cell action. Generally the latter have +a very dry skin, the former a moist skin. With delayed involution of +the pineal, obesity results. + +The elasticity of the skin is another quality that varies with the +concentration in the blood of the internal secretions. Elasticity of +the skin, its recoil upon being stretched like a rubber band, may be +taken as a measure of the activity of all the endocrine glands. For, +as can be noticed especially upon the back of the hand, the older a +man grows, the less elastic becomes the skin. In older people, raising +the skin upon the back of the hand will cause it to stand up as a +ridge for a few seconds and then slowly to return to the level of the +surrounding skin. Whereas in a youthful person it will quickly snap +back into place. This quality of elasticity of the skin is due to the +presence in it of the so-called yellow elastic fibres, cell products, +with a resilience greater than anything devised by man. The +preservation of the resilience is a function of the internal +secretions. Thus, after loss of the thyroid, the ridging effect +characteristic of senility can be produced in one young as measured by +his years. It has been said that a man is as old as his arteries, and +also that as he is as old as his skin. It might better be said that he +is as old as his elastic tissue, young when he is rich in it, old when +poor and losing it. And as elastic tissue and internal secretions +stand in the relation of created and creators, or at least preserved +and preservers, a man may be said to be as old, that is as young, +fresh and active as his ductless glands. + +THE HAIR + +There is no characteristic of the human body, except perhaps +the teeth, more influenced in its quality, texture, amount and +distribution than the hair. And again, each of the glands of internal +secretion plays a part, but most importantly the thyroid, the +suprarenal cortex and the interstitial sex glands. All contribute +their specific effect, and the blend, the sum of the additions and +subtractions constituting their influences, appears as a specific +trait of the individual, a trait so significant as to be used by the +professionals absorbed in the study of man, the anthropologists, as a +criterion of racial classifications. + +Some acquaintance with the history of the normal growth of hair is +necessary to its understanding. There develops during the life of the +fetus within the womb a curious sort of wooly hair everywhere over +the entire body (excepting the palms and soles which remain hairless +throughout life), remarkably soft and fluttery--the lanugo. At about +the eighth month of intra-uterine existence, a good deal of this +lanugo is lost, to be replaced on the head and eyebrows by a crop of +thick, coarse, pigmented real hair. So it happens that at birth the +infant's hair is a queerly irregular growth, a mixture of what is left +of the general lanugo development, and the localized patches of the +more human hair. Until puberty this children's hair remains the same, +although at times, particularly after dentition, and after infectious +diseases which undoubtedly alter the relations of the internal +secretions, changes of color and texture occur. Then, with sexual +ripening, there appear in males the so-called terminal hairs, over the +cheeks and lips and chin, and, in both sexes, in the folds under +the shoulders and over the lower abdomen, the hair which might be +distinguished as the sex hair in contradistinction to the juvenile +hair of the head, the extremities and the back. + +Now the smoothness of the face in children is connected with the +activity of the thymus and pineal glands. Among individuals in whom +the juvenile thymus persists after puberty, no growth of hair occurs +on the face, and in precocious involution or destruction of the +pineal, hair appears on the face and in other terminal regions in +children of six or less, a symptom classical in the child who suffered +from a tumor of the pineal, and discussed immortality with his +physicians. It is probable that these thymus and pineal effects are +indirect through their action upon the sex glands. For in the types +with persistent juvenile thymus there occurs a maldevelopment of the +sex glands, while in those with early pineal recession the sex glands +bloom simultanously with the appearance of adolescent hair and mental +traits. The hastening of sexual hair by tumors of the adrenal gland +may also be put down to a release from restraint of the interstitial +sex cells. + +There are certain spheres in the hair geography of the body, over +which particular glands may be said to rule or to possess a mandate. +The hair of the head seems to be primarily under the control of +the thyroid. Thus in cretins reconstructed by thyroid feeding, the +straight, rather animal hair becomes lustrous and fine, silken and +curly. In the thyroid deficiency of adults, a prominent phenomenon +often is the falling out of the hair in handfuls. Baldness is +frequently associated with a progressive decrease of the concentration +of thyroid in the blood. At the same time, there tends to be a +thinning of the eyebrows, especially of the outer third. + +The hair of the face in males, and the other terminal hairs in both +males and females, is regulated by the sex glands primarily. In the +female, the ovary, that is to say, the interstitial cells of the +ovary, inhibit the growth of hair upon the face. In destructive +disease of the ovaries, as well as in other affections of it, hair in +the form of moustache, beard and whiskers may appear in female. That +is why in women after the grand sex change of life, the menopause, +hair often grows in the typically male regions because of loss of the +inhibiting influence of the ovarian internal secretion upon them. +After castration of the ovaries, the same may result. Removal of the +male sex glands, or disturbances of them, will interfere with the +proper development of the normal facial hair. Of the hair of the +chest, the abdomen and the back, the adrenals seem to be the +controllers. Adrenal types have hairy chests in males, and hair on the +back in females. They have also a good deal of hair upon the abdomen. +The hair on the extremities varies a good deal with the pituitary. +People with hair upon hands, arms and legs, alone, are generally +pituitary, or have a striking pituitary streak in their make-up. + +When the adrenals increase in size in childhood, a remarkable triad +follows--general hairiness, adiposity and sexual precocity. One fact +should be noted. When the adrenals evoke precocity, and an early +awakening of the secondary sex characteristics, it is a masculine +precocity, and an approximation to the masculine even in females. +There is a definite trend toward an increase of the male in the +individual's composition at the expense of the female. We shall have +to consider this in greater detail when we analyze the internal +secretion basis of masculinity and femininity. In general, the degree +of general hairiness is an index to the amount of adrenal influence +upon the organism. All the endocrines which affect the hair growth +also act upon the sebaceous glands which oil the skin. + +THE EYES + +Eyes present clues to internal secretion constitutions dependent upon +influences of architecture and function. The thyroid eye is typical. +It is large, brilliant and protruding. The individual is "pop-eyed." +On the other hand, subthyroidized eyes tend to be sunken and +lustreless. The eyes of a pituitary type are either set markedly +apart, or close together, with the hair at the root of the nose so +prominent as to constitute a separate bridge known as the nasal brow. +The size of the pupil, and its humidity, which have so much to do with +the expression of the eye, vary directly with the activities of the +driving and checking divisions of the vegetative system, and are +a pretty good index as to which, at the time of observation, is +predominant. When the check system is in control, the pupils are large +and dilated. When its antagonist and rival, the drive system, is on +top, the pupils are small and contracted. The reactions of the pupils +when charged by strong emotion, like fear or anger, likewise turn upon +the status of check or drive internal secretions in the economy of the +organism at the time the exciting agent presents itself. + +MUSCLES + +It would seem, at first sight, that organs like muscles, mechanical +instruments for the manipulation of the organism in space, would +be more or less independent of the subtler processes of internal +chemistry of the blood and tissues. But no assumption would be more +beside the mark. Just as much as the bones and viscera, the teeth and +the hair, they show grossly how they are being influenced by all the +endocrine glands. So thyroid types generally have a skeleton +sparsely covered with a muscular mantle. Pituitary types have large +well-developed muscles. The pineal gland has some definite relation to +muscle chemistry not yet probed. Thus, it has been shown that when the +pineal has been completely destroyed prematurely by lime deposits in +it, there is concomitant a wasting of muscles in places. This waste is +sometimes replaced by fat. Pictures and images in wood and stone +of these muscle freaks dating from the fifteenth, sixteenth, and +seventeenth century are in existence. Then there is the extraordinary +fatigability of the muscles which occurs in the thymus types, +who nevertheless have large well-rounded muscles, a paradox of +contradiction between anatomy and physiology. Such a type, for +instance, may be picked out by a football coach for an important +position in a line-up, simply on the tremendous impressiveness of +the muscle make-up, only to see him bowled over and out in the first +scrimmage. The tone of muscles, the quality of resisting firmness or +yielding softness, is essentially determined by the adrenal glands, +especially in time of stress and strain. + +Brown-Séquard was the first to show that extracts of sex glands could +increase the capacity for muscular work. Whether this was a direct +effect upon the muscles, or indirect through the nerves or other +endocrines, no one can say. Certainly the carriage of an individual, +outer symptom of the inner tonus among his muscles and tendons, may be +said to be as distinctively an endocrine affair as the color of his +skin. And like its variations, variations of their tone, development, +reactivity, fatigability, and endurance may be traced to corresponding +states of overaction, or underaction, and odd combinations of the +different hormones. Much remains to be learned about them and the +manner of their control. Such an affliction as flatfoot, dependent +upon a laxity of the ligaments in one who seems perfectly healthy and +strong, may lead the analyst back to a thymus-centered personality. +That is but one example. + +Since, too, muscle attitudes, muscle tensions and muscle relaxations +play so large a part in the production of fundamental mental states: +the attitudes, moods, memories and will reactions, the vegetative +apparatus enters, to play its part as a determinant. + +SEX + +Over no domain of the body have the endocrines a more absolute +mandatory than over that of the whole complex of sex. Both as regards +the primary reproductive organs, their size and shape, and the +character of their implantation, malformations and anomalies, as well +as the physical and mental traits lumped as the secondary sexual, +puberty, maturity, and senility, voice changes and erotic trends, +virility and femininity, the internal secretions are dictators at +every step. So significant are these, that even a rough summary of the +discoveries and the outlook in the field involves some consideration +of the details. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MECHANICS OF THE MASCULINE AND THE FEMININE + + +It needs a poet to chant the epic of sex. The mystery of it puzzled +the minds of the earliest Sumerian thinkers. As a source of deepest +excitement, it generated the most revolting ceremonies, bizarre +customs, astounding cruelties and incomprehensible stupidities of +the race. Men and women, as soon as they have done with their usual +business of keeping themselves free of disagreeable sensations, +hunger, cold, fear of enemies, betake themselves to it as a primary +interest all over the world. The most advanced psychologists of the +day link the sex impulse with the windings and twistings of all human +activity. + +Yet the Homer of sex through the ages is still to come. But at all +times the mystery evoked speculation and attempt at explanation. +Acting upon their theories as to the nature and function of sex, men +have, ever since the passing of the primeval matriarchates, segregated +women, equalized them, worshipped them, or enslaved them. Opinions +have varied from ancient national aphorisms to the effect that +women have no souls to the most ultramodern utterances of +biologist-publicists that the differences between men and women are +the differences between two species. There are other epigrams, vast +sweeping generalities, extant concerning the nature of sex, and women +particularly. All partake of the complexity of truth and therefore own +a certain validity. Still, since as a matter of fact, these items have +been based upon superficial observations colored by the tradition and +verbiage of the milieu, they are valuable more as human documents, as +material for the psychologist, than as scientifically obtained data, +able to stand unblinking before the rays of the critical searchlights. + +SCIENCE VS. ART + +Not that all the vast accumulation needs to be thrown pell-mell, +higgledy-piggledy into the discard. The love lyrics of the poet, the +magic of the emotions of Shelley and Poe, for instance, with their +marvelous music and exquisite intonings of feeling, furnish us with +important information. They are the facts of the sex life, as much as +the song of the nightingale, or the mocking laughter of the cuckoo +pursued by its mate. So Sappho and Elizabeth Browning, to take only +two samples, have contributed some of the feminine reaction. The +erotic motive in literature has but paralleled the erotic motive in +life, with all of its vagaries, delusions, confusions, ecstasies and +suffering. + +We have had concerning sex not knowledge, but a series of attitudes, +the attitude of virtue, the attitude of pruriency, the attitude of +good taste, the attitude of the theoretic libertine, the attitude of +the satyr's vulgarity. All these poses, of course, have supplied not +an iota to an understanding of the foundations of the problems of sex, +biologically considered. Thus, a masculine master has coined that +immortal phrase, the Eternal Feminine. And in a matriarchate we +should undoubtedly hear of the Eternal Masculine. Each leaves one as +unenlightened as the other. A rough and ready code of life attributes +certain grossly characteristic qualities of mind and body to each +sex. This is supposed to be enough for common sense. Beyond that the +mystery has been wrapped in cotton wool. That perhaps explains the +enormous popularity of contemporary pornographic and so-called sex +literature. + +There are bound up with sex feeling and sex knowledge many customs, +beliefs and habits, many legal statutes and social institutions, in +the complex that is called sentiment, to which science looms as the +sacrilegious ogre who devours romance. Without spending space upon the +ravages of the sentimental idealist, certainly responsible for as much +human disaster as the brutal realist, it is manifest that a revolution +in sex standards and relations is inevitable as soon as the new +doctrines filter down as matters of fact to the levels of the common +intelligence. And surely, nothing else could be wished for in the +world desired by all of us, the world ruled by intelligence, and +intelligent good will. + +SEX CHEMISTRY + +A few general statements may be put down outright as material to go +upon before we proceed to details. + +1. Femininity and masculinity have a definite chemical basis in the +reactions of the internal secretions of which they are the expression. +That is to say, that just as a precipitate of chalk is formed when one +throws some carbonate of soda into lime water, so the masculine +and the feminine are to be looked upon as precipitates and +crystallizations of a long series of linked chemical reactions in +the fluids of the body, in which the internal secretions play a +determining part. + +2. Femininity and masculinity are expressions of the interplay of all +the internal secretions. It used to be said by smart cats and accepted +by the tabby cats, that a woman was a woman because of her ovaries +alone. It is being said by some great discoverers of the day that man +is a man because of his testes alone. Neither of these dogmas is true. +There are individuals with ovaries who show every deviation from the +feminine and there are individuals with testes who exhibit every +variation from the masculine. The other endocrine glands are of equal +importance. + +3. There is no absolute masculine or absolute feminine. The ideals +of the Manly Man and the Womanly Woman were erected by the blind +ignorance of the nineteenth century illusionists, and a line drawn to +cleave them. But indeed biologically there exists every transition +between the masculine and the feminine. The explanation of these +different sex types consists in the different admixtures of the +internal secretions possible and actual. When we speak of the feminine +we really mean the predominantly feminine. And when we speak of +the masculine, we mean the mainly masculine. Between, all sorts of +transitions are possible and occur. + +Man in relation to the internal secretions we have considered in +reviewing the interstitial cells. To him, we shall return later. Let +us turn now to that fascinating subject of the ages, Woman. What +produces and maintains the Feminine? + +THE CAUSE OF SEX + +To all appearances, that inscrutable simplest of living things, the +fertilized ovum, beginning of the human, starts bisexual, double +sexed, both masculine and feminine, or perhaps neither masculine nor +feminine. Then a form develops. Then within that form a patch of cells +arise which the microscopist recognizes as the forerunners of the male +or the female reproductive cells. Then some more development. And at +birth, sex is definitely settled, as far as the reproductive organs +are concerned. + +Our knowledge here, as everywhere, is still fragmentary. Statistical +reviews seem to show that in times of stress, war, famine, pestilence, +more boys are born than girls. But that is neither here nor there. It +sheds no further light on the subject. Monosexuality is a distinction +of the human species: the sexes are pretty clearly differentiated. +In some animals, such as some worms, there is a bisexuality of the +individual. There are present the reproductive organs of both sexes, +capable of impregnating other individuals as well as of being +impregnated. In some of these, even self-impregnation may occur. This +is the condition of hermaphroditism. + +But the higher up one goes in the scale of evolution, the greater +becomes the distinction between the sexes. Anatomic hermaphroditism +becomes a rare anomaly. Life appears to have perfected this trick of +separate sexes, sex specialization, in short, for the sake of the +efficiency which goes with specialization. + +When a germ cell divides, its nuclear material breaks up into segments +known as chromosomes. Now it has been found, for example in the case +of the common squash bug, anasa tristis, that there are 22 chromosomes +in the female, and 21 in the male. In the female two of these are +visibly different from the rest, while in the male there is one odd +one, the remaining 20 being like the corresponding 20 of the female. +Before the germ cell becomes fit to mix with a germ cell of opposite +sex, in the process of fertilization, it must lose one half of these. +So the number of chromosomes for the species is kept the same or +constant. This is the process of maturation. In the process, when the +chromosome number is halved among the females, 11 go into each mature +egg. But among the males, the odd chromosome, also known as the +X-chromosome, can perforce go only into half of the sperm cells, +leaving the others without it. So the sperm are formed in equal +numbers of 10 and 11 chromosomes respectively. + +When fertilization occurs, and the sperm cell fuses with the egg, the +following may take place: (1) a ten chromosome sperm may unite with +the eleven chromosome egg, and produce a twenty-one chromosome +individual or (2) an eleven chromosome sperm may unite with an eleven +chromosome egg producing a twenty-two chromosome individual. It has +been found that the twenty-two chromosome individual invariably +develops into a female, and the twenty-one into a male. Therefore, +femaleness is a positive quality, dependent upon the action of the +X-chromosome, and maleness an absence of femaleness, due to lack +of the extra, odd chromosome. In man, two X-chromosomes have been +discovered, half the sperm containing 12, and the other half +containing only 10 chromosomes. The number of chromosomes in human +cells consequently is 22 in the male and 24 in the female. + +The X-chromosome is the bearer of sex destiny. There still remains the +work to be done on the actual control of sex by man, apart from its +natural determination. For the time being, let the feminists glory in +the fact that they have two more chromosomes to each cell than +their opponents. Certainly there can be no talk here of a natural +inferiority of women. + +THE SECONDARY OR ENDOCRINE SEX TRAITS + +Yet the matter is after all not so simple as this would make it out +to be. All that can be safely laid down is that the character of the +reproductive organs is determined by the extra chromosomes. And though +these reproductive organs have a good deal to do with the masculine or +feminine quality of the organism as a whole, through their internal +secretions, they are not alone. All the other internal secretions have +their say in the final outcome, determining what may be called the +dominant sex quality, but leaving inherent the latent soil of the +other sex. This may become active and dominant in its turn, under +certain conditions of stimulation, abnormality, or disease, dependent +upon a rearrangement of status and influence among the ductless +glands. Bisexuality preceded monosexuality in the animal pedigree, and +co-exists with it even at the highest points of the genealogical tree. + +While from the standpoint of the species, the criterion of the sex +classification of its members will depend upon their capacity to +fertilize or to be fertilized, a quality that may, therefore, be +spoken of as the primary sex character, a number of other traits have +been evolved by sexual selection, the secondary sex traits. They have +come to be just as important, to the individual, as far as his or her +consciousness of sex attitudes and reactions to it are concerned. The +terms primary and secondary sex characteristics, though inapt, must be +allowed to stand. + +These accessory sex-serving traits undoubtedly survived because of +their usefulness in external adornment for attracting attention in +courtship, in the metabolic requirements of sex combat and the sex +act, and in the necessities of caring for the young, until well-grown. +The rooster's comb and spurs, the male frog's claspers, the stag's +antlers, and so on, are familiarly and obviously so useful. Besides +there are fundamental differences in inner physiology. The human male +consumes more oxygen than the female per minute, since he has more red +corpuscles in his blood. In some caterpillars the blood is yellow in +the males and green in the females. W.I. Thomas has devoted an essay +of some fifty pages to a review of the organic differences between man +and woman. The ordinary criteria, employed every day by the man in the +street to distinguish man from woman may be arranged as follows: + + _Man_ _Woman_ + + Hair on face Hairless face + Skin coarse and lean Skin fine and plump + Muscles powerful Relatively weak + Bones heavy Bones light + Aggressive--bass voice Reserved--treble voice + +THE RÔLE OF THE OVARIES + +While the primary sex characters, as such, are present and +distinguishable from birth, quite the opposite holds for the secondary +sex traits. During childhood they are in abeyance or at least pretty +sharply suppressed. Girls and boys who are permitted to dress alike, +to play the same games and among whom no consciousness of sex is +encouraged are often difficult to tell apart. The boys will be boys, +and most of the girls tom-boys. + +With puberty comes a marked change of attitude toward the other sex. +Puberty is the time of ripening of the specific germ cells. It is +then the ovaries begin to secrete ova ripe for fertilization, and the +testes begin to secrete sperm ready to fertilize. Before this can +happen an event announced in the female by the onset of menstruation, +two conditions must be fulfilled in the endocrine history of the +individual. There must be a certain atrophy and retrogression of +the thymus gland, and there must likewise be a similar atrophy and +retirement of the pineal gland. Both of these involutions of the +glands of childhood must occur before the normal hypertrophy and +development of the sex glands and their secretions can start. Besides, +there must be a minimum activity of the thyroid, adrenal and pituitary +glands. Without them, below a certain minimum, the reproductive organs +and their secretions will remain infantile, causing a persistent +infantilism or delay of puberty. + +Formerly there was ascribed to the ovaries, in a lump and without +qualification, an absolute despotism over the specifically feminine +functions of menstruation, gestation, parturition, and lactation. +Nowadays, we see its domain as a limited monarchy, if not indeed as +one sovereign state of a republic, a member equal but not superior to +the others of a board of directors. Its true business comes down to +two particular rôles: first, the production of ova, and, second, the +secretion of a hormone or hormones. Over the other functions once +supposed its monopoly, all the ductless glands rule. + +What concerns us now is its internal secretion or secretions. One of +them is known as lutein and it has never been chemically isolated +in its pure form. The existence of lutein, like the existence of +electricity, is an inference, something we are sure is there because +of its effects. It originates in a remarkable part of the ovary, the +corpus luteum. Besides, there are the products of the interstitial +cells, the creations of a special layer of cells around the ovum, the +membrana granulosa. They produce a substance tonic to the uterus. + +When the ovaries are removed, there occurs an atrophy of the womb +muscle, due to loss of this tonic substance. This atrophy, accompanied +by an abolition of the normal periodic uterine contraction, makes +conditions unfavorable to pregnancy. It has been claimed that the +secretion of the corpus luteum is necessary for the complete progress +of a pregnancy. Cases are on record, however, of ovaries taken out +soon after the onset of pregnancy, without interference with the +gestation. + +Castration is comparable in every way with the menopause or the +time of cessation of sexual life, a process that might be called +self-castration. It produces certain general constitutional effects. +Adiposity often develops, undoubtedly associated with underfunction of +the thyroid and pituitary glands. The woman breathes less oxygen per +minute and burns up less food and tissue. There is some disturbance +of the lime balance with an increased excitability of the vegetative +nervous system. Concomitant is the release of some brake upon the +blood pressure mechanisms, so that a family tendency to high blood +pressure will flare up. Some women are rendered unstable by the +process, others are completely transformed, and still others adapt +themselves, with little or no discomfort, to the new situation. The +response to the revolution in the cell-republic of the castrate by +the other endocrines, the thyroid, the pituitary, and the adrenals, +determines which it is to be. + +For normally, with feminine puberty, there is an increased activity of +the thyroid, the posterior pituitary and the adrenal medulla. These +changes indeed constitute the formula of normal feminization. In the +male, the ripening of the testes is accompanied or perhaps preceded by +augmented function of the adrenal cortex and the anterior pituitary. +This difference in biochemistry accounts for the contrast between the +sexes in the skin, hair, fat, cartilage (voice) and bone changes. +Ovary and adrenal medulla and posterior pituitary and thyroid +predominance constitute the feminine formula. Testis and adrenal +cortex and anterior pituitary predominance comprise the masculine +endocrine directorate. + +THE REACTIONS OF THE OTHER GLANDS + +As in so many other aspects, the facts about the various influences +exerted by the endocrine glands upon the reproductive system are +complicated and disjointed. A chink of light has been let in upon a +dark cave, and slowly the chink will widen. But the gross effects are +clear. + +Around the ovary and the uterus, the endocrines gyrate as the planets +around the sun. The ovary is the organ for the preservation and +maturation of the germ plasm, that treasure which the body is built +but to cherish and hand on as a sacred heirloom. The ova, the female +egg cells, are the fundamental concern of the ovary. Secondarily, it +secretes its messengers to keep the rest of the body, and particularly +the other endocrines, in touch with the necessities of the adventures +of these ova. It is thus enabled to bend every force and power at its +command to the service of the reproductive instinct. + +In learning their rôle so well in the course of evolution, the +thyroid, the pituitary and the suprarenal have become indispensable +stimulants (in various degrees peculiar to the individual), to the +primary function of the ovary. As a consequence, to hold the sex +stimulating glands in check, there had to appear others, restraining +them and so preventing sex precocity. These are the thymus and pineal. +So closely are they all related that insufficient action of the +thyroid, pituitary or adrenals may cause atrophy of the ovaries +and uterus, with abolition of genital function. If the sex glands +themselves fail, as occurs usually in most women sometime in the +forties, the thyroid-pituitary-adrenal association must readjust +itself to the new development. The adaptation evokes the phenomena of +the transition to a new life, the climacteric. + +THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PUBERTY + +Tracing the development of sex life there is a certain order of events +in a normal history. Before puberty, the ova have lain asleep, as it +were, in a cocoon state. Now with puberty they awaken. And with them +all those profound mechanisms and inventions that have to do with +their nutrition up to ripening. Then revolve the cycles that are +translated as menstruation, the propulsion, fertilization and +implantation of the ova in the uterus,--the full development of the +fetus,--its birth, and feeding after birth--all of which are ductless +gland controlled. + +Samuel Butler once noted that: + +"All our limbs and sensual organs, in fact, our whole body and life, +are but an accretion round and a fostering of the spermatozoa. They +are the real "He." A man's eyes, ears, tongue, nose, legs and arms +are but so many organs and tools that minister to the protection, +education, increased intelligence and multiplication of the +spermatozoa, so that our whole life is in reality a series of complex +efforts in respect of these, conscious or unconscious according +to their comparative commonness. They are the central fact in our +existence, the point towards which all effort is directed." + +Nothing could be said more truly of Woman, and the ova she carries. +All that transpires during pubescence is symptomatic of the underlying +tidal stir in the cells. The uterus becomes gorged with blood +periodically, to provide an enriched soil for the perhaps to be +fertilized ovum to plant itself. The breasts grow, and fat is +deposited in particular places as reserve material for the making of +milk. The qualities which are to appeal to the eye and ear and even +nostrils of the male appear. Instincts dawn, an independence of spirit +germinates, emulsified with a curious shyness and coyness and a +desperate loneliness and secrecy. And all because there have been let +loose in the blood from the glands of internal secretion the chemical +substances that set going the clockwork of sequential incidents +elaborated and repeated through countless aeons of time. + +FEMININE PRECOCITY + +Ordinarily, in the north temperate climate, puberty begins about +the fourteenth year, but may begin anywhere from the tenth to the +sixteenth. Feeding and environment indirectly, the state of the +internal secretions as a whole directly, determine this. In girls, +those definite signs, menstruation and the growth of the breasts, +before the age of ten, mean premature awakening of the ovaries and a +concomitant co-reaction of the other endocrines, creating the ensemble +of maturity. + +In females, the primary stimulus, the initial spark of femininity, +must originate in the ovary. There are other forms of precocity in the +female, dependent upon stimulations of other glands, but these forms +are masculinisms, a masculinization of the personality, and not a +true awakening of the feminine constitution. So one must distinguish +sharply between a precocity by masculinization and precocity of +premature feminization. The latter always implies the touch of the +fairy's wand upon the sleeping ovaries. Sexual precocity in boys may +be produced by a premature overactivity not only of the specific +reproductive organs: the testes, but also by an early excess of +secretion on the part of the cortex of the adrenal gland or the +pituitary gland, or by a too early involution of the pineal or thymus. +When such abnormalities of adrenal, pituitary, thymus or pineal occur +in girls, it is the masculine streak in the hastening of growth that +is made manifest. All this emphasizes the relative bisexuality of +every normal, no matter how pronounced, when superficially viewed, his +or her form of predominating sex may be. Under the right conditions +recession of the most marked virility or femininity becomes +conceivable, and occurs. + +THE SECRET OF THE MASCULINE + +Masculinization having entered upon the scene, one may well ask: what +truly (which means chemically) lies behind all these differences +and divergences between male and female? What is the secret of the +variable internal secretion admixtures? You can tell us that the +recipes are different, the ingredients different, the results +different as a Nesselrode pudding is from, say, a rice pudding. But +what is the inner mechanism of the process? Since the masculine and +the feminine are but expressions of certain relative capacities and +potentialities, some single principle must run through the making of +both. + +Recognizing of course the qualifications inherent in so broad a +statement the answer is: the handling of the lime salts. Life +originated, or at least lived and worked for long ages in sea water. +During these eras the salts of the sea have come to play a dominant +rôle in its being. The lime salts, because of their peculiar +properties of dissolving or precipitating themselves according to +electrical conditions in their medium, have come to occupy a +central position in all the processes of growth, metabolism and sex +differentiation. So it is that masculinity may be described as a +stable, constant state in the organism of lime salts, and the feminine +as an unstable, variable state of lime salts. The male skeleton +contrasts with the female as the stronger, larger, heavier and +straighter because it is an expression of a greater capacity to +utilize, store and keep lime in the system. Women throughout their +reproductive period are liable to rapid and pendulum-like fluctuations +of their lime content. + +Menstruation, pregnancy, lactation, all draw upon the stores of lime, +sometimes depleting them to the point of softening of the bones and +wrecking the whole skeleton. The endocrines control the transport, +and course, combinations and permutations in the history of lime's +progress among the cells, and are in turn themselves affected by it. +Man is relatively free of these liabilities, and so remains man by +his freedom from the recurrent crises involving the lime salt reserve +which constitute the essence of the life story of woman. + +THE SEX INDEX + +It follows from these considerations that when it becomes necessary +to size the sex composition of a man or woman, a measurement becomes +establishable which may be spoken of as the sex index. To be able to +say of Mr. Llewylln Jones that he is sixty per cent masculine and +forty per cent feminine, or of Mrs. Worthington that she is seventy +per cent feminine and thirty per cent masculine would be of the utmost +value under all kinds of circumstances. Unfortunately, lacking as we +do the exact figures of an advanced blood chemistry (yet in its most +infantile infancy) a direct indexing of the sort is impossible. But it +is certainly conceivable, along the lines of measurement suggested +by the Binet tests and others, that a scale of evaluation of the +secondary sex traits may be elaborated, which would turn out as +valuable in understanding the frictions of the individual, and more +concretely, that aspect of it to which pathologists of the mind are +tracing so much needless misery and suffering: maladjusted sexuality, +expressed and suppressed. Nothing will contribute more to harmonious +adjustment for these sufferers than recognition of the fact that we +are all, more or less, partial hermaphrodites. + +THE FUNCTIONAL HERMAPHRODITE + +The complete or total hermaphrodite we define as the individual who +possesses the reproductive organs of the male and the female, both +testes and ovaries. So rare is such a combination in man that for a +long time its occurrence was doubted, descriptions of it regarded as +myth. However, undoubted cases are on record, examined by the most +careful of observers, of ovo-testis or mixed reproductive organs. +Strangely enough, the history of these cases, shows that at one time +the masculine set, and at another the feminine set, will hold sway +over the sex traits and functions. Blending does not happen. + +Rare though the true hermaphrodite may be, the partial hermaphrodite +is relatively frequent. The mixed ensemble of the directly contrasting +type, such as the concomitance of testes with feminine secondary sex +traits, or of ovaries with masculine sex traits, have been described +from time immemorial as freaks. Occurring even more frequently is the +mixed sex ensemble, in which the type of reproductive organs and of +secondary sex traits run roughly parallel, emulsified with certain +traits of the opposite sex. Physical features of one sex, instincts +and mental attitudes of the other co-exist in the same individual by +reason of an excess in one direction or a deficiency in another of the +internal secretions. The degree of masculine trend in a woman is a +crude measure of adrenal domination, the degree of feminine deviation +in a man is roughly proportional to the amount of pituitary influences +in his make-up. + +Whether one or the other sex tendency will dominate depends upon the +quantity of sex hormone divergence from the ideal normal. But also +determinant are the environment stimuli provoking excessive or +deficient secretory reactions from the other endocrines involved, +through the vegetative nervous system. Such especially are the +associates of the mixed sex individual. Ordinarily the combative male +and the submissive female are differentiated by contrasts of skin +and hair, fat and bone structure. The combative male is built as a +fighting machine, the submissive female as an organism of attractive +grace and beauty for impregnation and parturition. When one sees the +fragile woman aggressive, the masculinoid woman submissive, one +may infer an education of experience that has brought the usually +recessive glands into the foreground, and by their hyperactivity +imposed a bisexuality of function upon a unisexual anatomic structure. +A man apparently as formidable as a tyrannosaurus, may be ruled by +his wife for the same reason. These combinations of a single organic +sexuality with a functional bisexuality, based upon internal secretion +disturbances, are frequent, and merit the name of functional +hermaphrodites or mixed sex types. + +MIXED SEX AND THE FAMILY + +The psychology of the family in its relation to the endocrine traits +of its members is something that still remains to be thoroughly worked +out as a problem of tremendous importance. Particularly are the +reactions of the mixed sex types to be carefully considered. For, +since the family is fundamentally a sex institution, devised to +satisfy the sex needs, all the way from companionship to parenthood, +it is apparent that the mixed sex types will be tried the hardest by +its inexorable conditions. It is in relation to the mother (or nurse) +first, the father next, and other associates in proportion to their +proximity, that the primary endocrine-vegetative mechanisms, the germs +of the growing soul, become established. These are superimposed upon +the hereditary instinct apparatus. + +Fear, rage and love reactions develop first in association with the +suckling reflex, and the accompaniments, the mother's smile and voice, +the color of her hair, eyes and skin, her breasts and odors. Each time +the babe reacts to a pleasant or unpleasant stimulus, there is an +outpouring of certain internal secretions, a cessation of others, a +tingling of certain vegetative nerves and organs, a hushing of others. +The ensemble of reactions tends to be repeated around the same +stimulus, until the whole becomes automatic. One may observe the same +process in the lower animals. Offer a piece of meat to a dog and his +mouth waters. Ring a bell before offering the meat. Repeat this a +number of times, and after a while the mere ringing of the bell, +without the presence of the meat, will cause his mouth to water. This +associated vegetative secretion reflex is the most fundamental to +grasp in an understanding of the deepest strata of personality. + +Now there are, besides the associated vegetative-endocrine reactions, +certain inborn automatic processes in the vegetative system and in +the internal secretion system, which work automatically to produce +increased intravisceral pressures. The reduction of these pressures +below the point of their intrusion upon consciousness, their relief, +as we say, also form the centers of constellations around feelings +of satisfaction or love. Such, for example, are the voiding of +excretions. Sooner or later, these automatic reactions, and the +associated reflexes formed around the mother, father and other +associates, come into conflict. Inhibitions or prohibitions of the +automatic act at certain times or moments are imposed by somebody. +And so there occurs a pitting of the automatic mechanism against the +associated reflex. Conflict with adjustment by suppression must occur. +Thus a sense of self as active wisher (for the automatically pleasant +experience), and punishable suppressor (of the same in favor of the +acquired associated reflex) develops. + +So far, so good. Compromise by regulation from above, from the +brain, of the automatic reactions follows, as training. No absolute +repression is forced, no absolute encouragement is indorsed. +Harmonious equilibrium, or normality, continues. But now there come +upon the scene the unconscious fears. + +In the paleontology of character, these fears are the deepest strata, +the eocene era, so to speak, of the soul. They are the hardest to get +at and the most silent, as well as the most dominant of the influences +which guide conduct. In Sir Walter Raleigh's words: + + "Passions are best likened to streams and floods. + The shallows murmur, the deeps are dumb." + +During the first period of childhood, up to five or six, the primary +fears group themselves around the taboos and secrets of its life. + +Though we have every reason for believing that the sex glands are +acting in some way upon the organism during this time, nothing +definite is known. Yet, as the numerous studies of the subconscious +recently made prove, sex curiosity like the other curiosities, +flowers. More than about the automatic visceral reactions, these +curiosities evoke the repressive imperatives of the associates, the +mother and father especially. These repressive influences may be +and often are the effects of ignorance, prudishness, vulgarity, or +homosexuality, or the sex perversions that are known as sadism and +masochism. But by the necessities of the case, the sex wishes become +overlayed by reflexes associated with the mother and father and close +associates as love. This might be termed the oligocene. As the circle +of acquaintance widens, other loved objects usher in the miocene +phases of the development. With these become interspersed various +hates and detestations, deliberately cultivated and accepted by the +consciousness. So we have a cross-slice of the personality in the +first five or six years of childhood. + +But now, with the onset of the second dentition, a subtle change +begins in the endocrine equations of the body. The second dentition +itself is an expression of a certain internal secretion wave passing +through the cells, an increase of action of some hormones, a decrease +of others. And a consciousness of physical sexuality appears, while +the outlines of character, hitherto mere tracings, become firmer, +heavier, quasi-indelible lines. That there is some activity on the +part of the internal secretions of the sex glands, the ovaries and +testes, can be demonstrated by accurately charting the behaviour of a +boy or girl after this time. It will be found that there is a cyclic +variation of health and conduct, more or less marked of course in each +case. A cold may appear periodically at the end of each month, an +increase of irritability and waywardness may be observed, or, on the +contrary, a decrease of the regular restless playfulness. The ghost of +sex begins to haunt the scene. + +Now all kinds of possibilities of conflict emerge. The child is still +a bisexual, growing into a mixed sex type, depending upon the nature +and amount of its internal secretions. The influencing adult of the +family, the most important of the external factors encouraging or +depressing the tendencies of the child, possesses a fairly fixed ideal +of monosexuality which he or she, generally quite unconsciously, seeks +to impose upon it. A doting feminine mother will make her son as much +as possible like her husband: if she dislikes her husband, as much as +possible like her father or grandfather. A masculinized mother will +tend to make a sex object out of the son, however, which means his +feminization. But, on the internal secretion side, the boy may be +definitely masculine. That is, after adolescence he would be strongly +masculine, _if the vegetative-endocrine mechanisms created by the +mother's personality had not slipped into the inside track_, so to +speak. As a consequence, continual subconscious conflict between the +two sets of sex reaction will, sooner or later, disturb, perhaps +disrupt and ruin his life. + +So an infant may start life with a fairly balanced endocrine +equipment, with its wake of a normal life (barring accidents and +infections), and yet he may end as an inferior, insane, criminal, or +failure directly because of establishment of conflict between himself +as one sort of sex type, and his obligatory associates of another +sort of mixed sex type. This applies also to the mother-daughter, the +father-son, and the father-daughter relationship. + +Male and female created He them, is a bald misstatement of the facts. +Male and female emerge as final by-products of endocrine heredity, +environmental treatment and adaptation. Often the male-female, +the female-male, persist anatomically, or are forced to persist +functionally. Society, constructed upon the Biblical dogmas of man as +a fallen angel, and absolute sex, is responsible for much misery and +suffering meted out to the functional hermaphrodite, as we shall see +later in an analysis of the endocrine character of Oscar Wilde. The +privileges and powers of sex relationship, marriage and parenthood, +should be safeguarded for the mixed sex type, the man or woman with +the variable sex index. For there are no tragedies in life more +pitiful than those in which an aggressive masculinely built type is +forced to assume a submissive, receptive, passive, feminine rôle and +vice versa, the tragedy of compelled homosexuality, because of wrong +associates. + +MASOCHISM AND SADISM + +The functional hermaphrodite enables us, too, to understand the +phenomena of masochism and sadism, to a certain extent, on the +chemical side. The masculine personality, the combination of +masculine, e.g., adrenal cortex and gonad internal secretion +predominance, is built for aggression. The feminine personality, +the union of feminine, e.g. thyroid and ovarian superiority, is +constructed for submission. Reverse the possibilities, or confuse +them, as occurs in the functional hermaphrodite, and the attitudes +become reversed or perverted. So a masculinoid personality in woman +will make for sadism, a feminoid personality in a man for masochism. +Variants and refinements of these perversions will often be found +in the functional hermaphrodite who must satisfy two doubly flowing +streams of visceral pressure within himself. Persistence of the thymus +or pineal gland tends to a prolongation of the infantile and child +types, that will be taken advantage of. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE RHYTHMS OF SEX + + +If one permits a drop of ink to fall into a glass of water, amazing +figures and shapes, bizarre and chameleon, are born as the blue swirls +and whirls through the resisting medium. Unseen forces and currents, +tides and pressures, set up a seething and flowing, pulling and +twisting of the drop of ink until it becomes a strange wraith created +out of the molecules. A temporary individuality lives in the water. + +So likewise the forces of sex, essentially the forces of the internal +secretions, mould and sculpt and mould again the woman out of +the flesh and blood. Adolescence--puberty--menstruation: the +maid,--pregnancy--labor--lactation: the matron, thirty years of ups +and downs of these processes around the idea of love or suppressed +love, against an aesthetic background of some sort--and finally the +loss of the stress and strain of sex, the menopause. All the landmarks +of the life of woman, in their entirety, are erected and dominated by +the tides and currents, the phases of concentration and dilution, of +the different internal secretions in the endocrine mixture which is +the blood. + +Marvelous are all the manifestations of the reproductive necessity. +Considering that reproduction was at first merely a form of growth, a +discontinuous kind of growth, that seized upon sex as a splendid means +to escape death, the chemical methods evolved arouse a sense of awe. +A baby is born with her or his glands practically as fixed for her or +him as the color of the eyes. Thymus and pineal keep him a child, keep +him unsexed. Then at puberty, a new current is added to the calmly +flowing river, and behold! a turmoil. Ovaries or testes actively +functioning erupt upon the calm spectacle, and the girl is +transfigured into the maid, the boy into the youth. After the ovaries, +the corpus luteum: after the corpus luteum, the placenta: after the +placenta, the mammary glands: after that the cycle begins again until +the ovaries are exhausted and the chain is broken. Besides, all the +other glands of internal secretion beat in rhythm, fluctuate in their +activities, may divide prematurely the tides or dam them completely. + +Innumerable varieties and combinations of interglandular action supply +us with the limitless types of adolescent girls. Some endocrine +cooperatives that make one girl stable and settled, will make others +unstable and unsettled. Alicia may be hyperthyroid, and so excitable, +nervous, restless, and subject to palpitation of heart and +sleeplessness. Bettina may have too much post-pituitary, and so will +menstruate early, tend to be short, blush easily, be sentimentally +suggestive and sexually accessible. Christina may be adrenal cortex +centred and so masculinoid: courageous, sporty, mannish in her tastes, +aggressive toward her companions. Dorothea may have a balanced thyroid +and pituitary and so lead the class as good-looking, studious, bright, +serene and mature. Florence, who has rather more thyroid than her +pituitary can balance, will be bright but flighty, gay but moody, +energetic, but not as persevering. And so on and so on. + +Environment, habit-formation, training, education serve only to bring +out the internal secretion make-up of the girl, or to suppress +and distort and so spoil her. Adolescence will be peaceful, calm, +semi-conscious, or disturbing, revolutionary and obsessive according +to the reaction of the other endocrines to the rise of the ovaries. +Harmony, and so continued happiness of the mind and body, means +that they have been welcomed into the fold. Disharmony, ailments, +unhappiness, difficulties, mean that they are being treated as +intruders, or are acting as marauders. The after life, sexually the +period of maturity, barring accidents, diseases, and shocks, will bear +the same character. The kind of adolescence provides the clue to the +kind of maturity, for both are effects of the same endocrine factors. + +THE SEX GLAND CHAIN + +Furthermore, the activities of a normal woman involve a series of sex +glands. Since there function, in addition to the ovaries, the glands +of the uterus, the breasts or mammary glands, and the placental +gland (the secreting cells of the tissue which comes out as the +after-birth). Each of these contributes directly to the reproductive +life of the individual. To call the ova the sex glands is to confer +upon them a name which really belongs to a chain of glands. + +All of the members of the sex chain, including those of the thyroid, +the adrenal and the pituitary, are necessary to the functions of +menstruation, impregnation, settlement of fertilized ovum in the wall +of the uterus, labor and lactation. A disturbance of one of them will +set up disturbances all along the line, and a resonance of distress +or compensation upon the part of all of them. As an interlocking +directorate over the sexual functions of the female, they are members +one of the other. So what helps or hurts one, helps or hurts all. + +THE CYCLE OF MENSTRUATION + +Essentially, the ovary is a collection of follicles, nests of +cells, acting as safe deposit vaults for the ova that are to become +candidates for fertilization. At birth, there are some 30,000 to +200,000 of these, of which a good many atrophy during childhood so +that there are no more than about 30,000 left at puberty. Of the +30,000, only an élite 400 actually mature between the ages of fifteen +and forty-five. About every twenty-eight days, one of the follicles +swells, becomes filled with liquid, pushes or is pushed to the surface +of the ovary, there to rupture and expel into the abdominal cavity the +tiny ripe ovum. The rest of the torn follicle makes itself over into +a peculiar yellowish body, the true corpus luteum, should pregnancy +occur. If pregnancy and the consequent placenta do not occur, it +shrinks and turns into a scar, the false corpus luteum. The true +corpus luteum resembles closely the adrenal cortex in make-up and +staining reactions. It seems as if, once successful impregnation has +been achieved, the feminine organism adrenalizes itself, makes itself +more masculine and less feminine, inhibiting the posterior pituitary +and the adrenal medulla, as well as the ovaries. Besides, the corpus +luteum stimulates the thyroid to prepare for the heavy demands to be +made upon it during pregnancy. + +Before menstruation, there is a stage of preparation, a stir and +twittering of the endocrines, the premenstrual state. Currents of +communication flow between the different glands, messages and replies +pass to and fro. When these are properly balanced, so that all goes +well, the consciousness of the woman will be disturbed by no knowledge +of them. In some women abnormal sensations appear, a sense of fullness +in the breasts, or of weight in the back or pelvis, or pain in the +head. The last is probably due to swelling of the pituitary beyond +the capacity of its bony container. In a good many women, nervous +and mental phenomena herald the expected menstruation because of a +complete upset of the balance between the internal secretions, with +resulting disturbance of the nervous system. Irritability, depression, +excitability, melancholia, exaltations, restlessness, hysteria, loss +of self-control, or even more marked mental aberrations may appear. +Following them, and roughly paralleling them, may come various +abnormalities of menstruation itself. The character, extent and +duration of these furnish us the best clues to the endocrine stability +or instability of the particular feminine organism. + +Menstruation is simply the uterus saying: well, not this time. As the +destined ovum within its nest, the follicle, grows, its fluid affects +the interstitial cells to send their specific stuff into the blood. +There it circulates, hits this gland and that, makes some more active, +others less, transforms the chemistry of the cells, and engorges the +mucous membranes, most of all those of the nose and of the uterus. It +is all to welcome the mature ovum and its possible impregnation, to +prepare a site for its landing and settlement, blood and food for its +nutrition, safety for its development. But it is not to be. No sperm +at hand, or effective enough to penetrate that wandering ovum. Love's +labour's lost. All must return to the so-called normal, really the +intermenstrual state. The womb must surrender some of that blood, +the glands return to their routine, and a sex diastole of the whole +organism succeeds. Until again, another follicle swells, another ovum +matures, and the premenstrual state of sex high tide cycles back. + +Seven to ten days before menstruation we know that sex high tide is +beginning for that is when the blood pressure goes up. As this rise of +blood pressure is probably controlled by the posterior pituitary, we +have a clue to the reason for the rhythmic variations in the rate of +production of its secretion by the ovary. For, since menstruation is +so closely connected with the phases of the moon and the tides, the +rhythmicity of the posterior pituitary may be traced to the days when +the pineal was an eye at the top of the head, and in direct relation +with the pituitary. + +Menstruation has been said to be a miniature labor. It is not that +as much as it is a miniature abortion. It is an effort of nature +still-born. But nature is quite used to its disappointments and +returns placidly to the daily grind. The four phases of a woman's +twenty-eight day cycle succeed each other as the premenstrual, +the menstrual, the postmenstrual and the intermenstrual, with the +precision of pistons moving in a motor, when no interfering factor +as disease, profound emotion or climate disturbances are present, +affecting the endocrines. + +The sequence of events appears to be about as follows: The amount of +post-pituitary secretion reaches a certain concentration. This in turn +stimulates the thyroid and adrenal medulla. They in turn activate the +ovarian cells, which congest the uterine glands and lining membrane. +The follicle bursts, the ovum is discharged and wanders, the uterus +waits and wonders. Nothing happens, the curtain is lowered, the +scenery is removed, the actors revert to civilian clothes. That is the +story of menstruation, the central phenomenon of woman's pre-pregnancy +life. One sees it clearly as a play of an internal secretion +syndicate. + +THE PREMENSTRUAL MOLIMINA + +The premenstrual molimina is the traditional title accorded symptoms, +sensations, feelings, observations of women in the premenstrual phase. +In the light of endocrine analysis, they become exceedingly important +indicators of the underlying constitution of the individual concerned. +Indeed, the premenstrual period furnishes a direct clue to the +dominating internal secretion in a woman. Moreover, these premenstrual +phenomena are the shadows cast by coming events. For they mimic and +prophesy the events of the last crisis of feminine sex life, +the cessation of ovulation which goes by the name of menopause, +gonadopause, or change of sex life. The premenstrual phenomena provide +a positive film, so to speak, of the latent negative picture of the +endocrine system of the girl or woman. + +Thus, there is the sub-pituitary or pituitary insufficient type, in +whom the excessive swelling of the gland causes headache, and a dull, +heavy, tired feeling, a definite depression. Drowsiness, sleepishness, +indifference to surroundings, general sluggishness of thought, feeling +and reaction, a phlegmatic frilosity, all go with it. It is due to +an overweighing of the pituitary, controller of good brain tone, and +alive wakefulness, by the demands of the organism. + +On the other hand, the hyperthyroid type of woman reacts with an +exaggeration of her tendency. When the posterior pituitary begins to +secrete more in her its stimulation of the thyroid is enough to tip it +over the normal line. Such a woman in the premenstrual phase becomes +irritable and restless, does not know what to do with herself, cannot +concentrate on conversation, occupation or any single activity, may +become excited to the point of mania. Hot, tremulous, sleepless, or +sleeping badly, she has a much harder time of it than her pituitary +sister. + +These samples of premenstrual internal secretion reaction are the +extremes of a vast number and variety of types. There are women in an +unstable quasi-premenstrual state for the greater part of their lives. +Sometimes an infectious disease or a psychic blow will put a woman +into this class. The significance of these cyclic changes has been +tremendously increased by the recent formal admission of women to +participation in public activities on a plane of equality with men. + +Evidence exists that in man, too, there is some cyclic rhythmicity of +his endocrines, which sets up a fluctuation in his physical and mental +efficiency. The curves of these variations have still to be plotted, +and will doubtless contribute no little to our knowledge of the +control of human nature. One unexpurgated fact stands out: the +reproductive mechanism of woman has rendered her whole internal +secretion system, and so her nervous system, all her organs, her mind, +definitely and sharply more tidal in their currents, more zigzag in +their phases, more angular in their ups and downs of function, and so +less predictable, reliable and dependable. + +THE MASCULINOID WOMAN + +The masculinoid woman, as a functional hermaphrodite, exists first +as a congenital entity, with an inborn distribution of endocrine +predominances that make for masculinity. There are also numerous +acquired forms. The infections of childhood, measles, scarlet fever, +diphtheria, and above all mumps, may so damage the hormone system +that an inversion of sex type follows. However, the stimulative and +depressive effects of environment are even more significant. The +effects of environment in producing changes in an organism, the +changes the biologist sums up as adaptation, can be tracked in many +instances to responsive reactions of the glands of internal secretion +to demands made upon them by changed external conditions. So a cold +climate, which necessitates a more voluminous hair covering for an +animal, will evoke a hypertrophy of the adrenal cortex. Secondarily +other effects appear as by-products of the adaptation. The adrenal +cortex makes for pugnacity, temper, animal courage, irritability and +anger reactions. So a hairy animal will, in general (unless other +endocrines come in to defeat the primary effect), be more pugnacious, +courageous, irritable and combative. The same applies to woman. An +environment which tends to encourage the masculine traits in her, to +arouse repeatedly her pugnacity and combative decisions in the more +rapid give and take of the masculine world, will rouse the adrenal +cortex to greater activity, and so make her face hirsute, her +attitudes aggressive, and perhaps render her sterile. Concomitantly +there may be a disturbance of menstruation. + +The presence or absence of sterility, natural or enforced, always +present, or say appearing after the birth of one child, must all be +donated a prominent place in studying the endocrine make-up of a +woman. When there is not enough ovarian secretion, the ovum may not be +able to burst through the ovary, a necessity before it may begin its +travels to the uterus. Next, the propulsive action of the genital +ducts may be insufficient because of defective corpus luteum. Or the +uterus may not have received enough posterior pituitary or thyroid to +make it fit soil for the ovum to plant itself in. Or there may be +too much of these, which cause the uterus to massage itself daily by +gentle contractions and so keep it well-toned. Excessive massage will +throw the ovum out. All these are factors in the sterility problem, +with its psychic resonances affecting the maternal instinct. + +THE MATERNAL INSTINCT + +There have been created high odes to an unknown god, sensuous lyrics +of love, apostrophes and addresses to every human passion. But no +poet, to my knowledge, has risen to the heights of the maternal +instinct. Some contemporary clap-trap about sentimentalism will +perhaps decry and ridicule the demand for an apotheosis of it. There +are some who deny its existence, and assert that maternity is forced +upon every woman. Reduced to its elements, such nonsense turns out the +absurd pose of the theorist desperate to épater le bourgeois or to +cover up hidden defects in his or her make-up. + +Without the maternal instinct, without the hope of immortality through +somatic or spiritual posterity, we should all, who were sane enough, +have to condemn ourselves to the futilities of hedonism. So that the +criminal who was condemned to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to +see it roll down again, would have to thank his lucky stars for his +lighter punishment. The future, tomorrow, the Kingdom of Heaven on +Earth, or if you will, the Republic of Supermen, means to all of us +what the child means to the madonna. The cynical epicurean careerists +and careeristinas, and the depraved degenerates of a comfort-lusting +civilization may have suffered an absolute atrophy and castration of +that instinct. But they are pathologic specimens, and we are not for +the moment concerned with them. + +The Freudians have set up a great hullaballoo about creative +activities as sublimations of the sex instinct, or as they would have +it, the libido. That is their obsession, the confusion of the sex +instinct, the instinct for sex life and satisfaction in the relation +of the male to the female, with the maternal instinct. The paternal +instinct bears the same relation to the maternal, as the breasts of +the male do to those of the female, i.e., a functional hermaphrodite +trait. The maternal instinct is the instinct to create, provide and +care for offspring. + +The mother expresses the deep craving of protoplasm for immortality. +What drives her is the instinct of Life to preserve itself unto +eternity in infinite space and time. That separates it sharply from +the temporary needs of the sex instinct. The artist, the man of +science or letters, the statesman, craftsman and maker of every +sort is instigated by the maternal instinct. He creates for his own +pleasure, to be sure. But it is in its essence the pleasure of the +bird making its nest. + +It is necessary, therefore, to distinguish between the sex instinct +and the maternal instinct. For different glands of internal secretion +have been found responsible for them. A distinct difference in the +quality and amount of the two instincts may be observed in the same +person. A strong maternal instinct may be seen again and again to +dominate a woman with but little or no sex urge or passion. Numerous +physiologically frigid women have lived successful and happy married +lives because of contented maternity. Other women, with normal or +exaggerated sex instinct who welcome and stimulate the sex life, may +have no wish for children, no functioning maternal instinct at all, +and if sterile, will accept their fate with indifference or even +exultation. These variations occur because of a difference in chemical +source and determination of the two instincts. While the ovary, +stimulated by the thyroid and the adrenal medulla, is the chief +determinant of the sex instinct, to the posterior pituitary must be +credited the chief hormone of the maternal instinct. The interactions +of the two glands, the ovary and the posterior pituitary, modified +by accessory influences, determine the relative intensity of the two +instincts. In a sense, the two glands may be said to be antagonistic +and yet one stimulates and complements the other. + +THE TRANSFIGURATIONS OF CHILD-BEARING + +Though what happens at puberty, what happens all through life through +the agencies of the endocrines is amazing enough, what occurs during +the period of child-bearing is perhaps the most amazing of all. As +emphasized, pregnancy is the time, among the internal secretions, of a +great uprooting and stirring, of fundamental and cataclysmic changes +in the most intimate chemistry of the cells. It is as if a dictator, +inspired by his country's danger, its enemies at the gates of its +capitol, were to draft and mobilize everyone, man woman and child from +everyday activities to the necessities of defense. Or rather it is +as if there appeared within the heart of our civilization a common +purpose and intelligence, now so palpably lacking, which magnetized +and drew to itself all the streams of individual self-aggrandizing +effort. Imagine that possibility and how it would change the face of +the earth and the entire basic constitution of human life and society. +So do the profound tides of the hormones, centering around the new +creature being made in the womb, transfigure the face and constitution +of the child-bearing woman. + +During pregnancy, in consequence, the integrity of every structure +of the body is tested. A stern, relentless accountant goes over the +cells, counts up their reserves, establishes a balance, credits and +debits according to the demands of the growing parasite within them. +Follow changes in the skin, the bones, the nervous system and the +mind. That is, all the glands, subtle recorders, transmitters, +producers of the vibrations of change are influenced. But the most +influential are the most affected, as the most dominant personalities +in a community are most disturbed by a revolution. + +In Sinclair Lewis' "Main Street," the best novel ever made about +America as a nation of villagers, the heroine, Carol Kennicott, has +this to say to someone sentimentalizing about maternity. + +"I do not look lovely, Mrs. Bogar. My complexion is rotten, and my +hair is coming out, and I look like a potato bag, and I think my +arches are falling,... and the whole business is a confounded nuisance +of a biological process." + +The exploration of the internal secretions has brought us an +explanation and an understanding of why child-bearing is a nuisance. +We know now that if Carol Kennicott's complexion became rotten and +her hair fell out, it was because her thyroid was not adequate to the +demands of pregnancy, and that if her arches were falling, and her +figure acquiring a potato bag dumpiness, it was because her pituitary +was insufficient. In all probability she was a thymus-centered type, +which accounts for much of the material that goes to make up the +novel. + +Different endocrine types react characteristically toward the +situations of pregnancy. The adrenal type may not be able to respond +with the necessary enlargement of its cortex which is normal for the +needs of gestation. So pigmentations, darkenings and discolorations of +the skin, especially of the face, the traditional chloasma develops. +The hyperthyroid type may become sharply exaggerated, almost to the +point of mania and psychosis. The subthyroid will suffer an emphasis +of her defect, and pass on, because of pregnancy, to the truly +diseased state of myxedema, the state of dull, slow, stupid, +semi-animal semi-idiocy. The pituitary type becomes more masculinized. +The face becomes more triangular and coarser, the chin and cheek-bones +more pronounced, and there is a growth of all the bones, so that she +is seen to grow visibly in height and breadth, and in the size of the +hands and feet. Concomitantly, there is a changed, a more matured and +steadier outlook upon life, all due to stimulation of the anterior +pituitary, controller of growth, physical and mental. + +In general, the major endocrines, the pituitary, the adrenals, and the +thyroid should hypertrophy and hyperfunction during pregnancy. +Should they not, should adverse mechanical circumstances or chemical +malfunction prevent, dire effects may follow. A woman with the +closed-in type of pituitary, shut up in a small non-expansile sella +turcica, will suffer the most violent headaches, will become fat, will +frequently abort. One whose thyroid cannot rise to the demands of +gestation, because of previous disease (like typhoid or measles) which +injured her thyroid excessively, may be poisoned by the new elements +introduced into the blood by the growing fetus, as it is the job +par excellence of the thyroid to render innocuous these poisons. +Of adrenal insufficiency, failure of the adrenals to hypertrophy +sufficiently in pregnancy, little is known. Possibly the corpus +luteum, the endocrine formed of the torn egg nest in the ovary, makes +up for any deficiency in this respect. For there is the most curious +resemblance imaginable between the cells of the adrenal cortex and +those of the corpus luteum, some day to be completely explained. + +THE PLACENTAL GLAND + +The placenta, an organ and gland of internal secretion newly formed in +the uterus, when the fertilized ovum successfully imbeds itself within +it, must be considered in any analysis of the transfigurations of +child-bearing. Born with the pregnancy, its life is terminated with +the pregnancy, for it is expelled in labor as the after-birth. Its +importance and function as a gland of internal secretion has become +known only recently. Many still doubt and question the accordance of +that rank to it. But feeding experiments with it, in various endocrine +disturbances in human beings, have proved its right to the title. + +The placenta is created by the fusion of the topmost enlarged cells +of the uterine surface and the most advanced cells constituting +the vanguard of the growing and multiplying ovum. These front line +invaders interact with the cells in contact with them to make a new +organ which serves as lung, stomach and kidney for the embryo, since +it is the medium of exchange of oxygen, foodstuffs and waste products +between the blood of the mother and the blood of the embryo. +Ultimately it acts, too, as a gland of internal secretion, influencing +the internal secretions of the mother, and also those of the embryo. + +Settlement of the fertilized ovum in the womb introduces into the +system new secretions, new substances which are partly male in origin, +since the ovum contains within it the substance of the male sperm +which has penetrated it. This masculine element causes a rearrangement +of the balance of power between the endocrines towards the side of +masculinity. They push down the pan of the scale to inhibit the +post-pituitary. So menstruation, the menstrual wave which follows the +increasing tide of post-pituitary secretion, is postponed. For ten +lunar months, not another ovum breaks through the covering of the +ovary, and the uterus is left undisturbed. The placental secretion +plays a most important rôle as brake upon the post-pituitary, the most +active of the feminizing uterus-disturbing endocrines. Until at last +something happens that puts the placenta out of commission in this +function of restraint, and the long bottled up post-pituitary +secretion explodes the crisis apparent as the process of labor. + +A condition of self-poisoning often occurs in pregnancy, with symptoms +orchestrating from mild notes like nausea and vomiting to the high +keys of convulsions and insanities. They represent what happens when +an unbalanced endocrine system is attacked by the placenta. Depending +upon where in the internal secretion chain the weak point, the +Achilles' heel spot, will be found, the nature of the reaction will +vary. And even after labor, after the explosive crisis, so much of the +reserve endocrine materials may be consumed, that an actual mania or a +chronic weakness may come in its wake. + +Yet the placental secretion must not be looked upon as something +wholly evil in its potentialities. Without enough of it to hold the +uterus stimulating endocrines, particularly the post-pituitary, in +check, still-birth results. If there is enough, and not too much of +it, the woman will not feel ill at all, or perhaps only transiently, +but will be possessed of a curious feeling of drowsy content and +passive, relaxed happiness. Let there be relatively too much of it, +too little of the other glands, and the grosser transfigurations and +ailments of the child-bearing period follow. + +THE MAMMARY GLANDS + +Once pregnancy is terminated by labor, the placenta is expelled from +the body as the after-birth. The placenta removed, a new arrangement +of the balance of power among the endocrines becomes necessary. But a +new-comer appears upon the scene to take up the function left vacant +by the absent placenta. This new-comer is the secretion of the +activated breasts, the mammary glands. They make for a persistence +of the state of equilibrium among the endocrines attained during +pregnancy. + +The mammary glands are typical glands of external secretion. They make +the milk and pour it out of the breasts through little canals into the +mouth of the suckling. Yet evidence forces us to conclude that they +are also glands of internal secretion, that their internal secretion +substitutes to a certain extent for the loss of that of the placenta +but not quite. + +What seems to happen in fact, is this: the corpus luteum secretion +stimulates the dormant cells of the mammary glands, formed during +puberty, but latent until the advent of pregnancy. We know that +injection of corpus luteum will cause an hypertrophy of the breasts. +The same effect is produced regularly during the menstrual period, +with a consciousness of swelling of the breasts. Their atrophy at the +menopause coincides with the shrinkage of the ovaries that takes place +at that period. Activity of the breasts parallels indeed more or less +the activity of the corpus luteum. + +With the prolonged activity of the corpus luteum during pregnancy, +prolonged stimulation of the breasts occurs. The secretion of the +post-pituitary would now cause the change from the internal cell +secretion to milk. But it is inhibited from so doing by the placenta. +When the placenta is removed, after labor, the post-pituitary can act, +and a free flow of milk is established. However, to counterbalance +this, and to prevent the post-pituitary from overacting, the breasts +secrete a hormone with an action like that of placenta, but not so +strong, which tends to inhibit the ovary. So is put off the imposition +of a pregnancy upon a period of lactation, obviously bad for mother, +infant, and embryo. We have here an exquisite sample of the checks and +compensations which make for a self-balancing of the whole endocrine +system. + +CRITICAL AGES + +The Dangerous Age is a phrase coined by a Scandinavian writer as a +more dramatic euphemism for the time of life when sex function ceases, +the climacteric. As a matter of fact, the age of adolescence is just +as much of a dangerous age as the age of deliquescence. The only +difference between them is that the dangers of the one have been +hushed up, the dangers of the other well boomed and advertised. +Both are dangerous to the individual, because both are periods of +instability and readjustment of the cells, particularly the brain +cells, to a deranged endocrine system and blood chemistry. + +Moral attitudes differ at the two ages, not so much as an effect of +experience, as expressions of different visceral pressures produced +by newly dominant internal secretions. So in Eugene O'Neil's play, +"Diff'rent," we see the woman Emma Crosby as she is in her youth, when +her ovaries have budded and bloomed for only a few years, and her +other endocrine influences are still dormant. She breaks off her +engagement to Captain Caleb Williams on the eve of her wedding because +she is informed of the episodes of a sex affair he was involved in on +his last voyage, under circumstances not discreditable to him. The +next act shows her thirty years later when, as an elderly spinster, +she is passing through the climacteric, and is in the state of sexual +hyperesthesia some women are afflicted with before the menopause. It +is as if the ovaries and the accessory sex internal secretions erupt +into a sort of final geyser before they are exhausted. So the captain, +ever faithful, finds her, and discovers to his horror that she is a +thousand times more like other women than he has ever been like other +men. Because of his ignorance of the underlying chemical basis for +the transfiguration, tragedy follows. Critics may cackle about a sex +starved woman, who has repressed her natural desires, and hail the +play as a contribution to the Freudian clinics. As a matter of fact, +it is a study of libido variation, with endocrine variation, at two +stages of the inner chemical life of a woman. + +The chain of events at the menopause, the acme and then ebb of the sex +tide, may be summed up something like this: + +The ovaries cease producing their eggs and so shrivel as a storage +battery atrophies when it dries up. An important member of the +endocrine board of directors thus drops out, and so a rearrangement +of gland activities, a new régime, becomes necessary. If a balance +of power is established quickly and equitably, very little happens. +Quickly the woman passes on to the next plane of her existence. But +if some endocrine proves recalcitrant, and takes advantage of the +situation to make itself dominant, trouble and maladjustment, and +their psychic echoes, come. Anterior pituitary control will mean +a relative masculinization, with hair on the face and aggressive +attitudes. Post-pituitary most often refuses to settle down, and +expressing its ambition as headaches, flushes, obesity and hysteria, +may cause extreme misery and unhappiness to its possessor. Sooner +or later, if the harmonious equilibrium of the normal life is to be +revived, all the glands must regress, thyroid, pituitary and adrenals. + +With the waning of the ovarian function, the thyroid type will also +exhibit its particular flare. If there is thyroid excess the woman +will be excitable and irritable, the thyroid deficient will be +depressed and dull, the thyroid unstable (that is swinging between +excess and deficiency) will have a cyclic up and down alternation of +mood and temperament. The adrenal centered will have a high blood +pressure and masculinoid traits, the adrenal inferior will have a low +blood pressure and suffer from a constant weakness and fatigability. +So each form of reaction to the critical ages is individualized +according to the predominating glandular influence in the constitution +of the woman. When the womb has atrophied, and the breasts have +shrunk, the typical tan complexion, and the angular masculinoid +figure, face and psyche follow, and the transfiguration has been +completed. + +Man has his critical age of sex cell deterioration as well as woman. +The age period swings between forty-five and fifty-five. Here enters +upon the scene that organ of external and internal secretion, the +prostate, the most important of the accessory sex glands in the male. +Experiments with its extract upon growing tadpoles have demonstrated +it to have the same differentiating effects as thyroid, but without +the poisoning effects. Furthermore, the microscope reveals cyclic +changes in its cells comparable to the menstrual phenomena of the +uterus. Indeed it is accepted as the homologue or male representative +of the uterus. Small and undeveloped during childhood, its growth at +puberty parallels that of the other reproductive organs. Its secretion +has been shown to be necessary to the vitality of the sperm cells. +The regression of the prostate, its retirement from the field of +sex competition, is the central episode of the male climacteric. +Accompanying its shrinking are prominent an irritable weakness, +despondency, and melancholia, which may emerge at any time if there is +disease or disturbance of it. The influence of the prostate upon man's +mental condition, and its contribution to the sex index, still remains +to be investigated in detail. + +SEX CRISES + +At the periods of interstitial cell hyperactivity, when a wave +of radicalism in the blood sweeps through the tissues, the other +endocrines are tested, and their latent stability or instability is +made manifest. Even before puberty, cyclic variations of health and +conduct may be observed in boys and girls which undoubtedly depend +upon currents among the internal secretions. Children, who, in the +best of circumstances, habitually are attacked by a wanderlust and run +away from home, or suffer from fits of naughtiness, are samples of +such endocrine lability. Children specialists have found that at about +the end of the second year their charges begin to individuate. In a +certain percentage, sex traits appear pretty early. But the fact +of the matter is that it is rather the minority of girls who +spontaneously exhibit the traditional stigmata of the natural girl. +The doll-cherishing, housekeeping imitator of mother is another story. + +At puberty arise the most exquisite cases of life crisis dependent +upon hormonic crisis. The boy becomes restless, irritable and +quick-tempered when his thyroid and adrenals respond to the call of +the interstitial cells. If they do not, he will become dull, heavy, +lazy and listless. The girl correspondingly is transformed into a +vivacious, gay, nervous and apprehensive butterfly, or a sedate, +dreamy, bashful, or even morose moth. It is interesting to note that +poise, mental equilibrium, is not established until physical growth +ceases, marked by a cessation of growth of the long bones known as +ossification of the epiphyses. Poise seems to be controlled by the +ante-pituitary. The growth of the long bones is also dominated by the +ante-pituitary. It would seem as if, its secretion dedicated to the +one function, could not be available for the other. So it happens that +those in whom growth ceases early (probably because of an earlier +and more vigorous invasion of the internal secretion system by the +interstitial cell product), develop mental maturity more rapidly and +possess more of it than those in whom growth continues. The acumen and +salacity of certain dwarfs is proverbial. The puberty phenomena +teach that sex crises of every sort are dependent fundamentally upon +fluctuations, periodic or aperiodic, of the sex index, as we have +defined it. + +THE DETERMINING FACTORS OF SEX LIFE + +The material summarized in the preceding paragraphs furnish some +slight inkling of the vast dominion of Sex, in all its relations, +somatic and spiritual, over which the glands of internal secretions +rule. The founder of modern pathology, Virchow, said that woman is +woman because of her ovaries. He meant that woman is a woman, the sort +of woman she specifically is, because of her internal secretions. But +no divine decree has laid down a line of cleavage between man and +woman. There are fundamental constitutional differences between man +and woman. But it is just as true that man is man because of _his_ +internal secretions. + +We have seen that the concepts of Man and Woman are the end-points of +a curve including variations of every possible combination that are +embraced in the construction of a sex index. This sex index is not an +absolute constant, although its range of fluctuation is pretty well +fixed at birth. It varies from day to day, year to year, depending +upon the influences that have been brought to bear upon it. But it +determines the character of the three planes of sex: the endocrine, +the vegetative, and the psychic. The endocrine is concerned with the +fundamental chemistry of sex, the internal secretions, which determine +the chemical reactions that provide the free energy for the sex +process. Upon the vegetative plane occur those transformations, +tensions, and relaxations, in the viscera, which are controlled +in part by the endocrines and in part by the experiences of the +individual as registered in his subconscious. Upon the psychic, +conscious planes appear the echoes and reflections of the occurrences +upon the other two planes, as well as reactions arising in the brain +from the necessity of the organism reacting as a whole to isolated +episodes. Accompanying is a self-awareness of the organism as a unit. +The three planes are not like separate plates of glass one raised +above the other, the usual idea picture of planes. They are +nebulae, swirling into each other, influencing and being influenced +continually. The reactions among these three complexes of sex create +the milieu for the variations and aberrations of tendency, character +and conduct which stamp his unique quality upon the individual. Sex +morale is likewise so influenced. The fundamentals of sex ethics will, +in due time, be revised in accordance with these conceptions. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +HOW THE GLANDS INFLUENCE THE MIND + + +It is impossible to review here in detail all the facts accumulated +concerning the influence of the internal secretions upon all the +processes of mind, intellectual and emotional. A volume would not +suffice for their adequate consideration. Reflexes, instincts, +habits, tendencies and emotions are involved in their machinery. The +development and normal functioning of the intellect, the pure reason +as Kant called it, are controlled by them. Brain, without them in +solution, without enough of them in that wonderful solution, the +blood, sleeps or remains dormant like the butterfly in the cocoon. +The cretin, who has not enough thyroid or no thyroid, is an imbecile +because of his deficiency. Supply him with thyroid from outside +sources, feed him animal thyroid, be it of the sheep, the pig, or the +goat, and behold a miracle! he is restored to the level of at least +the relatively normal intelligence. + +Acuteness of perception, memory, logical thought, imagination, +conception, emotional expression or inhibition and the entire content +of consciousness are influenced by the internal secretions. The most +ultramicroscopic activities of the molecules and atoms in the highest +nerve cells and nerve tissues are dominated. The speed of their +chemistry and their associations, and thus the speed of thought, are +regulated. Iodine has been shown to increase the electric conductivity +of the brain that is, the rate at which electrons will fly through it. +The thyroid may then be regarded as manipulating the amount of iodine +brought to play upon the brain cells at a particular moment of danger +or exaltation. Adrenalin increases the electric conductivity of the +brain. Nerve impulses, and with them sensations and ideas, travel +faster or flow more quickly through iodinized or adrenalinized brain +cells. In dangerous situations we think more rapidly and keenly, for +in emergencies the blood floods the brain with extra thyroid and +adrenal secretions. + +THE BODY-MIND COMPLEX + +Mind, still regarded by most of mankind as something distinct and +apart from the body, is thus exhibited as but part and parcel of it. A +deaf, dumb, and blind animal, deprived of tongue, and olfactory mucous +membrane, without sensations from the outside world can grow no mind, +in the sense of intelligence. The sense organs of the body mediate +the primary mind stuff. Without internal secretions and a vegetative +system there could be no soul, in the sense of complex emotion. Nor +those combinations of thought and emotion which synthesize attitudes, +sentiments and character. The internal secretions and the vegetative +system mediate the primary soul stuff. Mind is thus emulsified with +body as a matter of cold literal fact. The soul was once a subtlety +of metaphysics. Now when mind appears soaked in matter saturated with +chemicals like the hormones, therefore woven out of material threads, +the independent entity created out of intangible spirit flies like a +ghost at dawn. + +View the outlook. Mind, the slippery phantom, now becomes controllable +for the purposes of everyday life, because we can put our fingers +upon, touch, handle and change these material factors, the internal +secretions and the vegetative system. Through them we may affect the +very quality of the nerve tissue. The future of the race, the future +of human nature, depends upon the knowledge to be born of the +researches into the vast possibilities of this idea. Man, the +Adventurer, the prey of Chance and Luck, will then become, indeed now +becomes, the Captain of Fate and Destiny. + +It is, of itself, a revolution in the intellect, to conceive of +instincts and emotions, suggestibility and contra-suggestibility, +initiative and imitation, volitions and inhibitions as chemical +matters. In all their relations, mutually reacting effects and +defects, excesses and deficiencies, the internal secretions set up +psychic echoes and reflections. When morbid and their equilibrium +dislocated, we may even have phobias and neuroses. + +A man's nature is essentially his endocrine nature. Primarily, when he +is born, he represents a particular inherited combination of different +glands of internal secretion. They, constituting the inventory of his +vital stock in trade, start him in life. Afterwards, food, the routine +of his existence, the accidents of experience, education, disease and +misfortune, in short, environment, modify him because they modify his +ductless glands and his vegetative apparatus, as well as his brain, +depressing some parts, and stimulating others, and so rearranging the +system. In particular will he be transformed as the gland is affected +which is the centre of the system to which the others adapt and +accommodate themselves. The inertia of the system is very great, +almost absolute, and always tends to return. If he has children, he +hands on his constellation of endocrines, in spite of mishaps, not at +all or only slightly transformed. Sometimes, however, the experiential +transformation has been sufficiently deep, and shaken the very +constitution of his germ-plasm. So family dispositions and traits, +national and racial temperaments, are propagated, maintained and +varied. + +THE SEX INSTINCTS + +Hormone reactions, as we have seen, initiate the complicated forces, +processes and expressions of sex. The dictum of the founder of modern +pathology, Virchow, that Woman was in effect an appendix to the +ovaries, has long been taken to apply to her psychic traits as well +as somatic. Her mind, like her skin, her hair and her pelvis, is a +product of the ovarian endocrines. But these determinations are by no +means her monopoly. Man is likewise a creation of the chemical wheels +within wheels and springs within springs that are his glands of +internal secretion. That he is not so obviously an appendix to his +testes is due to two reasons. First, the male sex hormones have not +the instability nor cyclic rhythmicity of the female. Secondly, and +perhaps consequently, his sex instincts have become overlayered with +other more labile instincts, with habits and customs and necessities +that appear to oust the sex instinct into an altogether decentralized +position. Moreover, it is the function of the female to be the excitor +in the sex process: her subconscious, thoroughly aware of the fact, +sees to it that the sex instinct stands starkly central and dominating +in her life. + +The moods of love, like the more stereotyped manifestations of sex, +are dependent upon a proper supply to the blood of the internal +secretions of the reproductive organs, the gonadal endocrines. If the +testes are removed from frogs, it is found that the clasp-reflex, +symptom of sex desire, is abolished. If, after an interval of several +days, the testes' extract is injected into the frog, the reflex +reappears for a few days. The hormone provoking this sex reflex is +present in the testes only during the breeding season. In birds, +the seasonal nesting and migrating instincts may be eliminated by +interfering with their ovaries. At the same tine there is a change in +their plumage toward the male type. Similarly, the males, when their +sex endocrines are cut off, will change their psychic nature as well +as physically. Besides owning his flag-waving comb, his spurs and +brighter feathers, the rooster struts to attract the female, and +fights aggressively with his sex competitors. When he is made a capon, +he loses his spurs and comb and distinctive plumage, and in addition +becomes retiring and submissive, in short, a pseudo-hen in his +instincts as well as in appearance. If the genital glands are +extirpated from a male before puberty, the wattles remain small, pale +and bloodless, no active, amorous or combative instinct emerges. The +creature maintains a demure silence, and may even be sought by a +virile male. So we may see homosexuality of a kind in the lowest +animals. On the other hand, hens deprived of ovaries tend to +metamorphose in the male direction, even to acquire the male spurs, +and to display the male attitudes. + +All through the animal world, in the springtime, when the pituitary +awakens or increases its secretion, and so stimulates the sex glands +to augmented activity, emotions of sex and their expression are +provoked by the inner stirring. When the nightingale warbles +passionately and the mocking bird gurgles provokingly, when the robin +fills its scarlet breast and the starling floats in ecstasy through +the perfumed air, when the pigeon coyly woos its mate, and the +butterfly flirts with the dazzling multicolors of its wings, when +all the marvelous devices of sex attraction in nature, selection and +courting, mating and reproducing are pondered, who but must wonder at +the infinite possibilities of reaction of the sex hormones? All is for +love, and all is because of the love in the blood that is manufactured +unconsciously by a few hidden cells. + +EXPRESSIONISM AND EXHIBITIONISM + +We need a detailed examination of the various forms of expression +art has differentiated into, in its relation to exhibitionism and as +effects of the circulating libido-producing substance of the gonads. +Sex exhibition differs in man and woman because of the differently +combined internal secretions that are their substrates. The male's +attitude, aggressive pursuit, is instigated by the compound adrenal +and gonad endocrines. The female's various emulsions of coyness and +display are motivated by posterior pituitary and gonad hormones in +alliance. + +It is a dogma to state that the internal secretions of sex do not +begin to function until after puberty. Some children manifest +exhibitionism with a certain independence of environment. +Before adolescence a good many girls act like tom-boys, and are +distinguishable externally from boys only by their clothes. But others +display signs of sex differentiation that are to be traced back to +an awakening interstitial gonad action. Some boys have no interest +whatever in sex. Others will show an intense curiosity spontaneously, +a curiosity which perhaps may be explained as a larval precocity, +dependent upon the minimum of sex hormone production by the gonads. +Close observation of the correlation of somatic and psychic +development in extreme examples of these children corroborates this +view. Jonathan Hutchinson has described full-busted children of +London already boasting of their affairs. Indeed, as education and +environment affect the body (in so far as they influence it as a +whole) by exciting or inhibiting the glands of internal secretion, +sex-arousing stimuli from without must be considered to evoke their +effects as stimulants of the latent puberty glands. + +At puberty, when the sex glands bloom, and the complex of the sex +instincts is activated, exhibitionism manifests itself in a host of +guises and disguises. Femininity in a woman, the womanly woman, or the +eternal feminine, may indeed be defined by the degree of somatic and +psychic exhibitionism she presents. A woman who has a delicate skin, +lovely complexion, well-formed breasts and menstruates freely will be +found to have the typical feminine outlook on life, aspirations +and reactions to stimuli, which, in spite of the protests of our +feminists, do constitute the biologic feminine mind. Large, vascular, +balanced ovaries are the well-springs of her life and personality. +On the other hand, the woman who menstruates poorly or not at all +is coarse-featured, flat-breasted, heavily built, angular in her +outlines, will also be often aggressive, dominating, even enterprising +and pioneering, in short, masculinoid. She is what she is because she +possesses small, shrivelled, poorly functioning ovaries. Between these +two types all sorts of transitions exist, according as the other +endocrines participate in the constitutional make-up. But no better +examples could be given, off-hand, of the determining stamp of the +internal secretions upon mind, character and conduct. + +INSTINCT AND BEHAVIOUR + +The sex instinct, analyzed as an endocrine mechanism, provides the +clue to the understanding of all instinct and behaviour. If the +post-pituitary regulates the maternal instinct, then its correlates: +sympathy, social impulses, and religious feeling, must be also +influenced, and so is furnished another example of a chemical control +of instinctive behaviour. McDougall, once of Oxford, now of Harvard, +introduced into psychology the idea of the simple instinct as a unit +of behaviour, regarding the most complex conduct as a compounding of +instincts. The instinct itself he analyzed into three elements: a +specific stimulus-sensation, an emotion following, all ending in a +particular course of muscular reaction. Translated into endocrine +terms, what happens may be pictured as a series of chemical events. + +When the activity of a ductless gland rises above a certain minimum, +its hormones in the blood sensitize, as a photographic plate is +sensitized, a group of brain cells, to respond to a message from +the outside world, with a definite line of conduct. There is a +registration by the brain cells of the presence of the specific +stimulus. Then there is communication by them with the endocrine +organs. As a result, some of them are moved to further secretion, +and others are paralyzed or weakened. In consequence of changes +of concentration in the blood of the various internal secretions, +tensions, movements and tumescences, as well as relaxations, +inhibitions and detumescences, occur throughout the vegetative +system--the blood vessels, the viscera, the nerves and the muscles. +Each wires to the brain news of the change in it. In addition, the +brain cells themselves are excited or depressed by the new hormones +bathing them. In their final fusion, the commingling vegetative +sensations constitute the emotion evolved in the functioning of the +instinct. + +To lower the new tensions throughout the vegetative system to +the normal range, the instinctive action is carried out. This +superficially is regarded as the essence of the instinct. As a matter +of fact, it is only the endpoint of a process, the resultant of a +drive to restore equilibrium within the organism. It may all happen in +less time than it takes to tell about it. + +The play of an instinct may therefore be analyzed into four processes. +They succeed one another as sensation--endocrine stimulation--tension +within the vegetative system--conduct to relieve tension. The dash is +the symbol of a cause and effect relationship. + +This equation for an instinct, based upon an analysis of the working +of the sex instinct, is the model for the analysis of all instincts, +and therefore of all the compounded instincts that all human behaviour +may be resolved into. Conduct, that fascinator of the common gossip +and the great novelist alike, normal and abnormal, social and asocial, +in all their complexities, even unto the third and fourth generation, +the Freudian complexes, is governed therefore by the same laws that +determine the movements of the stars and the eruptions of volcanoes. +The most interesting factor in the instinct equation is the endocrine, +because that is the one that is most purely chemical. + +ENDOCRINE CHARGING OF WISHES + +It is _the_ distinction of modern psychology that it has established +the wish (craving, need, desire, libido) as the moving force in any +psychic process. The position of the wish in psychology as the force +within and behind the instinct may be compared to that of energy in +physics, when it was elevated to a central position in the explanation +of physical processes in the nineteenth century. The concept of the +_charged_ wish has illuminated all the hidden recesses and rendered +audible all the subdued murmurings of the mind. The truly novel in the +content of the idea is the recognition of the fact that the wish is +charged. Now it could never be charged in a vacuum. That means that +a wish could never be born in the brain alone. For the brain has no +power to charge itself with energy--it can only store and transmit. If +a wish is potential energy that must be transformed into kinetic, it +must have a source. That source is the vegetative system. Without the +vegetative system, the great complex of viscera in the abdomen and +chest, blood and its vessels, endocrines, muscles and nerves, the +brain would remain but an intricate cold storage plant of memories, +associations of past experiences. It would need no change and initiate +no effort. But when the wish enters upon the scene, it is as if a dead +storage battery has been refreshed with new current. Enriched with +billions of electrons there is a stir and a movement, dynamic mind. +But the dynamo is the more ancient possession of the animal, the +vegetative apparatus. In short, what must always be remembered is that +a wish is never cerebral, but always sub-cerebral, visceral, in its +origins. + +The sub-cerebral makes the cerebral. Activities in the nervous system +below the brain and especially the vegetative system, force upon it +its function of the active verb. It has to be, to do, and to suffer, +and then to manipulate the environment to satiate the insatiable +viscera, insatiable because the local chemistry is continually raising +the tension of one or the other of them. A physics of human behaviour +becomes possible with the aid of these concepts of endocrine +regulation of intravisceral pressure, and intervisceral equilibrium, +an intramuscular pressure and an intermuscular equilibrium, with the +brain as the shifting fulcrum of the system. + +The sensation of hunger, as we have seen, serves as good an exemplar +as any of this mechanism of the wish. Hunger is preceded and +accompanied by contractions of the stomach of increasing intensity. +Those contractions must be brought about by a substance acting upon +the nerve endings in the wall of the stomach. As it closes down upon +itself, waves pass up and down. With each wave, the pressure within it +rises. The exact amount of the pressure may be accurately measured +by means of a small balloon swallowed and then inflated. When the +pressure rises above a certain figure, the sensation of hunger breaks +into the consciousness of the individual. We infer that certain +sensory impulses sent up to the brain attain a strength that finally +forces itself into the conscious field of feeling. The sensation of +hunger varies from individual to individual because of variation in +the reaction throughout the vegetative system. Most often it is a +sense of movement or even an itch in the upper abdomen. Let some cause +produce a weakening or cessation of the movements of the stomach--as +fear and anger--and the sensation of hunger disappears coincidently +with the drop in the pressure within it. As the mathematicians +would say, the wish is a function of the pressure, and so of the +concentration of substance behind the pressure. + +We have in hunger the wish reduced to the lowest terms, the most +primitive form of it. Yet we may resolve all wishes, even the most +idealistic, into the same terms. As the vegetative system becomes +habituated by repeated experience to react in the same way to the same +stimulus, permutations and combinations of wishes become possible +until at length the inscrutable complexities of the behaviour of +civilized man are evolved. We have to thank Von Bechterew, the +greatest of Russian physiologists, for these fundamental principles, +so important for the understanding of the control of human life and +conduct. + +The associated reflex, aboriginal ancestor of the involved train +of associations that constitute the highest thought, conduct and +character, is the unit of the system. Recall the classic example +cited. If a piece of meat is shown to a dog, his mouth waters. If now +you proceed to ring a bell before offering the meat, his mouth will +water only when he sees or smells the meat. If, however, the ringing +of the bell precedes the meat a sufficient number of reactions, a time +comes when merely the sound of the bell will cause salivation, without +the presence of the meat. So it is with the associated reactions of +the internal secretions. A stimulus originally indifferent to the +endocrines may, by association, the laws of which are many, come to +act like a spark to the endocrine-instinct mechanism. Hence we can +account for the subtle play of instinct throughout all thinking. + +Even objects resembling the specific excitant of an instinct only +remotely, or in some one quality, may start its mechanism and a host +of associations bound up with it. Thus the maternal instinct may +be excited by the sight of a baby. But because a baby is small and +delicate, anything small and fine, a tiny book, a toy, a miniature, +may arouse it. The object is then said to be appealing. The doctrine +of association of instinctive and so of endocrine reactions enables +us to understand the feeling--tone that at any moment pervades +consciousness as well as its content. + +Choices, the psychology of selection of food, color, friends, mates, +amusements also become explicable rationally. For conflicts among +the different components of the vegetative system are continuous and +inevitable. If the pressure within a viscus has been heightened, and +persists, that is, is not disturbed by some other associated factor or +instinct, conduct results to lower the pressure to what it was before +the instigator of the tension appeared. But if another instinct is +sparked, or another associated factor comes into play, another focus +of increased pressure within the vegetative system is created, with +another stream of energy flowing to the brain and demanding an outlet. +This clash of instincts, the struggle between different foci of the +vegetative system competing for the possession of the brain, is a +common everyday process in conduct. Which will win means which will +will. And so we have an energetic basis for volition. + +Which will win appears to depend primarily upon the kind of endocrines +that predominate in the make-up of the individual, secondarily with +his education. For it is the endocrines that are really in conflict +when there is a struggle between two instincts. And if one endocrine +system conquers, it must be either because it is inherently stronger, +its secretion potential, that is, the amount of secretion it can put +forth as a maximum, is greater (so explaining the term dominant)--or +because a past experience has conditioned it to respond, although the +opposing endocrine system does not. Fear and anger, respectively bound +up with the activities of the adrenal medulla and cortex, we shall +see, provide as good exemplars as any of this process. + +The response of the ductless glands to situations varies with their +congenital _capacity_, and acquired _susceptibility_. Capacity is +a question of internal chemistry, modifiable by injury, disease, +accident, shock, exhaustion. Susceptibility depends upon the play of +the forces focusing upon them that may be summed up as associations. +In the ability of one endocrine system to inhibit another we have the +germ of the unconscious. Hence the modus operandi of the repressions +and suppressions, compensations and dissociations, which may unite to +integrate or refuse to integrate, and so disintegrate and deteriorate +a personality. + +As the personality develops, the vegetative system becomes susceptible +to the manifold associates of family, school, church and society, art, +science and religion, and last but not least sex. All the different +nuances of personality are expressions of a particular relationship, +transitory or permanent, between the endocrines and the viscera +and muscles. Conversely, behaviour shows what a person actually is +chemically; that is, what endocrine and vegetative factors predominate +in his make-up. + +FEAR, ANGER, AND COURAGE + +Fear and anger are the oldest and so the most deep-rooted of the +instincts. An ameba, contracting at the touch of some unpleasant +object, feels fear in its most primitive form. And anger, the +destructive passion, must have appeared early upon the scene of life. +Certainly these two instincts were definitely developed and fixed in +the cells before sex differentiation and the sex instincts were born +at all. It is interesting to note this for our rabid Freudians. + +Fear and anger involve the adrenal gland. How comes it that two states +of mind so contrasted should involve the same area? The answer lies in +the bipartite construction of the adrenal. All the evidence points +to its medulla as the secretor of the substance which makes for the +phenomena of fear, and to its cortex as dominant in the reactions of +anger. + +When adrenalin is injected under the skin in sufficient quantity, it +will produce paleness, trembling, erection of the hair, twitching of +the limbs, quick or gasping breathing, twitching of the lips--all the +classic manifestations of fear. These are the immediate effects of +fear because they are the immediate effects of excess adrenalin in the +blood upon the vegetative viscera and the muscles. The perception +by associative memory of these effects of adrenalin, the sensations +arising from the organs affected, constitute the emotion of fear. +Flight follows by muscle prepared for flight, for the disturbance of +the inter-muscular equilibrium tenses the flexor muscles, the muscles +of flight, and relaxes the extensor muscles, the muscles of attack. + +If, it would seem, the cortex secretion now pours into the blood, +enough to more than overcome the effects of the medulla secretion, the +inter-muscular equilibrium is disturbed in the opposite direction, +for fight rather than flight, and anger results. Or if the cortical +secretion pours in an overwhelming amount of its secretion from the +first into the blood there will be no fear, but anger immediately. +Habitually charging and fearless animals like the bison, bull, tiger, +or lion have a relatively larger cortex in their adrenals. Habitually +fleeing and fearful animals, like the rabbit, have a small cortex +and a wide medulla in their adrenals. The reinforcing action of the +thyroid is important. The adrenal medulla reinforced by the thyroid +makes for terror, the adrenal cortex reinforced by the thyroid makes +for fury. + +Some people are not easily frightened, others are more readily +frightened, and still others are of an extremely fearful nature. It +depends upon the proportion of adrenal cortex to medulla secretion in +them. And their reaction to fear stimuli is a pretty good measure +of the ratio. These formulations apply more particularly to fear in +general and anger in general. But even in the least fearsome, i.e., +an individual in whom cortex dominates medulla, there may be +fear--complexes, dating back to events and times when medulla +overtopped cortex, especially childhood. So in the coolest people, +certain persons, objects, episodes, may send a wave along an old line +of nerve cells and paths which lead to the adrenal medulla, and so +flood him with fear, terror or even panic before his usual cortex +response occurs. Impressions during the early years of childhood, +probing of the unconscious by various methods, have been shown to be +the most potent in this respect. Sometimes the episode goes further +back than childhood, and one must assume an inherited conditioning +of the vegetative and endocrine systems. An animal leaping upon an +ancestor in a forest during the night might account for the panic fear +some people experience when alone in the dark, that nothing of their +childhood history may account for. + +In women, the adrenal medulla naturally tends to overtop the cortex, +because the latter makes for masculinity. Besides, the recurring +cycle in the ovary, making the corpus luteum, evolves an additional +stimulant to the medulla, through its irritating influence upon the +thyroid. Then the influence of the post-pituitary is anti-adrenal +cortex. So that, on the whole, a number of endocrines work to render +woman naturally fearful, as we say. + +Courage is so closely related to fear and anger that all are always +associated in any discussion. Courage is commonly thought of as the +emotion that is the opposite of fear. It would follow that courage +meant simply inhibition of the adrenal medulla. As a matter of fact, +the mechanism of courage is more complex. One must distinguish animal +courage and deliberate courage. Animal courage is literally the +courage of the beast. As noted, animals with the largest amounts of +adrenal cortex are the pugnacious, aggressive, charging kings of the +fields and forests. The emotion experienced by them is probably anger +with a sort of blood-lust, and no consideration of the consequences. +The object attacked acted like the red rag waved at a bull--it had +stimulated a flow of the secretion of the adrenal cortex, and the +instinct of anger became sparked, as it were, by the new condition +of the blood. In courage, deliberate courage, there is more than +instinct. There is an act of volition, a display of will. Admitting +that without the adrenal cortex such courage would be impossible, the +chief credit for courage must be ascribed to the ante-pituitary. It is +the proper conjunction of its secretion and that of the adrenal cortex +that makes for true courage. So it is we find that acts of courage +have been recorded most often of individuals of the ante-pituitary +type. Photographs are obtainable of thirty-four winners of the +Congressional Medal of Honor for extraordinary bravery in the War +with Germany. Of these twenty-three exhibited the somatic criteria or +hormonic signs of the ante-pituitary type. A prerequisite for adequate +ante-pituitary function is a normal secretion of the interstitial +cells of the reproductive glands. Cowardice is said to be a feature of +eunuchs. + +THE PITUITARY AND INSTINCT + +We have seen that, more than any other gland or tissue of the body, +the post-pituitary governs the maternal-sexual instincts and their +sublimations, the social and creative instincts. A great deal of +evidence is in our possession concerning the disturbances of emotion +accompanying disturbances of this gland, and controllable by its +control. It might be said to energize deeply the tender emotions, and +instead of saying soft-hearted we should say much-pituitarized. +For all the basic sentiments (as opposed to the intellectualized +self-protective sentimentalism), tender-heartedness, sympathy and +suggestibility are interlocked with its functions. Its secretion must +act upon the great basal ganglia, at the base of the brain, which +contain the nerve cells and fibres that are the centers of emotional +control and co-ordination. + +The ante-pituitary has been depicted as the gland of intellectuality +(to use that term for lack of better). By intellectuality we mean +the capacity of the mind to control its environment by concepts and +abstract ideas. The frontal lobes of the brain are the central offices +for higher thought. Their cells are the most complex, have the most +numerous branches and association fibres. They store the fruits of +abstract thinking, mathematics, for example. The anterior pituitary is +in the closest relation and contact with them. Its secretion is tonic +to them. Now the instinct that is the forerunner of intellectuality +is the instinct of curiosity, with its emotion of wonder, and its +expression in the various constructive and acquisitive tendencies. +Studies of intellectual men, and of those with a keen instinct of +curiosity and a constructive-acquisitive trend prove them to be +ante-pituitary dominant in their make-up. The administration of +ante-pituitary extract to some defectives increases intellectual +activity and self-control. The future of intelligence may expect +a great deal from the newer chemistry of the secretions of the +ante-pituitary. + +Two most important instincts, therefore, which in the complexity of +their sublimations have created most of the institutions of society, +the maternal and the intellectual, are connected directly with a +proper function of the pituitary endocrines. So it happens that +disturbances of these instincts, reaching far into the normal and +intellectual spheres of the mind, are definitely connected with +disturbances of the pituitary. As we shall note in reviewing the +essentials of the pituitary-centered or pituito-centric personality, +the personality governed by the fluctuations of activity within the +pituitary, people with injured, diseased or mechanically limited +pituitaries (because of the smallness of the bony case enclosing them) +exhibit defects and perversions of conduct and intelligence directly +attributable to affections of the very instincts and functions +the pituitary governs. Children with small, mechanically cramped +pituitaries lie and steal, are bed-wetters, have poor control over +themselves, and a low learning capacity. + +THE THYROID AND INSTINCT + +The chemical mechanism of the instincts described: sex libido, passion +and jealousy in relation to the ovaries and testes, fear and anger in +relation to the adrenals, sympathy and curiosity in relation to the +pituitaries, suggests that a similar explanation will hold for the +dynamics of the other instincts. In the closest relation to the +thyroid appear the instincts first isolated, so to speak, by McDougall +as the instincts of self-display and self-effacement, accompanied +by emotions of pride and shame respectively. In certain states of +excessive thyroid activity there is an extra stimulation of the +instinctive display of the person which may go on to boasting, +mania and exhibitionism. On the other hand, in states of thyroid +insufficiency, depression is produced, which may go on to melancholia, +a desire to be alone, to hide, to sit apart and even a tendency to +accuse the self of various uncommitted crimes and sins. In the form +of cyclic insanity known as the manic-depressive psychosis, mania +alternates with depression, as if the personality were dominated +wholly in turn by one or the other of these two instincts of the ego. +There is a good deal of evidence that behind them is a corresponding +fluctuation in the amount the thyroid secretes into the blood. Among +the thyroid-centered attitudes toward the self gyrate more than in +any other type. Egomania and megalomania occur most often in thyroid +unstable individuals. + +ENERGY AND SENSITIVITY + +In his classic Inquiries into Human Faculty, Francis Galton laid down +some fundamental considerations concerning energy and sensitivity +as mental traits. Energy he defined as the capacity for labor, and +declared it to be the measure of the fullness of life or vitality. +Statistical study by him of men of genius and their ancestors showed +them to be endowed with a large amount of energy. It has been said to +be the absolute prerequisite of genius. Now if there is a single fact +that has been well established by investigations of the internal +secretions, it is that the energy quantum of an individual is a +function of and determined by his thyroid. The more thyroid he has, +the more energetic will he be--the less thyroid the less energetic, +and the lazier. The thyroid-centered individual, of the excess thyroid +type, actually burns up more food and produces more heat than the +ordinary organism. He burns himself up faster in general. + +When the thyroid sends more secretion into the blood, more thyroxin, +it accelerates all the functions and activities of the organs. Tea and +coffee produce loquacity because they stimulate the thyroid. People +with thyroid dominant constitutions talk fluently, rapidly, and +continuously. Their energy makes them doers, actors rather than +spectators. They get up early in the morning, are on the go all day +without surcease or fatigue, go to bed late, and often suffer from +insomnia. + +Thyroid deficients, however, are definitely the opposite. They are +quite conscious of the limited reserve of energy at their command. +Also that they need plenty of refreshing sleep. Early to bed and late +to rise remains the leading maxim of health for them. In addition they +find it necessary to sleep during the day. Forty winks or more in +the afternoon makes a good deal of difference to them. Taciturn, +inarticulate, lazy, slow, tired, are the adjectives applied to them +by their friends as well as by their enemies. All because of an +insufficient or inefficient supply of the thyroid's iodine to their +cells. The mobility of energy in an organism is a measure of the +amount of active iodine in it. The physiologic synonyms for "energetic +and lazy" are "well-iodinized" and "poorly iodinized." + +Sensitivity, the ability to discriminate between grades of sensation +or acuteness of perception is another thyroid quality. Just as the +thyroid plus is more energetic, so is he more sensitive. He feels +things more, he feels pain more readily, because he arrives more +quickly at the stage when the stimulus damages his nerve apparatus. +The electric conductivity of his skin is greater, sometimes a hundred +times greater, than the average. Conversely the thyroid deficient type +has a low discriminative faculty. Galton has recorded that idiots +hardly distinguish between heat and cold and that their sense of pain +is so obtuse that some of the more idiotic seem hardly to know what it +is. Cretins may moan but never shed tears. + +Energy and sensitivity in an individual should direct attention to the +thyroid element predominating in his composition. Lack of energy and +insensitivity to the degree of thyroid insufficiency in their make-up. + +MEMORY, JUDGMENT, AND POISE + +In between sensitivity and energy, the sensation and the reaction, +comes a passage of the stimulus through the gauntlet of the stored +past experience of the individual known as memory. Many hypotheses +have been advanced by philosophers, psychologists and physiologists to +explain the phenomenona of memory. To conceive of memory materially +at all one must admit some sort of memory trace as the basis for the +persistence of memory. This memory deposit facilitates the occurrence +of the chemical reaction constituting the memory along the same path +the next time. Forgetting then consists in a disappearance of these +memory traces or deposits. Forgetting is greatest in the first hour +after remembering, more than half of the memory trace being lost in +that time. Comparison of the curve of forgetting, and the curve +of diffusion of a colloid like gelatine from its solution, into a +surrounding medium, shows them to be exceedingly similar. Forgetting +may be explained by some such loss of the memory trace or deposit into +the blood continually flowing by it. + +The internal secretions influence the amount and duration of the +memory deposits. The thyroid appears to be essential to the _laying +down_ of the memory trace. Cretins have poor memories on the retention +side and so cannot learn. The memory of thyroid insufficients is +wretched. In the extreme grades, the memory for recent occurrences +becomes completely lost. Iodine and thyroid increase the electric +conductivity of the brain, so that the memory trace must be deposited +more easily in those who have an excess of thyroid. Removal of the +thyroid produces a degeneration of nerve cells and their processes, +and associative memory becomes difficult or impossible because +conduction from cell to cell is interfered with. If sufficient thyroid +is fed in excess, brain conduction may be so facilitated that epilepsy +may result upon slight irritation. + +On the other hand, the pituitary seems to be related to _preservation_ +of the memory deposit. In conditions of disease of the pituitary, +loss of memory for past experiences is more marked. As regards recent +experiences, they are better held, although in a sort of subconscious +manner, recoverable when the condition improves or is cured. But the +greatest difference between the thyroid and pituitary effects upon +memory exists as regards material: the thyroid memory applies +particularly to perception and percepts, the pituitary to conception +(reading, studying, thinking) and concepts. + +Judgment is another mental process that often intervenes between +sensation and the energy-reaction. It involves memory and association +of experiences. Behind it is an attitude as much as there is in an +emotion or the arousing of an instinct. Beliefs and reasonings are +complex judgments. They form the units of the intellectual process. + +There is an element of speed in judgment on reasoning as in perception +and memory. And as in the latter, the thyroid determines the velocity. +Quick thinking, as we call it, means good thyroid action, and slow +thinking deficient thyroid action. The other element in judgment, +accuracy, is influenced by the ante-pituitary. During adolescence +there is physical growth which consumes most of the secretion of the +ante-pituitary. After adolescence, after the early twenties, when +physical growth has ceased, the ante-pituitary secretion sensitizes +the cells of the brain to mental growth. The reaction potential of +the ante-pituitary, that is its inherent, latent ability to supply a +maximum of its endocrine for the nerve cells of the frontal lobes, is +the best-known chemical determinant of intellectual genius. It makes +for the greatest co-ordination of experience, knowledge, information, +tastes and problems into one harmonious whole. And curiously, not only +does it cause a fusion of intellectual material: it creates a desire +for and a love of such material. + +We should expect to find extraordinarily well-developed ante-pituitary +action among eminent philosophers and men of science, and we do. +Adequate action of it is present throughout the range of normals who +evidence sufficiently ripened judgment as they progress through +life. The ability to profit by experience, and to make more and more +accurate judgments as one grows older implies at least a maximum +efficiency of it. This maturation is not at all universal. Even after +middle age, after forty and fifty years of reasoning, some individuals +retain the juvenile mind of their youth. Like the Bourbons, they +have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Their ante-pituitary +insufficiency often coupled with a post-pituitary excess, and other +instabilities and disequilibriums in the endocrine system, render them +immature morons, compared with what might be expected of them for +their years. They are the people who are old enough to know better. +For the same reasons, inhibition and emotional control are poor in +them. + +Besides the ante-pituitary, in the evolution of judgment, and the +judgment faculty, due stress must be laid upon the influence of the +internal secretion of the testes or ovaries, the product of the +interstitial cells. Although the probability is that the effects +are indirect, through a stimulation of the ante-pituitary, the fact +remains that, in a child, memory may be marvelous and judgment poor +(such memory is possibly purely thyroid in its determination). With +the advent of the gonads upon the scene, judgments become the centre +of the play's plot undoubtedly. The intelligence of eunuchs and +eunuchoids is in general low. The skull and brain of castrates, animal +and human, is smaller than the average. Gall, the physiologist who +popularized ideas concerning the meaning of the protuberances and +depressions of the head in relation to faculty and character, early in +the nineteenth century, was the first to prove this. Among historic +castrates, eunuchs, not a single example of great intellect, of the +creative type, is known. On the contrary, the native gifts of the mind +were destroyed. Thus Abelard, who was punished with castration by his +uncle for his love affair with Helöise, never composed a verse of +poetry thereafter. + +IMAGINATION AS AN ENDOCRINE GIFT + +That brings us to the consideration of imagination as influenced by +the endocrines. The physical conditions of exercise of the imaginative +faculty have not been sufficiently investigated. Alcohol has long been +known to act as an evocant of strange images. The hallucinations of +delirium tremens are the results obtained in extreme intoxication. A +strangely imaged flow of consciousness, the imaginative state, may +also be evoked by morphine and cannabis indica. There is no doubt +that the brain cells may be made to combine in the fresh, novel, and +unfamiliar associations that are recognized as unreal. + +Francis Galton, pioneer student of the conditionings of human faculty, +left an interesting study of the visualising capacity, so far as it +could be attacked by the statistical method. Two of his conclusions +are worth repeating for our purposes. One is that the power to imagine +is poor in philosophers and men of science. The other that it is +higher in the female sex than in the male. We have seen that the +philosophic, scientific, intellectual mind, the capacity to abstract, +and think in terms of abstractions, is definitely dependent upon +proper secretion by the ante-pituitary. In woman, the post-pituitary +is generally predominant over the ante-pituitary. Though we are in +need of a series of studies of the endocrine traits and composition of +men endowed with high imaginative qualities, and so are at a loss, we +have indications of an endocrine control of the state of consciousness +we speak of as the imaginative. + +Most of the evidence accumulated in the examination and treatment of +morbid conditions characterized by a restless, incoordinate activity +of the brain cells points to excess of the post-pituitary secretion as +the cause, or as one of the most important causes. The thyroid and the +adrenal medulla also exert their influence. But the strongest appears +to be the post-pituitary. Phobias, fears which obsess the mind, +anxiety neuroses, suspicions, hallucinations, delusions, nervousness, +all expressions of what we may sum up technically as the imaginative +state of mind, occur and occur frequently, associated with other +symptoms of posterior pituitary overactivity. Persons in whose make-up +it rules are more liable to imagine disturbances of their mentality, +or exhibit a well-developed imaginative streak. Normal states of +overactivity of the post-pituitary such as occur in some women during +the menstrual period and pregnancy, and in some men as part of the +endocrine cycle of their everyday lives, are accompanied by increase +in the susceptibility and vigor of the imagination. Whether the +feeding of excess post-pituitary would lead to a stimulation of the +tendency or ability to imagine is still to be decided. But it is +known that quieting the post-pituitary by various means will cause +a depression of the faculty, and eliminate its pathologic +manifestations. + +Psychologists distinguish between the constructive imagination that +expresses itself in an ordered activity and the unbalanced fancies +of the fearful neurotic for example. The post-pituitary confers the +lability of the underlying state of brain in all of these imaginative +tincturings of consciousness. The constructive imagination, one of the +few truly precious gifts of a personality, is probably the expression +of a certain balanced activity of the ante-pituitary and the +post-pituitary. + +MOODS AND THE ORGANIC OUTLOOK + +The lability the post-pituitary confers upon the combinations of +perceptions and conceptions, grouped as the imagined, extends to +the ruling mood that may be spoken of as the organic outlook. +Post-pituitary in excess, without compensation or balancing by one or +some of the other endocrines, is associated with an instability of +mood and the organic outlook. Concomitant is a defective self-control. +Typically, one sees the effects in the mental abnormalities of women +during the premenstrual period. A number of them have their pituitary +balance upset then, with an overtopping of the ante-pituitary by the +post-pituitary. Irritability, a sub-hysteria, or an actual hysteria +may emerge in the usually most placid characters. A quiet wife and +mother may go for her husband, curse and mortify him, even strike and +beat him. She may slap her children at that time and no other. It is +well known that most of their crimes are committed by women during the +menstrual period. So are the suicides. Deterioration of mentality and +character so often observed during the menopause, with its apathies or +excitements, melancholia or mania, the fits of weeping or gaiety, the +loss of grip upon reality, the complete change in mood and temperament +that reflect the transformation of the organic outlook, demonstrate +clearly the overwhelming influence of the endocrines upon the +attitudes of the self toward the self. + +It is possible to speak of thyroid moods, adrenal moods, +ante-pituitary or post-pituitary moods, gonadal moods. Each of +these is the echo in the mind of cells stimulated or depressed, +by concentration or dilution in the blood of particular internal +secretions. Restlessness and excitement can be produced experimentally +by feeding thyroid. Vague anxiety, depressive fancies and fears, +imaginative overactivity can be removed by inhibiting the +post-pituitary. Hypersecretion of the ovary will cause a sexual +susceptibility and a mood of genital obsession, capable of the most +remarkable sublimations and perversions. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE BACKGROUNDS OF PERSONALITY + + +The question of moods and sublimations once raised introduces the +problem of the relation of neuroses, nervous disorders without an +organic disease basis, and mental abnormalities, to the endocrine +system. Obviously, in view of all the influences exerted by the +ductless glands upon every organ and function of the body and mind, +and their intermediary, the vegetative nervous system, a relation must +exist. Observations accumulated, some of which have been referred to +in the preceding chapters, prove the complete, though complex, reality +of such a deduction. + +The history of attitudes toward nerve and mental disorders is a +remarkable illustration of the vicissitudes of ignorance playing with +words. The Greeks, swayed and dazzled as they were by the magic of +words which they discovered, yet never permitted themselves to be +fooled by them. As an explanation for the phenomena of hysteria in +women, that benign mental disorder par excellence, they had the theory +of a wandering about of the womb in the organism as a cause. That +provided an image of something material happening as an explanation. +With the triumphs of anatomy after the Renaissance, that naïve view +had to be discarded. In its place the humoral theory held sway, with +its good humors and its bad humors, and their bilious, lymphatic, +nervous and sanguine admixtures. But that, too, went the way of all +flesh. During the first half of the nineteenth century, a popular +phrase, "nerves," paraphrased by practitioners of medicine as +neuroses, then came into vogue as the efficient cause of these +troubles. "Nerves" indeed today have filtered everywhere into the +common consciousness. + +Because of the irritant effects of light, food and social conditions, +America has come to swarm with neurotics of every type, especially the +sexual. A rich field was created for cults of treatment, which spring +up like weeds periodically all over the country. We have seen how the +American, Beard, was inspired by the idea that "nerves" represented a +loss of tone, a flabbiness, weakness and softness of the nerves, to +coin the word neurasthenia. Nerve exhaustion he believed was the cause +of the nerve weakness. Weir Mitchell, another American, introduced the +rest cure combined with overfeeding as a treatment for it. + +An analytical French neurologist, Charcot, was not to be satisfied by +words of Latin-Greek derivation. Insisting upon the significance of +the individual mental workings of each case, he and his pupil Janet +began to unravel a tangle which has led to the present revolution in +psychology. For Freud, Jung and Adler took up the story where Janet +left off. + +Janet elaborated the ideas of a subconscious and an unconscious, a +dissociation of the components of the mind, and a splitting of +the personality. Lumping the phenomena of amnesia, somnambulism, +hypnotism, anesthesia, obsession and hysteria into the grand group of +mental dissociations and disintegrations, he achieved a unification +never considered possible before him. Suggestion as a mode of cure was +also emphasized and elaborated by him to an undreamed-of degree. + +Freud, in 1895, studying a case of hysteria with Breuer, had attempted +cure by the method of free association, attempting to get the hysteric +to pour out her mental life. Not succeeding, and his interest aroused +by her continual references to her dreams, he discovered that by means +of those dreams he could tap the subconscious and unconscious in +regions hitherto inaccessible. For in the dreams, ideas, persons, and +experiences appeared that never came upon the stage of the conscious. +From that finding he developed the concept of repression, i.e., the +relegation of a painful experience into the unconscious, and kept +imprisoned there by the censor. Also how there it became the complex, +which, like a stage manager, never appeared before the footlights of +the conscious, but determined its content just the same by inhibition +or stimulation of any character or scene to be enacted upon it. + +A complete critique of Freudianism cannot be attempted here. But in +relation to the endocrine system as controllers of nerve function +in health and disease, a valid criticism can be made. Firstly, the +Freudian jargon, its technicalities and explanations, are metaphors. +Some may regard them as justifiable descriptions of mental processes. +But it certainly can be urged against them that they provide us with +no idea concerning what is happening in the cells of the body and +brain as explanation for the event, normal or abnormal, supposedly +explained. Words like sublimation or transference are figures of +speech and nothing else. Secondly, they ignore totally the powers of +the vegetative apparatus, the viscera, muscles and secreting glands +together, as originators and determiners of the wish and its +adventures. + +How utterly different, from the point of view of the physiologist, the +two explanations are as pictures, can be seen from a single example. +The idea of repression, to the Freudian, means the pushing down +into the subconscious of some experience. Pushing down is a process +controlled by the laws of physics: it involves the concepts of matter +and force. Hence, the expression, as a description of a psychic +episode, is a metaphor pure and simple. From the standpoint of the +process of repression as pictured by the student of the vegetative +apparatus, the term signifies a real bottling up of energy. For the +repression means actual compression of muscle, the muscle contained +in the viscera. And the repression means a real interference with +the release of energy, which remains bound up, tugging for room +for expression as much as a spring tightly coiled in a box. In the +production of that tension an endocrine has often been decisive. The +endocrine nature of the individual may decide whether a subconscious, +i.e., visceral or vegetative tension, is to come into being, live +or die, in the face of a given situation. If thereby, a permanent +disturbance of the equilibrium between the components is brought +about, a neurosis, expression of an unsatisfied vegetative tension, +follows. + +It has been hailed as a brand new discovery by those following the +latest in psychology that the subconscious and the unconscious +constitute a more essential component of the personality than the +conscious. As a matter of fact, common practice has recognized the +fact, if not the mechanism and its significance, for ages. It is not +what people say or do--it is how they say it: that is how the true +reactions of personality are recognized instinctively even by animals. +Tone and gesture (when not acted or posed) are accepted as symbols and +symptoms of states of the inmost sancta sanctorum that words and wit +never give entrance to, nay disguise and block. Tone and gesture as +revelations of the Inner-Me, the True-Me or Intra-Me if you will, +are so potent because they are direct expressions of the vegetative +apparatus. The curl of a lip, the flicker of an eye-lash, the twitch +of a shoulder are the overflow of energy cramped in the increased +intravisceral pressure, determined by increased outflow of endocrine +secretion. Wittingly or unwittingly we interpret the little signs as +messages from the deepest self, which they truly are. + +NERVOUS BREAKDOWNS AND SHELL SHOCK + +In civil life, the complex of symptoms Beard jumbled together as +neurasthenia, when associated with a loss of self-control, so that the +sufferer is incapacitated for the duties of everyday life, has become +the popular "nervous breakdown." A sanitarium appears to be one of the +necessary components of the condition. It is the last act, the climax +of "nerves." + +During the War of 1914-1918, thousands of cases of functional +disorders of the nervous came to be grouped under "Shell Shock." +The psychic phenomena in the wake of concussion of the brain due to +explosives suggested the term, and its application to affections of +self-control, or dissociations of the personality, with paralysis, +blindness, speechlessness, loss of hearing and so on. The War neurosis +(including those arising in home service) is still a topical subject +because thousands of mentally disabled soldiers are alive. + +In view of what has been said concerning the endocrine mechanism of +the instincts and the vegetative apparatus, it could be predicted that +a number of these nerve casualties of peace and war would be caused by +an upset of the equilibrium between the glands of internal secretion. +A study of war neuroses by the great Italian student of the +endocrines, Pende, confirms this assumption. As emphasized, the +internal secretions are like tuning keys, and tighten or loosen the +strings of the organism-instrument, the nerves. War for the soldier, +or the civilian combatant as well, sets the strings vibrating, and +with them the glands controlled by them. Excessive stimulation or +depression of an endocrine will disturb the whole chain of hormones, +and the vegetative system, and their echoes in the psyche. The nervous +disorders of war that have been lumped as shell shock or war shock may +be looked upon as uncompensated; airings of the endocrine vegetative +mechanism, as dislocations of parts and processes that are reflected +outwardly as ailment or disease. + +AN ENDOCRINE NEUROSIS + +An exquisite example of an endocrine neurosis, that is a disorder of +nerves and brain dependent upon an upset of the equilibrium between +the internal secretions due to a trying experience, was furnished +recently by the reactions of three naval officers lost in the snow +wilds of Canada through a balloon adventure. The cases aroused a good +deal of interest at the time, and the details were reported by the +newspapers as if they were the episodes of a serial mystery story. + +The three officers started out late one fine evening from Rockaway +Air Station in a balloon for a practice trip. Atmospheric conditions +suddenly changed, they became lost in the clouds, and finally landed +somewhere in the Canadian wilderness. The commander of the balloon +crew, Lieut. A., 23 years old, was the youngest of the three; the +oldest, Lieut. B., being 45, and the third man in the thirties, Lieut. +C. + +According to the testimony given at the Court of Inquiry held +afterwards, two hours after they abandoned the balloon and started +struggling through the snow, B. became tired and complained of his +fatigue. B.'s fatigue increased, and two days later became so great +that the party had to stop for an hour and build a fire in order to +permit him to rest. However, an hour proved too little: and in another +half hour he was falling and fainting. + +Letters written by C. to his wife and gotten hold of by reporters +declared that B. at this juncture passed into a semi-sane state, in +which he accused himself of a number of sins, and volunteered to +commit suicide, so that the others would not be burdened by his +weakness. Also, that they might use his body to fortify themselves. A. +discussed with C. the advisability of taking B.'s knife away from +him. Living on their carrier pigeons, they continued on, moved by a +desperate hope of finding someone. B. had several fainting spells +after drinking water traced by moose tracks. + +Luck favored them, and they encountered an Indian who guided them to +a place called Moose Factory. Here they wrote the letters home which +reached their wives and the daily press before they themselves +returned to civilization. A great hue and cry was raised by the +newspapers about their plight. Newspaper correspondents vied with each +other for the honor of being the first to meet them and get their +story. + +They arrived at a collection of houses named Mattice. A. and C. +proceeded ahead and found instructions for them not to talk. C. went +back to B., who was in a shack with the correspondents full of the +story of the letters. B. became enraged and struck C. who retained his +self-control. + +Differences were patched up, and the three returned together to New +York. There the medical examination of the three showed that the four +days in the wilderness had left its deepest effects upon the physique +and mind of B. In a few days he developed an attack of tonsillitis, +with fever, and a mental disturbance described by the medical officer +as exhaustion psychosis. He believed this condition to be the result +of severe exhaustion, prolonged anxiety, worry, and extreme exposure. +Extreme restlessness and irritability, confusion of thought and +an undefined perplexity, all the prominent symptoms of exhaustion +psychosis, making him hyperactive and inclined to acts of violence, +were in evidence. + +The physique, character and reactions of Lieut. B. are what interest +us in the case. The pictures of him published, and the structure of +his skull, face and teeth, his hair and other physical traits point to +his being an adrenal-centered type, of the unstable variety, so far as +his internal secretion make-up is concerned. As we shall see in the +next chapter on the different kinds of endocrine personalities, +the unstable adrenocentric (convenient name for the class) is +characterized by rapid exhaustibility because under conditions of +stress and strain, the reserve of the gland is consumed. The adrenal +glands, we noted in a preceding chapter, are concerned with the +maintenance of muscle and nerve tone in emergencies. They are the +glands which, during crises especially, control the production and +supply of energy to the various organs and tissues called upon to +function to the utmost in emergencies. When the adrenals fail, as they +do readily in these labile adrenocentrics, it is as if the adrenals +were cut out of the body. And it has been repeatedly shown that +extirpation of the adrenals is immediately followed by degeneration +and breakdown of the brain cells. + +These facts explain the reactions of Lieut. B. The acute call upon his +adrenals made by his dangerous situation probably soon exhausted them +of their content of reserve secretions. Overwhelming fatigue with loss +of muscle tone followed. The changes in the brain caused him to talk +as he did in the wilderness. Returned to safety, the news that his +reputation was under fire because of C.'s letter brought out another +adrenal characteristic: the excessive instinct of pugnacity, easily +stimulated, with its emotion of anger and the tendency to violence. +What is spoken of as a quick temper is an adrenocentric trait. +Returned to New York, an infection, tonsillitis, attacked him. +Infections in adrenocentrics use up the content of the adrenals as +rapidly as physical exhaustion or emotion. So the tonsillitis, which +in another type of individual would have been combatted continuously +by the adrenals and so passed by as a mere sore throat, presented him +with a high temperature, and the brain disturbance described by the +medical officer as exhaustion-psychosis, with again a tendency to +violence. In short, the history of his adventure is the history of his +adrenals under stress and strain. It illustrates the mechanism of a +typical endocrine neurosis. + +THE UNCONSCIOUS AND THE VISCERA + +In the chapter on the glands of internal secretion as an interlocking +directorate, certain generalities were stated as the laws of the +government of the organism's life by them in association with the +vegetative apparatus. It was put forward as a fundamental revision of +the theory, hitherto accepted, of the limitation of mind to the brain +cells. We think and feel not alone with the brain, but with our +muscles, our viscera, our vegetative nerves, and last but not least +our endocrine organs. In short, we think and feel with each and every +part of ourselves. + +Among these pristine factors determining the content of consciousness, +the endocrines are most important, because they alone to start with, +of all the other factors, are different in each and every individual. +They are what render him unique at birth, even though he looks the +counterpart of millions of other babies born at the same time. They +constitute his inner destiny. As he grows, the external factors, +social experiences, climate, accidents, and disease modify and +condition the reactions and complexity of the endocrine system. As +these modifications and associations are of the greatest import for +the final elaboration of the personality, composing as they do the +elements of the unconscious which confers the unique stamp of normal, +abnormal, supernormal, or subnormal, it is worth while now to review +the most general of the determining laws. Man is an energy phenomenon, +both conscious and unconscious, with the energy emanating from the +endocrine-vegetative mechanisms. So it becomes possible for us, +by their aid, to analyze the conscious, the subconscious and the +unconscious with the terms long current in the analyses of physics. + +1. Man is an energy machine which, though it is constantly losing +energy as a whole; consists of parts constantly accumulating energy +(as a result of inherent chemical reactions accelerated by the +absorption of food). This process of local accumulation of energy +associated with general loss of energy may be observed even in the +ameba, in the form of stored reserve food material. Evolution +created a system of organs, the viscera, as specialists in energy +conservation, utilization or transformation. + +For intercommunication and interaction between the viscera two systems +were elaborated: a younger system of direct contacts, the nerves, +and nerve cells, through which influences could be conducted for the +stimulation, acceleration, retardation or inhibition of an energy +process in them; and the older, the endocrine gland association, for +the production of chemical substances to act as messengers to be sent +from one viscus to another, and also to the nerves, through the blood +or lymph which bathe all the cells. They could affect only one or +certain organs, because by selection only the chosen organ or organs +knew the code, as it were. The chemical system is much the older +system, and preceded the nerve system by aeons of time. The whole +system, viscera, visceral nerves and the endocrines gradually united +into a complete autonomous organism within the organism, and as such +functions as the vegetative apparatus. + +EVOLUTION OF THE ENDOCRINES + +2. In the course of evolution, variations occurred in all three +components of the apparatus, the viscera, the nerves, and the +endocrines. Now variations in the viscera and the nerves are +essentially grossly physical and quantitative. That is, there may be a +bigger stomach or a smaller stomach, larger nerve fibres or smaller. +And as Life always has worked with a large margin of safety, and +always played for safety first as regards quantity, these variations +have not become of much significance for the history and destiny of +the animal. + +But variations among the endocrines made a tremendous difference. To +have very much thyroid and very little pituitary, much adrenal and not +enough parathyroid meant a great deal to the Organism as a whole, +as well as to the vegetative apparatus. For states of tension and +relaxation, activity and inactivity in the nerves and viscera would be +determined by these variations in the ratio between the variants. The +vegetative apparatus in its virginity, say in the new-born infant, may +be said to have its development primarily determined by the reaction +potentials of the endocrine part of it, that is the latent power of +each gland to secrete at a minimum or a maximum, and the balance +between them. + +EDUCATION OF THE VEGETATIVE SYSTEM + +3. Training or education involves, beside other effects, a training +of the endocrines, and hence of the entire vegetative apparatus, to +respond in a particular way to a particular stimulus. Experience is +like the introduction of new push-buttons, levers, and wheels into the +mechanism. All learning which calls out or arrests the functioning of +an instinct, must, from what we have learned of the chemical dynamics +of instincts as reactions between hormones, nerves and viscera, affect +the vegetative system. When there is a conflict between two or +more instincts, between pressures of energy flowing in different +directions, there may be compromise and normality, or a grinding of +the gears and abnormality. + +Where does the brain come in, in all this? As the servant of the +vegetative apparatus. To call it the master tissue is manifestly +absurd, when it can only be the diplomatic constitutional monarch of +the system. It can, in fact, act only as the great central station +for associative memory, as only one of the factors implicated in +education. + +The most powerful educative agents of the vegetative apparatus of a +human being are the other humans around him. And they comprise the +most powerful of the external effectors of education, for better, for +worse. The training and education of the endocrine-vegetative system +is the basis of all social rules (Habit, Custom, Convention, Law, +Conscience). An unresolved discord, a continued conflict among the +parts of the vegetative system, in spite of such education, is the +foundation of the unhappiness of the acute or chronic misfits and +maladjusted, the neurotic and the psychotic. + +THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF THE UNCONSCIOUS + +4. Another vastly important law that governs the content of the +conscious and the unconscious, and resultant behaviour is the fact +that the nerves and nerve cells of the vegetative apparatus, the +nerves leading to the viscera and the endocrine glands, like the solar +plexus, are affected by stimuli of lower value than those which arouse +the brain cells. In the metaphorical language of the old psychology, +the threshold value, that is the strength or loudness of stimulus +sufficient to make itself felt or heard, is less for the vegetative +apparatus than for the brain. So we begin to glimpse why an emotion +seems to be experienced before the visceral changes that really +preceded it, but pressed their way into consciousness later. This +gives us a clue to the unconscious as the more sensitive and deeper +part of the mind. + +More than that, it supplies us with a physical basis for the +unconscious which will explain much of the observed laws of +its workings. It provides a reason for the apparent swiftness, +spontaneity, and unreasonableness of what is called intuition. And it +may show us a source for a good deal of the material of dreams and +dream states. + +We have said that we think and we remember, not alone with the brain, +but with the muscles, the viscera and the endocrines. So do we forget +not alone with the brain, but with the muscles, the viscera, the +endocrines and their nerves. The utmost importance of muscle attitudes +in remembering has been established in the experimental laboratory. + +It is one of the great services Freud rendered to psychology (and one, +by the way, largely responsible for the acceptance of his doctrines +by the disinterested intelligence) that he showed that a species +of forgetting is nothing casual, but active and purposeful, a +manifestation of the life of the unconscious. However, though his +description of the process was correct, he left it to occur in a +vacuum. As a matter of fact this forgetting consists in the inhibition +of associative memory by a process in the vegetative apparatus, so +as to maintain the equilibrium within itself which is reflected in +consciousness as comfort. + +The unconscious, in short, consists of the buried associations among +the parts of the vegetative apparatus and the brain cells. We seem to +be much nearer to grasping the nature of the unconscious, when we look +upon it as a historical continuum, a compound or emulsion of different +and various states of intravisceral pressure and tone, in the +vegetative apparatus, dependent upon the balance between the +endocrines, as well as upon past experiences of the viscera in the +way of stimulation or depression. We forget that which is held down, +literally, in the vegetative apparatus. This explanation of forgetting +tells, too, why the forgotten (stored in the sub-brain, the +endocrine-vegetative system) continually projects itself into and +interferes with the regular flow of consciousness, e.g., in slips +of the tongue, mistakes of spelling, and so on: because the energy +bottled in the vegetative system tends to erupt into the consciousness +into which it would ordinarily flow. + +In the evolution of the mind, there have been elaborated devices +to protect it against the vegetative apparatus. Consciousness, or +awareness, must be accepted as a fundamental, primal fact, like +protoplasm. Consciousness and protoplasm may be the complementary +sides of the same coin. Whatever the truth, the fact stands out +that the oldest, deepest, most potent consciousness is that of the +traditionally despised lowest organs, the vegetative organs, the heart +and lungs, stomach and intestines, the kidneys and the liver, and so +on, their nerves, e.g., the solar plexus, and the glands of internal +secretion. They invented and elaborated muscle, bone and brain to +carry out their will. Evolution has been in the direction of a +greater perfection of the methods of carrying out their will. Their +consciousness, working upon the growing and multiplying brain cells, +has created what we call self-conscious mind. + +Mind, reacting upon its creator, has, in a sense, come to dominate +them, because it has become the meeting ground of all the +energy-influences seething and bubbling in the organism, and +so developed into the organ of handling them as a whole, their +Integrating-Executive. But just the same and all the time, the +underlying consciousness of the viscera and their accessories stand as +the powers behind the throne, but as what we have now learned to speak +of, in relation to the Mind, as the Unconscious. + +PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE + +To sum up these relations of the viscera, the endocrines, the +unconscious and the mind, it may be stated as a far-reaching +generality for the understanding of human life: that character and +conduct are expressions of the streams of energy arising in the +vegetative apparatus, primarily endocrine determined at birth, and +secondarily experience determined after the organism has learned to +react as a whole, as consciousness. The result of such a reaction as a +whole tends to balance the disturbance of energy, so as to maintain +or restore the equilibrium, or sense of harmony and comfort, when +consciousness again disappears. This law is an attempt at synthesis of +the labors of the psychanalysts, the behaviourists, and the students +of the internal secretions (Freud, Jung, Adler, Sherrington, Watson, +Von Bechterew, Kempf, Crile, Cannon, Cushing, Fraenkel are the +great names of the movement). Most of the details, and all of the +quantitative applications of the law still remain to be worked +out. But a statement like the following of Cushing, the eminent +surgeon-student of the endocrines, that "it is quite probable that the +psychopathology of everyday life hinges largely upon the effect of +ductless gland discharges upon the nervous system," shows which way +the wind is blowing. + +In the face of these conceptions the position of the psychanalyst as a +practical therapeutist becomes clearer, and the causes of his failure +when he fails. In the first place, he deals with psychic results as +processes, and ignores the physiology of their production. Since a +true cure of the neurosis, what he is after, is impossible without a +removal of the cause, a disturbance in the vegetative apparatus, he +cannot succeed where an automatic adjustment among the viscera does +not follow his probings and ferretings of the unconscious. In the +second place, he disregards the existence of a soil for the planting +of the malign complexes in the individual in whom they grow and +flourish. That soil is composed in part of the endocrine relations +within the vegetative apparatus. And as we can often attack that soil +more effectively and radically from the endocrine end than from the +experience end (e.g., repressed episodes) we may transform the soil +and make it barren rock for morbid complexes, at any rate. The concept +of the endocrine-vegetative apparatus as the determinant of normal +and abnormal behaviour, emotional reactions and disturbances of power +should in time cause even the most fanatic of the psychanalysts to +recognize the functional basis of the mental acrostics they are so +fond of dissecting. + +NATURAL ABILITY + +Another achievement of the psychanalysts is the recognition of the +influence of organic and functional inferiorities of the individual +upon the history of his personality. Gross organ inferiorities are +those which are definite handicaps in the struggle for success in +society, such as heart disease. Such handicaps, however, are limited +to relatively few of a population. The raison d'être of the greater +number of minor mental inefficiencies the psychanalyst puts down to +handicaps in the unconscious. Again he mistakes figurative imagery for +explanations. The conception of endocrine diversity in the make-up +supplies us with the rationale of the vast majority of organic and +functional defects and inferiorities, in short, subnormalities of any +group, large or small. + +Moreover, how would the psychanalyst explain the occurrence and +influence of organic and functional _superiorities_ and their +tremendous influence upon the individual and society? We live in a +generation which has acquired a flair for the pathologic. Undoubtedly +it is a soul-sick generation, and its interest in sickness of the +mind is only natural. Just the same, whatever advances, improvements, +progress, have been made (and certainly a number of the changes in his +environment, external and internal, must be admitted to be changes for +the better) have been made, not by natural disability, but by natural +ability. What is the physiology of natural ability? + +The finest study of natural ability that has as yet been composed is +Francis Galton's on Hereditary Genius. It also remains the best study +of the natural conditions of success. He showed that of the type of +man he classed as "illustrious" there occurred about one in a million, +and of the type "eminent" about two hundred and fifty in a million. +Of the qualities which determine natural ability of this kind, he +selected inherent capacity, zeal, and perseverance as the three +prerequisites. And he states that "If a man is gifted with vast +intellectual ability, eagerness to work, and power of working, I +cannot comprehend how such a man should be suppressed." "Such men +(those who have gained great reputations) biographies show to +be haunted and driven by an incessant, instinctive craving for +intellectual work." "They ... work ... to satisfy a natural craving +for brain work." "It is very unlikely that any conjunction of +circumstances should supply a stimulus to brain work commensurate with +what these men carry in their own constitutions." + +What is this inherent craving for brain work? What is this zeal? And +what is power of endurance and perseverance, the quality of stamina? +How are they to be interpreted in terms of the internal secretions? + +In view of what has been said of the ante-pituitary as the gland of +intellectuality, studies of intellectually gifted people having shown +well functioning large pituitaries, and of mental defectives in a +certain number of cases a small limited pituitary, it is justifiable +to regard the factor of inherent capacity as a function of the +ante-pituitary. The factor of zeal or enthusiasm points to the +thyroid. Markedly enthusiastic types are thyroid dominant types. Vigor +as a third factor, the ability to stand stress and strain of continued +effort is dependent upon good adrenal and interstitial cell function. +So we may say that craving and capacity for brain work plus ardor plus +perseverance in its pursuit, the triplicate of natural ability, are +the reflections in conduct and character of balanced and sufficient +ante-pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal-interstitial contributions in +the chemical formula of the personality. In the chapter on historic +personages analyzed from the endocrine viewpoint, we shall see that +some of the most eminent and illustrious people of history have been +pituitary-centered. + +MENTAL DEFICIENCY + +Natural ability grows in an endocrine soil of a particular kind, +perhaps affected by the internal secretions much as natural soil is by +fertilizers like phosphates or nitrates. Increased production follows +increased fertilization. Natural disability must vary similarly with a +perversion or improper mixture, deficiency or absence of the hormones +that combine in natural ability. + +It is assumed as a matter of course that the brain itself is there, +which, to carry out our analogy, means that the crude soil or earth is +there. Sufficient quantity and adequate quality of nerve tissue must +be regarded as prerequisite. If the brain has been damaged in any way +during development or birth, if it has been smashed up in any way, or +if it has failed to evolve the minimum number of healthy nerve cells, +the endocrine influence becomes negligible. It is like attempting to +insert a key into a door which has no lock. + +It is among the specimens of normality of the brain cells that we may +look for our examples of endocrine mental deficiency. Included are all +sorts of examples of feeble-mindedness varying from the moron to the +imbecile and idiot, arrested brain life. The cretin is the classic +type of mental deficiency due to endocrine insufficiency, curable or +improvable by the proper handling. + +Insanity, degeneration of the normal brain life, may be caused by an +upset of the endocrine balance. Among the commonest manifestations +of insanity are excitements and depressions, apathies and manias, +hallucinations, delusions and obsessions, all of which are +reproducible under known conditions of internal secretion excess or +failure. Alternating states of mania and depression are caused in some +instances by extreme hyperthyroidism. The critical periods of life, +when a profound revolution is overturning the endocrine equilibrium, +puberty, pregnancy, and the menopause, are the periods of most +frequent occurrence of insanity, when mental instability reveals +endocrine instability (Dementia praecox, pregnancy psychosis, +menopause neurosis). Actual insanity need not be the only +manifestation. By far the greater number of mental disturbances due +to aberrations of the internal secretions never see an asylum or a +doctor. They live more or less close to the borderline of insanity as +persons who have spells, eccentricities and peculiarities, hysteria, +tics or just "nervousness." + +About two-thirds of mental deficiency is definitely inherited, about +one-third acquired. It is the opinion of a number of psychologists +that it is inherited as what the Mendelians call a recessive, that is +as a trait which will be overshadowed, if there is admixture of normal +mentality, but will crop up by breeding with another mental defective. +What we know of the endocrine factors in heredity leads us to suppose +that it is the mating of one marked endocrine insufficiency with +another that is often responsible for the inherited tendency to +feeble-mindedness and insanity. The effect of the hormone system upon +the vegetative apparatus may create the more obscure insanities and +quasi-insanities. The direct action of the internal secretions upon +the brain cells, producing a sort of hair trigger situation within +them, may cause the explosive discharges from them which appear as +overpowering impulses or uncontrollable conduct. The waves of feeling +which precede them are unquestionably endocrine determined. The wave +of fear a cat experiences upon seeing a dog is accompanied and indeed +preceded by an increase of the amount of adrenalin in the blood. The +picture of fright, as observed in a so-called normal person, staring +eyes, trembling hands, dry lips and mouth, corresponds to the portrait +of the appearance in hyperthyroidism. In persons afflicted with +uncontrollable impulses, the inhibiting hormones may not be present in +sufficient quantity. + +Feeble-mindedness, ranging from stupidity to imbecility, may also be +a direct effect of insufficient endocrine supply to the brain cells. +When there is not enough of the thyroid secretion in the blood, the +tissue between the cells in the brain become clogged and thickened, so +that a gross barrier to the passage of the nerve impulses is created. +We have here an illustration of internal secretion lack actually +producing gross changes in the brain. But without a doubt, most +endocrine influences upon the brain, at work every minute and second +of its life, are the subtle ones of molecular chemistry and atomic +energetics. We know that such mental qualities as irritability and +stupidity, fatigability, and the power to recover quickly or slowly +from fatigue, sexual potency and impotence, apathy and enthusiasm are +endocrine qualities. We know also that the thyroid dominant tends to +be irritable and excitable, the pituitary deficient to be placid and +gentle, the adrenal dominant to be assertive and pugnacious, the +thymus-centered to be childish and easy-go-lucky and the gonad +deficient to be secretive and shy. This brings us to the relation of +the internal secretions to the type of personality as a whole. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE TYPES OF PERSONALITY + + +THE ENDOCRINE PERSONALITY + +If a single gland can dominate the life history of an individual it +becomes possible to speak of _endocrine types_, the result of the +_endocrine analysis_ of the individual. Studying endocrine traits of +physique, life reactions, disease tendencies, hereditary history and +blood chemistry, one may gain an insight into the composition or +constitution of an individual. The endocrine type of an individual +is a summary of these, his behaviour in the past, and is also a +prediction of his reactions in the future, much as a chemical formula +outlines what we believe to be the skeleton of a compound substance +as deducible from its properties under varying conditions. Only, +admittedly, as yet the endocrine label is but roughly qualitative and +most crudely quantitative, whereas the chemical formula is the essence +of the exact. + +However, the fact remains that though we are only upon the first +rungs of the ladder, we are upon the ladder. The horizon undoubtedly +broadens. We possess a new way of looking upon humanity, a fresh +transforming light upon those strange phenomena, ourselves. Of the +ugly achievements of that dreadful century, the nineteenth, the most +illuminating was the discovery of itself as the _ape-parvenu._ Yes, +we are all animals now, it said to itself, and set its teeth in the +cut-throat game of survival. But there was no understanding in that +evil motto of a disillusioned heart. The ape-parvenu, desperately +lonely and secretive, has still to understand himself. + +Let us be clear if we can. There is perhaps a certain presumption in +the phrase, the endocrine type. It is ambitious, and perhaps will not +fulfill its promise. But it is useful because it points a parallel and +an ideal. As Wilhelm Ostwald never tired of repeating, H_{2}O is a +complete shorthand record for the bundle of qualities commonly known +as water. It is an example of that highest task of mind, synthesis. +It is the highest synthesis of the studies of the internal secretions +that certain combinations of them, permutations and blendings of +them, are responsible for those unique wonders of the universe, +personalities. + +The riddle of personality! Are we at last upon the track of its +uncovering? That elusive mystery, which philosophers have wrapped in +the thousand veils of Greek and Latin words, and psychologists, even +unto the third and fourth generation of Freudians, have floundered +about in, moles before a dazzling sun, is it to be unwound for our +inspection? Think of the human soul. What an invisible, intangible +chameleon is its true reality! Watch it, and you see something that +seems to uncurl and expand like a feather with exultation and delight +and joy, to contract and stiffen into a billiard ball with fear and +pride, shrewd caution and vigilant malevolence, to rear back and spark +fire like lightning with anger and temper, and to crawl and slither +with abjection and smirking slyness, when it needs to. This multiplex +Thing-Behind-Life, are we really about to dissect it into its +elements? + +Personality embraces much more than merely the psychic attributes. It +is not the least important of the lessons of endocrine analysis +that there is no soul, and no body, either. Rather a soul-body, or +body-soul, or the patterns of the living flame. The closer tracking of +the internal secretions leads us into the secrets of the living +flame, why it lives, and how it lives, the strange diversities of its +colorings and music and the odd variations in its energy, vitality +and longevity. Why it flickers, why it flares and glares, spurts, +flutters, burns hard or soft, orange-blue or yellow. + +The medieval scholiasts, who fought as fiercely about names as nations +about territories, divided men into the sanguine, the bilious, the +lymphatic and the nervous. It was a pretty crude classification of +different constitutions. The endocrine criteria, more exact and +concrete, divide them into the adrenal centered, the thyroid centered, +the thymus centered, the pituitary centered, the gonad centered, and +their combinations. + +THE ADRENAL PERSONALITIES + +An adrenal personality is one dominated by the ups and downs of his +adrenal gland. In the large, the curve of his life is the curve of +secretion by this gland, both of its Cortex and medulla. Such an +adrenal personality is entirely normal, within the definition of +the normal as something not threatening the duration of life, nor +comfortable adaptation to it. So are the other glandular types. No +sharp line can be drawn between the normal and the abnormal in any +case, the borderland is wide, the transitions many. + +The skin is one of the chief clues to the adrenal personality. The +relation between the adrenal and the skin dates way back in the +evolutionary scale, for adrenalin has been isolated directly from +pigment deposits in the epidermis of frogs. Skin pigment bears a +direct relation to the reaction of the organism to light, especially +the ultraviolet rays, to the radiation of heat, and hence to the +fundamental productions and consumptions of energy by the cells. So +the gland of energy for emergencies writes its signature always all +over the skin. + +In an adrenal personality, the epidermis is always slightly, somewhat, +or deeply pigmented. The pigmentation is due to a dark brown deposit +lightly or thickly scattered over the skin. With the general diffuse +pigmentation or darkening there are often the black spots, the +pigmented birth marks, or the lighter ones of freckles. The latter +signify some permanent or transitory adrenal inadequacy in the past, +ante-natal or post-natal, of the individual, and presage the same in +his future. These spots have been frequently observed to appear +after an attack of diphtheria or influenza. There seems to be more +tuberculosis among those who have them than those who do not. We +therefore say that diphtheria, influenza and tuberculosis stand out +as adrenal-attacking diseases, which have a greater power to kill, +cripple or hurt those with defective adrenal constitutions than +others. + +The hair of the adrenal type is characteristic: ubiquitous, thick, +coarse and dry. It is prominent over the chest, abdomen and back, +and has a tendency to kink. Often its color is not the expected: an +Italian's will be yellow, a Norwegian's jet black. It has been stated +that most red-haired persons are adrenal types. Such persons also have +well-marked canine teeth which is another adrenal trait. They also +have a low hair line. + +When the adrenal type has a properly co-operating pituitary and +thyroid, he possesses a striking vigor, energy and persistence. With a +fortunate combination, he develops into a progressive winning fighter, +arriving at the top in the long run every time. + +Brain work is pretty well lubricated in the well-compensated adrenal +type. Brain fag is closely associated with, if not dependent upon, +adrenal fag, particularly of the cortex. Brain tissue and adrenal +cortex tissue are near relatives, and a normal human brain never +develops without a normal adrenal cortex. The adrenal type with an +hypertrophied adrenal cortex is always efficient. + +Among women, the adrenal type is always masculinoid. If physically +feminine--due to adequate feminine reactions on the part of the +other endocrines--she will at least show the qualities of a psychic +virilism. A generation ago, such a woman had to repress her inherent +trends and instincts in the face of public opinion and law, and so +suffered from a feeling of inferiority. Nowadays, these women are +striding forward and will attain a good many of the masculine heights, +commanding responsible executive positions and high salaries. An +adrenal type will probably be the first woman president of the United +States. + +However, that presupposes a normal range of action of the other +endocrines. Let there be some quirk or weakness elsewhere in the +chain of hormones, and instead of the successful woman, behold +the spinsters, the maiden aunts, the prudes and cranks who never +satisfactorily adapt themselves in society. To them must be given +a good deal of credit for the suffrage revolution. These unadapted +adrenals, as we may call them, once sowed the seeds, expending their +masculinism in the struggles of the pioneers' martyrdoms, preparing +the harvest their sisters, the more adequate adrenal types, will now +reap. The unadapted adrenals of today will have to look for new worlds +to conquer. + +So much for the compensated adrenal types. They are the good workers, +the efficients, the kinetic successes of the driven world. They make, +at a certain level, good slave drivers because they feel within +themselves a driving force. But suppose the adrenal type becomes +uncompensated, or perhaps is inadequate to the demands of life to +start with. Then the story becomes different. The perfect efficient +superman of business or profession begins to lag. Though he is himself +in the morning, he begins to lag in the afternoon. That is when he +tires. In the evening he is all in. More sleep, recreational trips, +vacations slip into the rank of necessities, whereas previously they +had been laughed at as luxuries. More minute or large moles emerge +in the skin, especially if the individual is of a fair type. If a +strenuous effort is not made to give the adrenals an opportunity to +recuperate, or if adjustment on the part of the other glands does not +occur, this stage of intermittent and remittent adrenal inadequacy +gives way in turn to the state of permanent adrenal insufficiency. + +The adrenal insufficient is important because he is to be seen +everywhere. Built along the same lines as the adrenal adequate and +apt to be taken for him, he differs and contrasts vividly below the +surface. One may sum him up by saying that he is one variety of +neurasthenic, perhaps the most frequent variety. Cold hands and feet +plague him, cold feet psychically as well as physically, for a chronic +and obsessive indecision is one of his most prominent complaints. +A fatigability, that goes with a low blood pressure, lowered body +temperature and a disturbed ability to utilize sugar for fuel +purposes, is another of his chief complaints. The skin often presents +an instability of the blood vessels, so that they now react to +stroking with a blanched instead of a reddened effect. Irritability, +a liability to go off the handle at the slightest provocation, and a +consequent complete exhaustion that, after an outburst, sends him to +bed, is conspicuous. Dismissed sometimes contemptuously as weaklings, +they are accused of laziness, craziness, and haziness. In their +psychic attempts to compensate, they land into all kinds of hot water, +from which friends, relatives or luck extricate them sometimes. The +other times they go to the wall. + +The congenital adrenal deficient is a special problem. If the history +of such an individual is followed from birth, one gets a pretty +typical story. The genealogy is nervous. Nervous is a word of many +meanings. But when parents confess themselves nervous, it generally +means a mental and emotional instability of some sort. Sometimes the +idea is camouflaged as high strung. In the feeding narrative of the +child, one finds not occasional incidents or episodes, but continued +trouble, difficulties, adventures. Even after the first year or two, +the nutritional chronicle is not satisfactory. Lack of appetite, lack +of energy, lack of response to stimuli are its keynotes and the motifs +of the later years of childhood. + +Growth is a strain. It becomes a task to make these children grow +and gain. Chronically below the average weight and height, herculean +efforts are made by the conscientious parents, but with small success. + +With the entry of school life and competition, the curtain rises upon +the real tragedy, a tragedy in which the avenging Fates are the usual +ignorance, stupidity and misunderstanding. If the teachers alone are +duty-obsessed, or perhaps sadistic, the child endures the agonies of +repeated admonitions, demotions, and punishments. However, a certain +thick-skinned indifference may develop to protect the sufferer. + +If the parents are in addition ambitious, or proud, or competitive, +then woe betide the victim. With their nervous dispositions, it is +the school and the tutor who are to be blamed, if not the child. From +school to school, from system to system, from novelty to fad, from +doctor to doctor, from fakir to charlatan, from pillar to post, they +wander in search of an education. Educational cults by the dozen have +sprouted and grown fat around these unfortunates. + +The chief defect of the congenital adrenal inadequate is an +insufficiently developed adrenal cortex. That means an insufficiently +developed brain and nervous system. For we have seen how closely all +these are related in development. Now education can never be the +education of a vacuum. And we have to deal here with a relative +vacuum. When there are no potentialities, there can be no education. +Where the potentialities are limited, education must be limited. +The congenital adrenal inadequate is defined in physical and mental +energy. Hence educators cannot drive him. Up to a certain point he can +be led, but no farther. He should not be expected to go to a college, +and waste the opportunity of some one financially unlucky, but whose +endocrine system is more generously endowed. + +Not that the outlook is absolutely hopeless. Puberty, with its +tremendous changes in the glands of internal secretion, when one can +almost hear the clicks and the whirring of the wheels in the internal +machinery, may transform. The unfathomed possibilities of gland +therapy are still to be probed. But the general rule remains. + +THE REACTIONS TO MODERNISM + +The adrenal personalities in all their variations must be safeguarded +and carefully looked after in the strained complexities of modern +post-bellum civilization. In a sense, the adrenal type is the Atlas +of the twentieth century world, and small wonder that he and his +descendants stagger beneath the burden. The adrenals are organs for +the mobilization of energy, physical and mental, for emergencies. They +are the glands which meet shocks and neutralize the effects of shock. +In the solitary animal, the everyday producers of shock are pain, +fright and wounds. The adrenal mechanisms oversecrete to encounter +the enemy, and then there is a period of rest and recuperation. Man, +however, with the growth of his imagination and the increase in +number and density of his surrounding herd, has become the subject of +continuous stimulation. In the past, this was balanced by the almost +universal dominance of some religious belief, as an effective opiate. +Concepts like Fate, Predestination, an all-guiding and all-wise +Providence, relieved and shielded the adrenals, and acted as valuable +adjuvants for the preservation of normality. + +The nineteenth century witnessed the birth and expansion of a great +number of new stimulant reagents, the discoveries of physics and +chemistry, which, with the climax of the World War of 1914-1918, have +made for a more or less complete deliquescence of accepted religion. +For the great majority there was no faith to take its place. War, +pre-war, and post-war shocks have continued with their incessant +pounding upon the reserves of energy. Under these conditions the +adrenal personalities are bound to suffer. The other endocrine types +suffer, too, but quite differently. + +Today, anti-adrenal, anti-religious ideas are epidemic. Of these, +first prize belongs to a cult of egotism fathered by the Napoleonic +Idea, consciously assertive and self-conscious in Max Stirner's +"The Ego and His Own," which engendered a swarm of imitators and +plagiarists. Human beings are all incorrigible egoists more or less, +furtive or frank. But social and religious codes curbed the most +narcissistic of kings and conquerors. Before Napoleon, all of them +vowed allegiance and expressed submission to some sort of deity, +confessed some fear of the Lord in their hearts. But the ideas +of Napoleon flouted all that. The unscrupulous predatory who +put effectual scheming for the self plainly above every other +consideration and rode rough shod over all his fellows appealed +powerfully to the latent animality of the adrenal types. Then came +the dawning awareness of capital and labor of themselves as classes +fiercely opposed forever in the policy of cut-throat versus +cut-throat. The labor organizations and the commercial companies +and corporations pitted themselves against each other consciously. +Doctrines like "Property is but Robbery," "Everyone for himself and +the devil take the hindmost," the "Iron Law of Wages" and the "Facts +is Facts" of the Gradgrinds were the phrases of the nineteenth century +that assisted. Finally came the Darwinian revelation of man as the +ape-parvenu, which completed the disintegration of the old restraints. + +Man seemed to see himself now for the first time stark and naked. But +Man consists of many varieties, and all reacted differently to +the image in the clouded mirror. There was universal attempt at +suppression. But slowly the anti-adrenal forces infiltrated every +activity and every soul. Like a hidden focus of infection in the body, +it germinated and poisoned. A slow fever crept into life. A febrile +quality tinged the acquisition of wealth, the concentration upon sex, +and the desperate pursuit of the novel stimulus. + +Then, like the hand that appeared at Belshazzar's Feast, came the War, +only it was a hand that stayed with a long flashing lightning sword in +its grip, sweeping pitilessly among the erstwhile dancing multitudes +to mutilate and destroy. A good many people, with that sturdy +animality George Santayana speaks somewhere of as a trait of mankind, +set out to enjoy the War. It was a new sort of good time upon an +incredibly large scale. It was an undreamed-of opportunity. The +mechanisms of suppression of the mind render it incapable of +appreciating horror until encountered. And so thousands with +dangerously unstable adrenals were plunged into the most trying +conditions possible. Hundreds of them, already shaken, on the +borderland of instability, reacted with the phenomena of breakdown +of control, lumped with a host of other phenomena, under the general +rubric of "shell shock." + +That alone was not all. If hundreds collapsed, thousands approached +the verge of collapse. They survived and were discharged from the +armies as normal. They reappear in civil life as cases of "nerves." +Ordinarily that would mean that they would be classed as failures. But +such have been the psychologic reactions to the war that all kinds +of compensations in the way of dangerous mental states have become +frequent in these inadequate adrenal types. A trend to violence and a +resentful emotionalism are combined with desperate attempts to spur +the jaded adrenals with artificial excitements. Consequent melancholia +and depression, the "blues," are inevitable. A survey of drug addicts +would probably show a definite percentage of this type. The same +applies to certain petty criminals and law breakers. + +The adrenal element in the personality must be considered in every +disturbance, morbid, personal, or social involving brunette types, +Huxley's dark white, Mediterranean-Iberians, red-haired persons, and +even pigment-spotted fair people. Historians have traced the earliest +civilization to the doings of a brunette people, the Sumerians, the +first to build cities in the Euphrates-Tigris region more than five +thousand years before Christ was born. An adrenalized people one +would, expect to be the first to take advantage of possibilities +because of their energy capacity. The earliest Sumerian stone carvings +of warriors exhibit an undersized skeleton compared with the large +head, broad face, a low hair line and prominent nose that would fit +into the ensemble of the adrenal type. Certain other historical +aspects of the adrenal personality have yet to be worked out. + +THE PITUITARY PERSONALITIES + +The presence of two antagonistic elements in the one gland complicates +any attempt at even the most abstract analysis of a personality +dominated by that gland. The pituitary, composed of an anterior lobe +and posterior lobe, supplies two fairly uncomplicated corresponding +types, best described as the masculine pituitary type, and the +feminine pituitary type. The masculine pituitary type is one +determined by the rule of the anterior pituitary, representing +superlative brain tone and action, good all-around growth and +harmonious general function, the ideal masculine organism. The +feminine pituitary type has an excess of post-pituitary, with +susceptibility to the tender emotions, sentimentalism, and +emotionalism, feminine structural lines. Ante-pituitary dominance in +a male reinforces the general masculinity while the post-pituitary +depresses it. The post-pituitary in a woman augments her natural +trend, ante-pituitary tending to counteract it. In other words, +post-pituitary and ovary are conjunctive, ante-pituitary and ovary are +disjunctive, post-pituitary and testis are opponents, ante-pituitary +and testis are allies. + +One mechanical circumstance involved in the pituitary personalities +may be the determinant of the entire life history. That is the +emphasized fact that the pituitary is encased in a small bony box, at +the base of the skull. The size of this bony box, and its capacity to +yield to the various pressures of a pituitary enlarging to meet the +demands of the organism, will often spell happiness or misery, +success or failure, genius or idiocy for the man or woman. Certain +possibilities are conceivable. All of them occur, for the developments +of X-ray technique have rendered available almost a direct view of the +sella turcica. + +In the first place, the bony box may be definitely too small to start +in with. That means a small and so potentially inadequate pituitary, +both anterior and posterior, potentially inadequate in that it will +become impossible for it to grow and produce extra secretion upon +demand. Handicapped thus, the unfortunate so born is doomed to +inferiority and very little can be done for him. He will not develop +satisfactorily. He possesses small genital organs which will not +evolve properly in adolescence, or if they will not stand still, tend +to revert to the opposite sex type. Then he tends to be dwarfed, +fatigable, adipose. Among these types are included subjects of +obsessions and compulsions who are dull and apathetic, cannot learn or +maintain inhibitions, and so, without initiative, evolve into moral +and intellectual degenerates, liable to epilepsy and the most +remarkable sex aberrations. All because a cranny of the skull, about +the size of a thimble, is not large enough for their dominating gland. + +If the bone of the cavity of the pituitary is softer and yielding, +so that some enlargement of the gland is possible, especially of the +anterior, there appear rapid growth with a tendency to high blood +pressure, great mental activity associated with frequent and severe +headaches (often of the migraine type), a combination of initiative +and irritability and a marked sexuality. X-ray examination of the +sella turcica shows what is called erosion of the bone as it yields to +the pressure of the growing gland. + +The ideal sella turcica for the ideal pituitary type is a large room +in which the gland may grow and reach its maximum size and so its +maximum function, without needing to exert pressure or destroy and +erode bone in front of it, to the side of it or behind it. The +distinctive masculine and feminine types, classed as the normal, +belong to this group. Sometimes, the bone in front of the pituitary +will yield, while the one in the rear will not, and sometimes the +conditions are reversed. Thus we may have ante-pituitary sufficiency +with post-pituitary insufficiency, or ante-pituitary insufficiency +with post-pituitary sufficiency, complexes which contribute to create +the grosser functional hermaphrodite types of mixed sex. + +In the average feminine pituitary type of personality, post-pituitary +dominates. In a woman and to a lesser degree in a man, the general +build is slight and rather delicate. The skin is soft, moist, and +hairless, the face is the doll or Dresden China sort, with a roseate +or creamy complexion, flushing easily, eyes large and prominent. The +mouth shows a high arched palate and crowded teeth rather long. The +voice is high-pitched. One recognizes the traditional womanly woman, +petite and chic, who always marries the hero in stories. She is +usually fond of children, easily moved, has a good libido, and the +traditional feminine traits. When unstable, the post-pituitary type is +restless and hyperactive, craves excitement, and continual change of +interest and scene, a new pleasure every moment. A good many of the +women of today, who fifty years ago would have been nice sedate girls +because of their excellent post-pituitary constitution, have +been irritated by the atmosphere of post-1914 into the excess +post-pituitary state, the adventurous never-satiated avid pleasure +hunter, in whom the craving for stimulation will stop at nothing. F. +Scott Fitzgerald portrayed an exquisite specimen of the kind in his +short story "The Jellybean," with a quasi-heroine of a good Southern +family, built to be a high standard wife and mother, who drinks, +swears, gambles, and finally marries on a dare. Modern post-pituitary +woman is excitement mad and thrill chasing. The worst of it is that +the resultant personal tragedies cannot be dismissed as transient +inevitables. The heredity of the internal secretions determines that +the offspring of these women are bound to be pituitary unstable, the +least desirable of endocrine instabilities because of the concomitant +mental effects. Even from the purely selfish point of view, the +standpoint of enlightened selfishness, the post-pituitary type must +beware of excesses. For disturbances of menstruation, psychic fears, +anxieties, states of suspicion and obsession, various pains are among +the penalties. + +A period of post-pituitary excess as an effect of disease, pregnancy, +or the rapid life, may be followed by post-pituitary deficiency as a +result of exhaustion of the gland. The girl or woman then becomes fat +and suffers from headaches (the fair, fat and forty type) yet retains +a certain capacity for enjoyment which enables her to continue gay, +happy and gentle, kind, interested. So she contrasts with the thyroid +deficient who gets fat, but also dull, stupid, even morose. + +The masculine pituitary personality, the man with a dominant anterior +pituitary gland in a roomy sella turcica with plenty of space to grow +in, is the ideal virile type. They are generally tall (unless the +growth of the long bones was checked too early by a social precocity +of the testes) with a well-developed strong frame, large firm muscles, +and proportionately sized hands and feet. The head is of the marked +dolichocephalic type, flattened at the sides, face is oval more or +less, with thick eyebrows, eyes rather prominent, nose broadish and +long, lower jaw prominent and firm. Prominent bony points like the +cheek bones, the elbows and the knees, the knuckle joints of the hands +and feet. The teeth are large, especially the upper middle incisors, +and they are usually spaced. The arms and legs are hairy. High grade +brains, the ability to learn, and the ability to control, self-mastery +in the sense of domination of the lower instincts and the automatic +reactions of the vegetative nervous system, the rule by the individual +of himself and his environment are at their maximum in him. The +ante-pituitary personality is educable for intelligence, and even +intellect, provided the proper educational stimulus is supplied. Men +of brains, practical and theoretical, philosophers, thinkers, creators +of new thoughts and new goods, belong to this group. The distinction +between men of theoretical genius, whose minds which could embrace +a universe, and yet fail to manage successfully their own personal +everyday lives, and the men of practical genius, who can achieve and +execute, the great engineers, and industrial men lies in the balance +between the ante-pituitary and the adrenal cortex primarily. Men like +Abraham Lincoln and George Bernard Shaw belong to this ante-pituitary +group. + +The feminine pituitary personality, in whom there is predominance of +the post-pituitary over the ante-pituitary, occurs in men. The type +is short, rounded and stout. They have heads that seem too large +for their bodies, the general hair distribution on the trunk and +extremities is poor, although that of the scalp and face is plentiful, +and they acquire an abdominal paunch early. They exhibit the feminine +tendency to periodicity of function, their moods, activities, +efficiency are cyclic, reminding one of the menstrual variations of +the female. This rhythmicity saturates their personalities, so that +poetry and music almost morbidly appeal to them. A number of the great +poets and musicians are to be classified as of the feminine pituitary +species. Last, but not least, they are the hen-pecked lovers and +husbands. Sex difficulties are frequent in their history. + +The determination of endocrine type and tendencies, the prediction of +the future personality, during childhood is one of the developments +confidently to be looked for, as our knowledge of the internal +secretions will grow. The possibilities of control loom as one of the +most magnificent promises of science. Yet the high expectations for +tomorrow should not depress our respect for the achievements of today. +In the case of the pituitary, for instance, a hint as to the method +of approach is furnished by the tabulation of the traits of pituitary +dominance and pituitary inferiority in children. + + Pituitary sufficient and dominant: + Large, spare, bony frame + Eyes wide apart + Broad face + Teeth, broad, large, unspaced + Square, protruding chin and jaws + Large feet and hands + Early hair growth on body + Thick skin, large sex organs + Aggressive, precocious, calculating, self-contained + + Pituitary inferior: + Small, sometimes delicate skeleton + Rather adipose, weak muscles + Upper jaw prognathous + Dry, flabby skin + Small hands and feet + Abnormal desire for sweets + Subnormal temperature, blood pressure and pulse + Poor control of lower vegetative functions + Mentally sluggish, dull, apathetic, backward + Loses self-control quickly, cries easily, discouraged promptly, + psychic stamina insufficient + +The pituitary personality in childhood produced by limitation of the +size of the gland, because its bony box is completely or partially +closed, presents typical hall-marks. He supplies the second and third +offenders in the juvenile courts, the delinquents and pathological +liars of childhood, the incorrigibles, the precocious hoboes, mental +and moral deficients and defectives, the prey of the sentimental +complexes of elderly virgins and helpful futility all around. Not +utilitarianism or futilitarianism is needed, but pituitarianism. +The feeding of pituitary gland in large enough quantities to these +unfortunates may do more than ten charity organizations, with the most +patrician board of directors complete. + +THE THYROID PERSONALITIES + +The accessibility of the thyroid gland in the neck, the ease of +surgical approach, the definite effects following its removal, and +then the miraculous marvels of the feeding of thyroid have rendered it +the centre of attack by the largest army of endocrine investigators. +As a result we know more about the thyroid in childhood, adolescence, +adult life and old age than about the other glands. + +In childhood, the subthyroid or thyroid deficient, the cretinoid type, +the type resembling the cretin, is fairly common. The peasant's face, +with the broad nose and the tough skin, coarse straight hair, the +undergrowth, physical and mental, a persistent babyishness and a +retardation of self-control development, make up the picture. He needs +an excess of sleep, sleeps heavily, needs sleep during the day, +when awakened in the morning still feels tired, and rather dull and +restless, dresses slowly, has to be coaxed or forced to dress, gets to +school late nearly every morning, does badly at the school, reaction +time, learning time and remembering time being prolonged as compared +with the average, and is lazy at home lessons. He perspires little, +even after exertion, yet fatigues easily, is subject to frequent +colds, adenoids, tonsillitis, and acquires every disease of childhood +that happens along. + +Adolescence, the coming of menstruation, the first blooming of youth +is delayed in the subthyroid. The secondary sex traits as they develop +tend to be incomplete and to mimic those of the opposite sex. Yet in +adolescence too there may be a sudden change and reversal of the whole +process, a jump from the subthyroid to the hyperthyroid state. So a +girl who has been dull and lackadaisical, with no complexion and every +prospect of evolution into a wall flower, may be transformed into a +bright-eyed woman, generally nervous and restless, high colored, and +possessed of a craving for continual activity and excitement. Skin, +hair and teeth become of the thyroid dominant type. The heart +palpitates under the slightest stimulus, she perspires almost +annoyingly, heat and emotion are prostrating. If such a +transfiguration does not occur, the effect of the reconstructions +of puberty is to create a person with about the following +characteristics. + + 1. Height below the average + 2. Tendency to obesity (toward middle age) + 3. Complexion sallow + 4. Hair dry--hair line high + 5. Eyebrows scanty, either as a whole or in outer half + 6. Eyeballs deep-set, lack lustre, in narrowed slits + 7. Teeth irregular, become carious early + 8. Extremities cold and bluish + 9. Circulation poor. Subject to chilblains + +Intellectually, these people vary enormously, depending upon which of +the other glands will enlarge to compensate for the deficiency of the +thyroid. If the growth of the skull has left a roomy sella turcica +for the pituitary to grow in, the intellect may be normal or even +superior, though energy is below par. If this is not possible and +the adrenals have to predominate, a lower, more animal and less +self-controlled type of mentality is produced. + +In direct contrast to the subthyroid types is he who originally was +hyperthyroid. During childhood he is quite healthy, thin, but striking +robust, active, energetic, generally fair-complexioned with nose +straight and high bridged, eyes rather "poppy," teeth excellent, +regular, firm, white with a pearly translucent enamel. These children +are always on the go, never get tired, require little sleep. Seldom +will one of the classical children's diseases strike them, measles +perhaps, but no other. Adolescence for them, however, is more apt to +be stormy and episodic, adjustment to the new world of people and +things is much more difficult, wanderlust is acute. All an expression +of cells keyed up, charged with energy that must flow somewhere or +explode. + +The ruddy live-wire, recognized everywhere as bubbling with vitality, +the life of any group, the magnetic personality may, however, be +shocked by some seismic event like the death of a father or mother, +or the ruin of some cherished ambition. A break in the balance of the +other glands follows quickly and disablement and invalidism, which may +cure itself after some years, remain stationary, or descend to the +worst forms of thyroid deficiency. + +During maturity, the type are characterized usually by a lean body, +or tendency rapidly to become thin under stress. They have clean cut +features and thick hair, often wavy or curly, thick long eyebrows, +large, frank, brilliant, keen eyes, regular and well developed teeth +and mouth. Sexually they are well differentiated and susceptible. +Noticeable emotivity, a rapidity of perception and volition, +impulsiveness, and a tendency to explosive crises of expression are +the distinctive psychic traits. A restless, inexhaustible energy makes +them perpetual doers and workers, who get up early in the morning, +flit about all day, retire late, and frequently suffer from insomnia, +planning in bed what they are to do next day. + +Certain types of thyroid excess associated with the thymus dominant +next to be described are peculiarly susceptible to emotional +instability. They are subject to brain storms, outbreaks of furious +rage, sometimes associated with a state of semi-consciousness. To +emphasize the analogy to epilepsy, their attacks have been called +psycholepsy. Among the Italians especially they were watched and +reported during the War, when the explosive fits were seen to take the +form of irresponsible acts of insubordination or violence. + +THE THYMO-CENTRIC PERSONALITIES + +During the first period of childhood, up to five, six or seven, or +more accurately, up to the point at which the permanent teeth begin +to appear, every child may be said to be a thymus-dominated organism, +because the thymus, holding the other endocrines in check, controls +its life. That is why up to the third and fourth years at any rate, +most children seem alike. Closer observation, however, reveals points +of differentiation and signs of the coming potencies of the other +hormones. During the second period, up to puberty, these marks of the +deeper underlying forces of the personality make themselves more +and more felt. The thymus, like a brake that is becoming worn out, +continues to function in a progressively weaker fashion. Until with +the arrival of the gonadal (ovaries' or testes') internal secretion, +its influence is wiped out. + +There is a definite degree of thymus activity during everyone's +childhood, unless by its premature involution, precocity displaces +juvenility. Yet even during childhood, there are certain individuals +with excessive thymus action, foreshadowing a continued thymus +predominance throughout life. The "angel child" is the type: regularly +proportioned and perfectly made, like a fine piece of sculpture, with +delicately chiselled features, transparent skin changing color +easily, long silky hair, with an exceptional grace of movement and an +alertness of mind. They seem the embodiment of beauty, but somehow +unfit for the coarse conflicts of life. In English literature several +characters are recognizable as portraits of the type, notably Paul +Dombey, whose nurse recognized that he was not for this world. They +may look the picture of health, but they are more liable than any +other children to be eliminated by tuberculosis, meningitis or even +one of the common diseases of childhood. + +It is after puberty, when the thymus should shrink and pass out of +the endocrine concert as a power, that the more complex reactions of +personality emerge when the thymus persists and refuses to or cannot +retire. The persistent thymus always then throws its shadow over the +entire personality. To what extent that shadow spreads depends upon +the strength of the other glands of internal secretion, their ability +to compensate or to stay inhibited. Whether or not the pituitary will +be able to enlarge in its bony cradle seems to be the most important +factor determining these variations. If there is space for it to grow, +at any rate normally, the individual may pass for normal, although +he will have difficulties throughout life he may never understand, +particularly in sexual directions. If the pituitary is limited. +partially or completely, the thymus predominance is more prominent +and fixed, and the abnormalities become obvious, both of person and +conduct. + +The anatomic architecture of the latter thymo-centric personality is +fairly typical. The reversion in type of the reproductive organs, the +slender waist, the gracefully formed body, the rounded limbs, the long +chest and the feminine pelvis strike one at the first glance. The +texture of the skin is smooth as a baby's, and sometimes velvety to +the touch. Its color may be an opaque white, or faintly creamy, or +there may be an effect of a filmy sheen over a florid complexion. +Little or no hair on the face contributes to the general feminine +aspect in the more extreme types. They are often double jointed +somewhere, flat footed, knock-kneed. + +In women, the external manifestations of a thymo-centric personality +may be limited to thinness and delicacy of the skin, narrow waist, +rather poorly developed breasts, arched thighs and scanty hair, +with scanty and delayed menstruation. Or there may be obesity, with +juvenility, if there is a repression of the pituitary secretion for +one reason or other. + +In their reactions to the problems, physical and psychic, of everyday +life, the thymo-centrics are distinctly at a disadvantage. In the +first place, muscular strain, stress or shock is dangerous to them +because they have a small heart, and remarkably fragile blood vessels, +which renders their circulation incapable of responding to an +emergency, or at least definitely handicapped. In infancy, they may +die suddenly because of this, either for no ascertainable cause at +all, or because of some slight excitement like that attending some +slight operation, a fall, or a mild illness. During the run-about +epoch they are unable to cope with the necessities of an active +child's existence in playing with other children. Puberty and +adolescence are specially perilous to them for they may endeavour to +compensate for an inner feeling of physical inferiority by going +in strenuously for athletics and sports, and so risking a sudden +hemorrhage in the brain, producible by the tearing of a blood vessel, +as if constructed of defective rubber. Reports published in the +newspapers from time to time of children or young men instantly +killed by a tap on the jaw in a boxing contest, or some other trivial +injuries are doubtless samples of such reactions in thymo-centric +people. + +As an illustration of the conduct aberrations of the thymo-centric +personality during adult life, the following extracts from a newspaper +report of a suicide are worth quoting. + +"An autopsy made yesterday by Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, first assistant +to Dr. Charles Norris, Chief Medical Examiner, removed any mystery +that surrounded the death on Saturday night by pistol bullets of Dr. +José A. Arenas and the wounding of 'Miss Ruth Jackson' and Ignatio +Marti. + +"Dr. Schwartz said that his post-mortem examination had convinced him +beyond doubt that the dead physician-dentist had killed himself after +he had tried to take the life of the young woman with whom he had +lived and of the youth who was his successful rival. + +"'Besides that,' Dr. Schwartz said, 'my report to the police will +include a statement from the young woman to me that she always had +understood that Dr. Arenas had killed some one in Havana, Cuba, before +he came to New York. + +"The autopsy left no doubt that Dr. Arenas was a case of status +lymphaticus (thymus-centered personality). I made a most complete +report because of the scientific value of the autopsy. + +"'This confirmed my first deductions after seeing the body on Saturday +night in the doctor's furnished room with alcove bedroom adjoining. +You will remember that as soon as I had seen him I revealed that he +was wearing corsets. + +"'These cases of status lymphaticus are intensely interesting. In them +the blood vessels are very small, and the lymphatic clement is greatly +in excess. They die suddenly, from ruptures of blood vessels. Many +of them are degenerate. Most of them are criminals. All of them are +liable to commit crimes of passion. Among them are found a large +percentage of drug addicts. + +"'Miss Jackson, in the hospital, confirmed my scientific theory that +the dead man was not normal. She was perfectly frank in her statement. +She said she had left her husband, Elmer Schultz, an automobile +salesman in Toledo, several months ago and had come to New York. She +said she had lived with the doctor for some time. + +"'About ten days ago she left him to live with Marti, a healthy, +normal lad. Before she went from the doctor's room she destroyed those +colored collars that were found beside the body. She cut them with +scissors. But that was after, so she states, the doctor had destroyed +stockings of hers by cutting them. + +"'She told me in the hospital today, and with every appearance of +truth, that she had met Arenas in the subway at the station on +Seventy-second Street and Broadway on Friday night and that she had +asked him when she could come and get her clothes. He said, according +to her story: + +"'Come to the house tomorrow afternoon--but come with Marti.' + +"'She said that she and Marti went there according to this invitation: +that first the doctor showed her the cut collars and told her that she +would get her clothes back in perfect condition, and that the next +thing she knew she had been shot. She couldn't remember much after +that. + +"'I believe that both she and Marti have told a perfectly +straightforward story and the autopsy is proof of it. + +"'There were six bullets in the doctor's pistol to be accounted for. +One, in an undischarged cartridge, still was in the weapon. That +leaves five. One struck "Miss Jackson" in the right chest squarely in +front, and penetrated the flesh about one inch. If there had been any +power at all behind the missile it would have gone right through, +pierced a lung, caused a hemorrhage, and the chances are that "Miss +Jackson" would have died. That leaves four bullets. + +"'One more struck Marti in the left upper chest. It passed through the +pocket there, and the skirt, grazed the skin, and then bounced over to +the right hand side in front. It was a most amazing case of a bounding +bullet. I was particularly careful about examining its course because +at first I was suspicious of the stories that were told by Marti and +"Miss Jackson." Now I know they are true. + +"'But anyone might have been puzzled by the queer antics of the +missiles from the pistol of South American manufacture that the doctor +used. If it had had any penetrating power--or rather if the bullets +that it sent out, had any real kick behind them--the chances are that +both "Miss Jackson" and Marti would be dead now. + +"'Two bullets, it will be remembered, entered the doctor's left chest, +quite close together. Well, one nicked the heart and lodged between +the lung and the heart. It didn't cause any more damage than a +mosquito bite. + +"'The second bullet went through the soft flesh of the chest, but it +struck a rib and bounded back out again. That bullet was picked up +beside the body. + +"'After these vain attempts to send a bullet through his body to a +fatal spot, the doctor apparently shifted the weapon to his right +temple and pulled the trigger for the fifth time. Then the fifth +bullet, driven likewise by a very weak charge of powder, pierced the +skull at a point where it was thin and tore into his brain. Its lack +of power, however, is shown by the fact that I found it this morning +in the brain tissue. + +"'In all my experience I have never seen anything so queer. It sounds +almost like a dream--a man trying to kill with a pistol that shoots +bullets that either stop after striking soft flesh or bound out of the +body into which they are fired. But it is true; I have had all of the +bullets in my hand. + +"'They are all accounted for. They are all of the same sort. There +is no reason to doubt that they are all from the same weapon, an +instrument without manufacturer's name, and of a design that the +police say is unfamiliar to them. + +"'The dead doctor was a distinct type, and his tragic end was one that +should not surprise anyone who has any knowledge of such cases. The +courtroom was thronged with friends of the dead physician-dentist, who +not only is reported to be of a wealthy family of Bogota, Colombia, +but generally is credited with many charitable works in the uptown +Spanish colony here.'" + +The distinct type to which the first assistant to the chief medical +examiner of the city referred is the thymo-centric personality +(status lymphaticus is another technical name for it), we have been +considering. The persistence of the thymus after adolescence makes for +an arrest of masculinization or feminization, the end-point arrived +at by the processes of puberty. That is, a partial castration takes +place. Now, as the experiments of Steinach upon the transplantation of +ovaries into males deprived of their testes and of testes into females +deprived of their ovaries have demonstrated, the removal of the +interstitial cells of one sex assists enormously in arousing the +opposite sex traits that have been latent, homosexuality. In a +thymo-centric, tendencies to homosexuality and masochism appear. +And so all the remarkable after-effects of those processes that the +Freudians have so lovingly traced: the father complex in men, the +inferiority complex, and the feminoid complex in general. + +The feminoid complex introduces again the character of the functional +hermaphrodite, the mixed male-female. The sex index will certainly +come in time as a measurement of sexuality. But until then some more +available classification of sex tendency is necessary. Including +sex intergrades, one may divide sex types into six classes: +male, _male_-female, male-_female_, female, _female_-male, and +female-_male_. The sex intergrades, the four hyphenated classes, +nearly all have some degree of persistent thymus. If its influence is +partial, the emphasis is before the hyphen, upon the ostensible. If +its influence is unchecked, the emphasis is after the hyphen upon the +apparently latent sex. The sex difficulties produced in these people +by the conflict between their conscious sex and their subconscious +sex, the sex duel in the same mind, Siamese twins pulling in +diametrically opposite directions, are comprehensible only from the +viewpoint of the internal secretions. + +Homosexuality, in one form or another, frank or concealed, haunts +the thymo-centric and spoils his life. The persistent thymus, like a +vindictive Electra, stalks the footsteps of its victim, its possessor. +He wishes to live, according to society's remorselessly rigid +expectations, for virility and happiness. But his thymus condition +forces him also to live for femininity and misery. That homosexuality +is not purely a psychic matter, of complexes and introversion, as +the newest psychology would have us believe, has been proved by +observations of its development in animals with internal secretion +disturbances, acquired or experimental. Thus it has been recorded that +a male dog showed a large goitrous swelling of the thyroid in the +neck, with a rapid heart, staring eyes, the loss of flesh and fat and +the nervousness of a hyperthyroid condition. Therewith he became an +absolute homosexual. Observations on the primates along the same +lines have been made. In goitrous hyperthyroids thymus persistence is +common. + +What complicates his sex difficulties, and makes social adjustment +almost impossible or completely impossible, is that his pituitary +frequently cannot react to assist him. Often, as emphasized, it +is bound in by bone on all sides and neither ante-pituitary nor +post-pituitary can adequately secrete for his needs. So social +instinct and the capacity for inhibition, the ability to control +himself conceptually and somatically, are poor. As a child it is +difficult to train him along the lines of the elementary habits and +customs. He is into late childhood a bed-wetter, and steals and lies +quasi-unconsciously. + +His mother realizes soon that he cannot be made to acquire a sense of +responsibility either for himself or for others. She becomes afraid to +let him go into the street because of his inability to take care of +himself, to acquire the right attitude toward street cars, autos, +strangers, in short, danger. She dreads to take him to places because +no sooner would they be out of them, than she would discover that he +had taken something that did not belong to him, quite as a matter of +course. He will fabricate stories with no motive, fabricate them +out of whole cloth for the pure fun of it. In a word, moral +irresponsibility is the keynote of the volitional traits of the +thymo-centric personality from childhood up. + +With so much against them, physical inferiorities, mental defects, +moral lacks of every sort, it is little wonder that the thymo-centrics +die young. Infections hit them badly. The cases of flu that went off +in twenty-four hours belonged to the type. Fulminant meningitis, +pneumonia, diphtheria, scarlet fever, the varieties that are supposed +to kill in twenty-four to forty-eight hours because of the terrible +virulence of the attacking microbe, are probably so malignant only +because the organism attacked is a thymus subject. + +In the alcohol and drug habitué wards of hospitals as well as in +medicolegal cases of degenerates, gunmen and other criminals, +the characteristic conformation and diagnostic stigmata of the +thymo-centric are often encountered. Life treats them badly. +Misunderstood and misjudged, they are the hopeless misfits of society. +If the pituitary and the thyroid can enlarge to compensate for their +defects, they may become the queer brilliants, the eccentric geniuses +of the arts and sciences. Should they not, mental deficiency and +delinquency are their portion. Epilepsy, then, is sometimes their mode +of escape from the terrors of an utterly foreign world. Should they +survive all other hazards, suicide may still be their most frequent +fate. A study of 122 cases of suicide by one observer showed that the +status lymphaticus was practically constant and often pronounced. + +Certain of them, after a stormy life in the twenties, become adapted +to their surroundings in the thirties because the pituitary gradually +emerges and becomes dominant in their personalities. They are then +recessive thymocentrics. An increase in size, a broadening, together +with a greater mental tranquillity and stability, accompany the +adaptation. Historically, the thymocentrics who combined brilliancy +and instability played a great part as some of the famous adventurers +and restless experimentalists. + +THE SEX GLAND CENTERED OR GONADO-CENTRIC PERSONALITIES + +(The Eunuchoid Personality) + +Among the individuals whose personality is dominated by their sex +glands the physiognomy, physique and life reactions are so distinctive +that no better examples exist of our main thesis: that the whole life +of man is controlled primarily by his internal secretions. These +gonado-centric types are not all necessarily sex gland deficient, as +the term eunuchoid implies. They may be rather gonad unstable with a +corresponding instability of the entire endocrine system. + +About the face of the eunuchoid the striking feature is the +incomplete, irregular, or absent hair development. Below thirty it is +chubby and ruddy, and rather childish in its texture; after thirty, +there is an effect of premature senility: the skin is yellowish, +leathery, and wrinkled as the faces of old women are wrinkled: the +upper lip is traversed by vertical wrinkles, and wrinkles come around +corners of the mouth. The expression is juvenile, effeminate or +plaintive. + +Invariably the voice is higher pitched than the usual masculine tones. +It may be gentle and subdued, like a genteel female's, or strident and +rasping. Occasionally it is a pleasant high tenor. The Adam's apple, +poetic popular name for the thyroid cartilage, is never prominent, +because it is not ossified, as it should be in the normal male. + +Tall and slender, or generally undersized, the muscles are soft +and flabby as a woman's. The hands and feet are small and gracile +typically. Viewed in profile, the lines of the body are feminine. The +breasts may reach almost the size of the female's and there may be a +well-marked area of pigmentation around the nipple. The hair growth +under the shoulders and on the lower abdomen tends to be scanty and to +approximate the opposite sex in quality and distribution, as do the +reproductive organs themselves. + +These traits of physiognomy and physique indicate functional +hermaphroditism in the underlying feminoid constitution. The feminoid +constitution appears again in the supposedly masculine. The feminoid +constitution should not be confused with the infantiloid constitution. +The former, the gonado-centric personality, is a digression of growth, +a deviated evolution of the individual because of the conflicting +forces, some masculine and some feminine, in his make-up. The +infantiloid constitution is one of arrested development, and may +center around the arrested function in childhood or adolescence of +any one or a number of endocrine glands. Yet the two may resemble one +another pretty closely, at times. A cretin imitates the extreme grade +of infantiloid constitution. The infantiloid is a sort of enlarged and +lengthened child. The feminoid is ostensibly a man, with a good deal +of woman in him. The infantiloid is a quite general type, but of +course when typical is a freak, recognized and treated as such. How +far the eunuchoid may deviate from the normal is suggested by the +following description of one. + +"Face rounded, moon-like, chubby, devoid of hair. Eyes puffed. Lips +protruding and fleshy. Cheeks round and thick. Nose little developed. +Skin thick and of clear color. Disproportion between the size of head +and body. Hair of scalp fine. Brows and lashes scarce, trunk elongated +and cylindrical. Limbs thick and plump, tapering from the root to the +extremities. Good fat layers over the entire body. Reproductive organs +those of a little boy. Infantile mental state: light-heartedness, +naïvete, timidity, easily evoked tears and laughter, promptly aroused +but fugitive wrath: excessive tenderness, but unreasonable dislikes." + +An almost wholly mental infantiloid state or one purely physical +may occur. Certain rather large Tom Thumbs belong to the group. In +everyday life we see doll creatures, overgrown children, on every +hand. Mental measurements of any large group of population reveal a +remarkable percentage of it as below the mental age of 12. Juvenile +traits and juvenile mind, separate or combined, should always suggest +the possibility of the infantiloid constitution of one type of +thymocentric also. + +The eunuchoid or feminoid personality is also found often among +artists. One must carefully distinguish the two because the ensemble +of characteristics of the one may easily stimulate the other. Yet +fundamentally they are as far apart as the poles. The infantiloid +type never rises above the subnormal, which is its habitat, while the +feminoid type (or masculinoid, in woman) often produces an abnormal +personality which rises above the normal. The infantiloids become the +slaves and the weaklings of society, the Mark Tapleys, and the Tom +Pinches, while the eunuchoids have created splendid literature and +immortal music. + +The life reactions, and especially the sex reactions of the +gonado-centric, are as complex and difficult as those of the +thymo-centric. Straightforward homosexuality and the eunuchoid +constitution have always been intimate. The homosexuality of the +thymo-centric is more subtle and disguised, often buried under the +stronger masculine component of the personality. + +Homosexuality as a cult has appeared correlated with the production of +the functional hermaphrodite by artificially creating the eunuchoid +type of constitution. Among the Aztecs, homosexuals were produced +in quantity for religious purposes by a deliberate fostering of the +eunuchoid constitution. They called them the Mujerados. Their method +consisted in making a healthy man ride horseback constantly, until an +irritable weakness of the reproductive organs ensued, and a paralytic +impotence followed. The exhausted testes would then atrophy, and the +voice ring falsetto, muscular tone and energy diminish, inclinations +and habits become feminine. The Mujerado lost his position in society +as a man, assumed female clothing, manners and customs, and to all +intents and purposes was treated as a woman. Their large breasts were +said to be capable of lactation. Their only reward was the high honor +paid them as religious consecrates. + +Among the Phoenicians there was a similar sect, devoted to the worship +of Astarte. Known as the Galli, they were men who had transformed +themselves into the closest possible resemblance to women. At all +times they were prepared to engage with members of either sex in +sexual relations of the most depraved kind. They lived in idleness as +prostitutes, cultivating and extending their skill in sex perversions +as specialists. Their initiation into their professional careers was +a part of a religious ritual. During the revels of great festivals, +apprentices to the trade, wrought up by certain traditional songs and +music, would be hypnotised into a frenzy, run amuck, throw off every +garment, and, snatching up swords, deliberately placed in convenient +spots, castrate themselves at one blow. In a wilder hysteria, +screaming loudly, the self-made eunuchs would then run through the +streets holding the severed organs high above their heads. At last, +faint through loss of blood, they brought their madness to its climax +by hurling the organs in their hands into the nearest houses, so +forcing the owners to take them in, and provide them with female +wearing apparel, and the other feminine accoutrements of war. +Henceforth, this manner of dress was not to be changed. The physical +changes followed. The hair of the face was lost, the breasts enlarged, +the voice became high-pitched, and the other type-characters of the +eunuchoid complex appeared. + +These constitutions thus may be either congenital or acquired. +Individuals apparently normal during childhood and adolescence may +be transformed. Injuries to the reproductive glands, sometimes the +slightest bruises, may lead to atrophy, and a change of personality +follows in less than six weeks. Mumps may achieve the same results +because of the inflammation of the gonads that may accompany or follow +it. + +Whole family and races may show some of the signs of the eunuchoid +constitution for generations. According to Darwin (Descent of Man) +"the development of the beard and the hairiness of the body differ +remarkably in the men of distinct races, and even in different tribes, +and families of the same race. On the European-Asiatic continent, +beards prevail, until we pass beyond India, although with the +natives of Ceylon they are often absent.... Eastward of India beards +disappear, as with the Siamese, Kalmuks, Malays, Chinese, and +Japanese. Throughout the great American continent the men may be said +to be beardless: but in almost all tribes a few short hairs are apt to +appear on the face, especially in old age...." Hair being an adrenal +cortex trait, it is to be inferred that hairless families and races +are more eunuchoid, and possess less of the adrenal cortex secretion +than the more hairy. + +Whatever the exceptions--and there have been eunuch generals in +history--Marces, Chancellor of Justinian, who beat the Goths at +Nocera, and Ali the Gallant who commanded the Turkish Army after the +invasion of Hungary in 1856--the eunuchoid generally runs to type in +his mentality and his sexuality. He is an introvert, his personality +is shut in, he isolates himself from the world. + +The lower eunuchoids exhibit a curiously child-like personality. +Naïvely confiding, communicating to all comers all their joys and +sorrows, they ask diffidently for confirmation of their statements, +and they pass quickly from tears to laughter. About sexual matters +they are extremely timid. A moral innocence pervades their speech and +conduct. Usually they have no true conception of crimes of jealousy +or passion. The occupations they go in for are those without +responsibility away from crowds or observation, such as ship cooks, +stewards, and so on. They marry to find a home, without the object of +establishing sexual relations. When they are asked whether they think +their wives will be pleased to look at the matter in the same light, +and be contented to live with a man upon such conditions, they are +puzzled or perplexed, as if they had never thought seriously about +the matter before. Their simplicity has even extended to proposing to +their wives to seek gratification from some other man. Naturally, such +an arrangement often proves unsatisfactory, and desertion follows. + +Concerning the children sometimes the offspring of these unions, +scepticism as to the identity of the father is decidedly permissible. +Still in some cases the best of evidence exists that fertility occurs. +The vitality of the children then is subnormal and the mortality +rate high. The eunuchoid tendency is transmitted. Variations and +transitions of every kind are found among the undersexed eunuchoid +personalities, depending upon the quality and degree of the secretions +lacking. + +When there is an excess of these sex secretions, a turbulent, +tempestuous, sexually sensitive temperament, that may go on to +satyriasis or nymphomania, is created. It has been shown that doves +can be rendered overfeminine in their behaviour and characteristics +by injections of ovarian material. Oversexed types of personality +therefore may exist as well as undersexed. + +COMBINATIONS AND PERMUTATIONS + +The types of personality sketched--the thyrocentric, the +pituitocentric, the adrenocentric, the thymocentric, the +gonadocentric--are really prototypes, the great kingdoms of +personality, to which individuals can be assigned, by hall marks which +facilitate their classification. They may also be described as the +pure endocrine types, which include a minority of a population. But +the majority consist of dominant mixtures, hyphenates, groups which +are the species and varieties of the greater classes. Combinations and +variations of control among the adrenals and thyroid, pituitary or +thymus, and so on, occur, with effects that are sometimes additive, +reinforcing a particular trait of the person, and at others +conflicting, and neutralizing. Quantitative variations of the same +secretion may occur periodically in the same individual, which +explains the multiplicity and complexity, the inconsistency and +contradictions of conduct in a man or woman at the different episodes +and crises of life, to a certain extent. + +There should be a stable balance between the various endocrines, the +stability expressing itself in what we are pleased to call the normal. +There should also be a balance between the antagonistic elements in +the same gland; for instance, the pituitary. The pituitary, built +of two distinct portions, the anterior and the posterior, is in +equilibrium when the two are nicely adjusted. But the accidents and +vicissitudes of life (pregnancy for example) will upset the balance. +And so there will result changes of physique, conduct and character. +Like possibilities apply to all the other glands of internal +secretion. In our ability to exercise a control over these +disturbances of balance, to be developed in the future, lies one +of the great hopes for a chemical perfectability of human life and +nature. + +NATURE'S EXPERIMENTS VS. MAN'S + +The kinds of personality described, as prototypes and variants and the +fundamental facts supporting the view that they are the reaction types +of the human beings we meet in everyday life, represent simply a +beginning of the work to be done. Putting into our hands a new +powerful searchlight that penetrates the interiors of body and soul, a +fresh attitude toward the complicated problems of Man in society grows +imminent. The normal and the abnormal become illuminated with an +effect as if our retinas were suddenly to get sensitive to the +ultraviolet rays to which we are now blind. An apparatus is put in our +hands which shows us not only a static condition at a given moment, +but the whole life process of an individual, normal or abnormal, his +past and his future. + +Upon that fetich of the biologists, the struggle for existence, the +struggle for survival, the struggle for possessions and satisfactions, +for happiness, victory and virility, in short, for success, as success +is measured by the biologists, a searching spectroscope can play, with +a yield for our understanding and control of life, that will stand +comparison with the astronomer's analysis of the stars. Toward the +process of adjustment and adaptation, of the environment to the +individual, as well as of the individual to the environment, attitudes +will change from _hopeless acquiescence in the inevitable to a +complete self-determination of the self and its surroundings._ The +adventures of the personality, strung along as the episodes of his +career, his friendships and sex reactions, his mishaps and diseases, +and the final fate or fortune that overtakes him, be he normal, +subnormal, supernormal, or abnormal, begin to become comprehensible, +and hence controllable. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SOME HISTORIC PERSONAGES + + +THE INTERNAL SECRETIONS IN HISTORY + +According to the views, facts and guesses concerning human +personality, as a body-mind complex dominated by the internal +secretions, outlined in the preceding pages, biography, and human +history as the interaction of biographies, become capable of +interpretation from a new standpoint. If human life, in its +essentials, is so much the product of the internal messenger system we +speak of as the endocrines, then biography should present us with a +number of illustrations of their power and influence. What is the +evidence that, as Huxley anticipated, "the introduction into the +economy of a molecular mechanism which, like a cunningly contrived +torpedo, shall find its way to some particular group of living +elements, and cause an explosion among them, leaving the rest +untouched," and the multiplication of such cunningly contrived +mechanisms, were responsible for those personalities, magnificent +chemical compounds, with whose adventures historians are concerned? + +THE CASE OF NAPOLEON + +As a unique will and intelligence, Napoleon Bonaparte the First must +be classed as one of the Betelegeuses of the race. H.G. Wells has +called his career the "raid of an intolerable egotist across the +disordered beginning of a new time." "The figure of an adventurer and +wrecker." "This saturnine egotist." "Are men dazzled simply by the +scale of his flounderings, by the mere vastness of his notoriety?" +"This dark little archaic personage, hard, compact, capable, +unscrupulous, imitative and neatly vulgar." There are other opinions. +The Man of Destiny was worshipped by millions. Napoleona bring +fortunes today. Interest in the man as a man has multiplied with every +year. And certainly no one can deny him the quality of individuality +in its most exaggerated form. + +In the second place he belongs among the moderns. Modern science and +methods of observation have had their chance at him, and have left a +conscious record of their results. Napoleon was the central figure of +his time, and was watched by trained medical eyes during his life, +and after his death. Protocols of the examination of his body are +accessible, and Napoleonic specimens, preserved by fixing agents, +may still be viewed at the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, +England. Dr. Leonard Guthrie has worked up the material at hand in +a report which he presented to the historical section of the +International Congress of Medicine, in London in 1913. I propose to +relate his findings to some other facts and the general principles +roughly sketched in this book. + +There are a number of word portraits of Napoleon extant. But for our +purposes certain of the notable features of his face and physique are +to be considered. The first characteristic that struck everyone about +him was the matter of his height. He was definitely sub-average, +at death being about five feet six inches in height. As has been +emphasized several times, deficiency or excess of growth will always +direct attention to the pituitary. His sharply outlined features and +a powerful lower jaw, combined with oddly small plump hands, long +straight black hair, and dark complexion, all point to the pituitary, +with a secondary adrenal effect. His pulse was slow, according to +Corvisart, his personal physician, rarely above 50 to the minute. His +sexual life, his libido, was abnormal. Curiously explosive in their +appearance and manifestations were his sexual impulses. They "beset +him on occasions which were sometimes inconvenient, and a peculiarity +about them was that they subsided with equal suddenness if not +immediately gratified, or if meanwhile something occurred to +discourage his attention. All women were to him 'filles de joie.' +Sexual rather than social attractions in women appealed to him." +He was never in love, never possessed of permanent affection or +tenderness for any woman. This explosive periodicity of the sexual +life, "with a tendency to compression of it to the merely physical," +is another mark of some pituitary-centered personalities. + +Two other phenomena that persisted throughout his life throw light +upon his endocrine constitution. One was trouble with his bladder +which he told Antommarchi, another physician, bothered him as long as +he could remember. Irritability of the bladder was so pronounced that +he could not sleep for more than a few hours at a time. After battles, +the trouble became worse so that it interfered with his riding. +Constitutional difficulties in urination have been connected +definitely with the function of the pituitary. The other pituitary +disturbances which tinctured his life were certain "brain storms," +attacks of vomiting followed by "stupor verging on unconsciousness" +brought on by outbursts of temper, physical overexertion, mental +strain, or sexual excitement. It has been shown that such epileptic +tendencies are present in subjects of pituitary disease, particularly +those with pituitary instability. In Napoleon's case the brain attacks +may have been crises of pituitary insufficiency in a hyper-pituitary +type. This supposition is borne out by the headache which followed +them, the headache of an oversecreting pituitary compensating for +a defect in its formation. During his prime, his intellect was +mathematical, logical, and rational, and remarkable for a prodigious +memory. Such an intellect is the product of an extraordinary +ante-pituitary. That he never permitted feeling to interfere with +the dictates of his judgment, a quality which rendered him the +most unscrupulous careerist of history, must be put down to an +insufficiency of the post-pituitary. What post-pituitary does to the +brain cells and the organism as a whole to render them susceptible +to sympathy and suggestion, the social sublimations of the maternal +instinct, with its offsprings of religion and art, we have seen. +Napoleon lacked a chemical trace of the religious instinct, his +sympathy was nil, and his conquests were made possible only because he +was blind to the suffering and misery his greed for glory and dominion +generated. Post-pituitary insufficients of this type, patent or +concealed, gradually become corpulent as they grow older. The +increasing corpulency of Napoleon was commented upon by all observers. + +A student of his make-up, and acquainted with present developments +concerning the internal secretions, given an opportunity to observe +him as we have when he was alive, and at the height of his success, +would have had every reason for classing him a pituitary-centered, +ante-pituitary superior, post-pituitary inferior, with an instability +of both that would lead to his final degeneration. Besides, his +insatiable energy indicated an excellent thyroid, his pugnacity, +animality and genius for practical affairs a superb adrenal. Given the +kind of pituitary he possessed, with its great intellectual potential +energy and the relation between the two parts which would further the +objects of an intellectual machine, plus a remarkable thyroid and +adrenal, plus the military education Napoleon had, and the character +of the Revolution into which he was plunged, and we have the +conditions out of which his career emerged as inevitable. + +That it was his pituitary which first failed him, rather than the +thyroid or adrenal, which might have, is demonstrated by a number of +considerations. Before he made himself Emperor, it was noticed that he +was becoming fat, a pituitary symptom. A comparison of portraits at +different stages of his rise and fall shows an increasing abdominal +paunch, and a laying down of fat in the pituitary areas, around the +hips, the legs and so on. The beginning of weakness in judgment that +he was to exhibit soon in the invasion of Russia manifested itself at +the same time. His keen calculating ability attained the peak of its +curve at Austerlitz, Jena and Friedland. Thereafter, the descent +begins. A rash, grandiose, speculative quality enters his projects, +and divorces the elaborate coordination of means and end from his +plans. That his thyroid energy capacity did not fail him is indicated +by the fact that at St. Albans he would ride for three hours at the +end of the day to tire himself sufficiently for sleep. That his +adrenals were not affected is indicated by the brutality which +remained characteristic to the end of his life. + +The findings after death confirm the view of him as an unstable +pituitocentric who succumbed to pituitary insufficiency toward the +latter half of his life. We possess the account of the postmortem by +Dr. Henry, who performed it. "The whole surface of the body was deeply +covered with fat. Over the sternum, where generally the bone is very +superficial, the fat was upwards of an inch deep, and an inch and a +half or two inches on the abdomen. There was scarcely any hair on the +body, and that of the head was thin, fine and silky. The whole genital +system (very small) seemed to exhibit a physical cause for the absence +of sexual desire, and the chastity which had been stated to have +characterized the deceased (during his stay at St. Helena). The skin +was noticed to be very white and delicate as were the hands and arms. +Indeed the whole body was slender and effeminate. The pubis much +resembled the Mons Veneris in women. The muscles of the chest were +small, the shoulders were narrow and the hips wide." In other words, +the typical feminization of the body which accompanies pituitary +insufficiency was found. He died of a cancer of the stomach. But +before his death there were noted the mental transformations that +succeed deficiency of his central endocrine. Apathy, indolence, +fatigability, and frilosity were what impressed his associates at St. +Helena. The deterioration of his mentality was also exemplified in his +literary diversions, the "Siege of Troy" and the "Essay on Suicide." +The puerility of these productions, as well as of his conduct, a +sulking before his captors, and the decline of his physical energy, +once a bottomless well, all point to the same conclusion. + +The rise and fall of Napoleon followed the rise and fall of his +pituitary gland. No better illustration exists of the fundamental +determination of a personality and its career by an endocrine, +aside from other factors of education, environment, accident and +opportunity. Without the sort of endocrine equipment he was born with, +however, none of the other factors would have found the material to +work upon. Born, say, with more of a posterior pituitary than he had, +which would have rendered him more sensitive to the sufferings of his +fellow-creatures, if nothing else, and the forces of the Revolution +probably would have swamped him from the very first moment of his +emergence at Toulon, when the whiff of grape-shot, symptom of an +inexorable, merciless intellect and will, started him upon the road +that led to the Napoleonic Era. Destiny is always ironic. For the +deficiency of the internal secretions which made him eligible for +glory was responsible as well as for his downfall. + +EPILEPSY AND MIGRAINE IN GENIUS + +In the annals of genius, there occur a number of instances of those +who suffered from attacks that have been diagnosed epilepsy +or migraine. Because their ailment was associated with their +extraordinary ability, they attracted an attention that concerned +itself not at all with the circumstance that genius has also been +liable to measles, scarlet fever, and so on. Epilepsy and migraine +certainly occur in people of no supernormal gifts, and often in +degenerates and subnormals. Yet the fact remains that these affections +of the nervous system, so terrible to feel and to behold, have +afflicted the finest brains of the race. + +About forty years ago the idea established itself that epilepsy, +exhibiting itself in one form or another as "fits," and migraine, the +severe periodic sick headache, were interconvertible manifestations of +the same underlying morbid process in the brain. Nothing in the way +of a concrete cause, attackable on the material side, was elicited by +this generalization. Then the investigations of the pituitary in the +last decade produced evidence of epilepsy-like and migraine-like +symptoms in sufferers from tumors or other enlargements of it. +Reasoning back, cases of epilepsy and migraine began to be examined +for evidences of involvement of the pituitary in their troubles. +These accumulated rapidly. The physiognomy and physique of the +pituito-centric were discovered in them. The phenomena noted in +Napoleon's case were often present: lowering of the pulse, chilliness, +and an increased irritability of the bladder. In women the attack +often coincides with the menstrual period, a typical time of endocrine +unbalance. Finally X-ray examinations of the sella turcica, the bony +lodging of the pituitary, clinched the matter: it often appeared +small, or enlarged, with erosions of the bone, signifying a desperate +attempt of the gland to grow, and meet the needs of the organism. The +complex of appearances called migraine now becomes understandable. +There are a number of factors, such as fatigue, intense cold, or high +sugar food like chocolate, which will cause an engorgement of the +gland with blood and swelling of it. But they do not concern us now. +Intense mental occupation, concentration as the popular term has it, +acts as a patent excitor of the attack. + +Brain work drives more blood into the brain and the gland. Besides, +mental activity is accompanied by increased function of the +ante-pituitary, if intellectual, or of the post-pituitary if +emotional. Brain work then causes a temporary enlargement of the +gland. If, now, the bone container of the endocrine is too small to +permit of much swelling, the bone will be pressed against or even worn +into. This means headache, severe, easily going on to the kind known +as sick-headache. The nerves which move the eyes in various directions +lie next to the pituitary. If, in its expansion, it moves sufficiently +outward, it may press upon, irritate them or paralyze, and so evolve +various eye disturbances in association with the headache. No one can +overrate this conception of migraine, for a number of men of genius +have suffered from sick-headache and eye symptoms. + +As for epilepsy, the problem is more complex. One has to rule out +first those who have organic destructive disease of the brain. But +they are out of our field: genius predicates at least an intact brain. +Of the others a number may be interpreted upon an endocrine basis. At +least they will, in their physiognomy, physique, mentality, conduct +and character, document the glandular constellation under which they +live, and a proper understanding of which is necessary for them to be +helped. One frequently seen is the thymo-centric, with small enclosed +sella turcica. The latter fact explains the occurrence of the +epilepsy. Periodic variations in the secretory tides of the other +endocrines, the ovaries, the thyroid, and so on, may determine the +onset of the attack of "fits." The point is that when epilepsy plays a +constant part in the life history of a man of genius, we are justified +in assuming a disturbed balance among his hormones, and so a reasoned +picture perhaps of the foundations for the erratic in his behaviour or +his productions. + +THE NEURASTHENIC GENIUS + +The fin de siècle intelligentsia of the nineteenth century were quite +stirred up by a publication of Max Nordau on "Degeneration," in which +a number of revered artists and intelligents were held up to public +scorn as degenerates and neurasthenics. So wrought up were they, in +fact, that Bernard Shaw was moved to compose a defense entitled "The +Sanity of Art." In spite of the Great Vegetarian's dialectics, it +remains to be explained why a certain species of creative ability has +been combined with the fatigability, variability and general wretched +irritability of every organ and tissue in the body which taught them +that they were sensitive souls imprisoned in the flesh. Going from +doctor to doctor as from pillar to post, from this medical creed to +that hygienic cult, lucky to escape the worst, often landing upon the +bosom of New Thought for succor. We have noted in previous chapters +the relation of neurasthenia to the glands of internal secretion +in general, and to adrenal insufficiency in particular. A closer +examination of neurasthenic genius will show it to consist essentially +of a pituitocentric in whom for one reason or another, congenital (the +persistence of the thymus) or acquired (shocks, accidents, diseases) +there has been failure of the adrenals, thyroid or the interstitial +cells, about in the order of their occurrence. + +THE CASE OF NIETZSCHE + +Friedrich Nietzsche is about as good a case as there is on record of a +genius blasted by migraine. The originality and force of his mind, as +well as the articulate music of an imaginative poet, places Nietzsche +among the philosophic elect of the race. Showing that he was an +unstable pituitary-centered of a certain type will throw light upon +his malady, as well as upon his life and work. + +In a set of volumes, entitled Biographic Clinics, Dr. George M. Gould +of Philadelphia contended that the ill health of a number of men and +women of genius of the nineteenth century was due to unconnected eye +troubles. In attempting to bolster up his thesis he has collected +biographic material useful to the student of personality. He never +appears to have asked himself what was behind the eye trouble. The +evidence relating to Nietzsche's endocrine personality is derived from +some of the data he collected, as well as from the two volume life of +the philosopher written by his sister, and the other biographies of +him extant. + +To reconstruct the endocrine formula or equation of Nietzsche +inductively, one should analyze first the information available +concerning his parents and relatives. His grandfather was a +conservative bourgeois of a superior type, who was the author of +treatises designed to narcotize the forces of rebellion of his time. +What he was like physically, no epitaph declares. His father was a +clergyman. A description of him reads ... "tall and slender, with a +noble and poetic personality, and a peculiar talent for music ... +short-sighted." That ranks him at once as a pituito-centric. +The mother was dark and had a fiery temper and came of a family +distinguished for the powerfully built anatomy of its members. In +the heredity of Nietzsche, the father appears therefore to supply +a pituitary predominating element, the mother an adrenal-pituitary +predominating element. + +Nietzsche himself worked strenuously at the intellectual life (after +20, when he probably stopped growing, and the brain tonic action of +the ante-pituitary could manifest itself). Early distinction rewarded +him with a professorship in philology at 24. One of Prussia's wars +of conquest entangled him, and presented him with diphtheria. A +friendship with Richard Wagner marked the turning point of his life, +and the point of departure for his works on the most fundamental +values of human life. Meanwhile, attacks of sick-headache of varying +degrees of severity made him miserable periodically--they came about +every two weeks and lasted two to three days--and left him wretched +and exhausted. At last, at 44, a species of stroke terminated his +sufferings, causing him to lose his speech and memory, and thenceforth +there was progressive deterioration, physical and spiritual, with +repeated attacks. + +In the sister's biography there are several good photographs and +reproductions of sculptures of Nietzsche at different ages. An +examination of the frontispiece picture, which shows him in profile +(profile views are the best for physiognomy), as well as of the bust +of Nietzsche by Donndorf, exhibit the most striking traits of the +head. To the student of internal secretions, the most prominent +feature of the face, emphasized by both the camera and the artist, +is the remarkable prominence of the supra-orbital arches, the bony +protuberances from which the eyebrows spring. This is a definite +pituitary character. The eyebrows themselves are luxurious and slope +to meet, the bony development of the face as a whole is sharp and +clean-cut, the skull tends to be long and narrow and the chin is +square. All these point to a pituitary-centered personality. It is to +be regretted that we have no picture or record of Nietzsche caught +smiling, which would have preserved the state of his teeth for us. At +any rate, considered as checks to my interpretation, his physiognomy +and physique, the nature of his genius and the attacks which finally +ruined his life, all fit into the conception of him as one whose life +centered, like Napoleon's, around what was happening in his sella +turcica. + +The attacks of sick-headache, diagnosable symptomatically as +migraine, were so devastating that in 1883, after the printing of his +masterpiece, "Also Sprach Zarathustra," he wrote "My life has been +a complete failure." Extracts from his letters, collected by Gould, +provide some idea of his suffering. In 1888, just before his stroke, +he said, "I have in my eyes a dynamometer of my entire condition." + +The history of Nietzsche's eye trouble makes it probable that not +simply a defect in his eyes themselves, but a deeper condition behind +them was responsible. Up to the age of 15 he was a model scholar. +Essential eye defects of refraction should make themselves felt during +childhood. Then, with adolescence, he changed. Adolescence is one +of the red-letter epochs for the pituitary, when its growth and +enlargement precedes and stimulates the ripening of the sex cells +in the reproductive organs. Until adolescence ended and physical +development ceased, his intellectual interests were nil, and he was +particularly backward in mathematics. Colds and coughs, and recurring +pains in the head and eyes bothered him (colds and coughs are frequent +in those whose pituitary expansion is limited by the bony sella +turcica to any extent). After his puberty, migraine definitely became +his demon companion. Following the diphtheria in the army (which +must have damaged his adrenals), the attacks grew much worse, and +complaints about them more bitter because the pituitary now, in +addition to its own burden, had to compensate for the insufficient +adrenals. So "his frequent illness made him more and more a subject of +treatment and commiseration.... If only my eyes would hold out ... +it seems to me at the age of 30 as if I had lived 60 years ... very +frequent sufferings of stomach, head and eyes ... acidity oppresses +me, and everything except the tenderest food becomes acid.... I cannot +doubt that I am the victim of a serious cerebral disease, and that +stomach and eyes suffer only from this central cause ... half-dead +with pain and exhaustion." In December 1888, he fell, had to be +helped home, lay silent for two days, then became loud, active and +unbalanced. The attack was preceded by the drinking of much water. + +The specific quality of the Nietzsche genius also directs attention to +a pituitocentric, to a pituitocentric in whom both ante-pituitary and +post-pituitary are extraordinarily well-functioning, but are in a +state of unbalance in which the post-pituitary gets the upper hand. +Now, as we have seen, the post-pituitary makes for that instability +of association between the brain cells which must be at the bottom of +originality and creative thought, as well as of phobias, obsessions, +hysterias and hallucinations. Persons in whom the post-pituitary +predominates have a lively fancy and are liable to suffer from the +tricks of association. Nietzsche, as we have noted, was poor in +mathematics and in the calm cool proportioned forward march of +scientific thought in general. His most brilliant ideas came to him in +flashes and gleams. That is why so much of his work has come down to +us in the form of aphorisms and paragraphs. He was, essentially, a +poet among the metaphysicians, which again favors the conception of +him as a pituitary-centered with a dominant post-pituitary. Yet his +incisive critical faculty, as well as his love of music, also document +the supernormal ante-pituitary. + +To sum up, the physique and physiognomy of Nietzsche, his migraine +attacks and the later fate which overtook him, his likes and +dislikes, his tastes, abilities and accomplishments followed from his +composition as one pituitary-centered, with post-pituitary domination, +a superior thyroid, and inferior adrenals. + +DARWIN AS A NEURASTHENIC GENIUS + +Charles Darwin, as the author of the "Origin of Species" and the +greatest revolutionist of the nineteenth century, has naturally had +a great deal of attention paid to his life and personality. Yet not +until the publication of his Autobiography and his son's Reminiscences +was it generally known that he suffered from chronic ill health for +most of his adult life. Dr. W.A. Johnston, in an article in the +_American Anthropologist_, 1901, has marshalled a number of available +facts, to sustain his thesis that Darwin was a victim of neurasthenia. +Now neurasthenia, it is now accepted, is simply a waste-basket word, +corresponding to the class miscellaneous in a classification of any +group of real objects. And, as has been emphasized in preceding +chapters, most neurasthenia rises upon a disturbed endocrine +foundation, most often, an insufficiency of the adrenals. That is, a +defect in the chain of co-operation, balance and compensation among +the internal secretions is the basis for the weakness of the nervous +system the term neurasthenia is supposed to explain, actually only +names. Darwin's case was pretty certainly that. + +There can be no doubt that Darwin had an abnormal fatigability, a lack +of stamina and endurance in mental as well as physical application +which plagued him from the late twenties to the sixties. As a child, +he was strong and healthy, fond of outdoors, and though underrated by +his teachers, noted to be possessed of intense curiosity, especially +concerning natural objects. At school he was a fleet runner and +cultivated a habit of long walks. Then he was surely no neurasthenic. +Three years which, he himself afterwards said, were worse than wasted, +at Cambridge, were filled with shooting, riding and hunting. His good +health lasted until the time he probably stopped growing at 21 or 22. +Thereafter his troubles began. + +What was Darwin, so far as his endocrine composition was concerned? +In the first place his father was a variety of pituitocentric, of the +post-pituitary inferior type, six feet two inches tall, exceedingly +corpulent, and, in the eyes of his son, the sharpest of observers and +the most sympathetic of men. He wished to make a physician out of his +son in order to carry on the medical tradition of the family: Erasmus +Darwin was a physician before him. His son, however, showed no +inclination for so learned and confining a profession and had to +be reproached by his father in these immortal words: "You care for +nothing but shooting dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a +disgrace to yourself and all your family." + +Cambridge came after Edinburgh, as he was rushed from medicine into +the clergy. But in vain. A friendship struck up with a naturalist, +Henslow, settled his career for him. Henslow heard of a trip of +general exploration the ship _Beagle_ was to take and recommended +Darwin as naturalist. The captain at first would not hear of the +proposal because of Darwin's nose, a typical pituitary proboscis. But +his prejudices were overcome, and Darwin sailed. + +It was upon this voyage that Darwin made himself the greatest +naturalist of all time, and at the same time infected himself with +the virus of neurasthenia. At Plymouth, while waiting for the ship to +sail, he complained of palpitation and pain about the heart, probably +due to a transient hyperthyroidism, brought on by excitement. During +the voyage, which lasted five years, he was afflicted often by +sea-sickness. A ship-mate relates that after spending an hour with the +microscope he would say "Old Fellow, I must take the horizontal for +it" and lie down. He would stretch out on one side of the table, then +resume his labors for a while when he again had to lie down. Already +fatigability had to be fed with rest. A serious illness that Darwin +claimed affected every secretion of his body acted probably as the +exhausting drain upon his adrenal potential. + +The return to England was the date of onset for a record of continuous +illness, aggravated by his marriage, apparently, for his misery +increased progressively after it. So much so that he was forced to +leave London altogether so as to avoid the strain of social life, even +that of meeting his scientific friends or attending scientific society +meetings fatiguing him to exhaustion. After such occasions there would +be attacks of violent shivering, with vomiting and giddiness. It was +necessary for him to impose upon himself an absolute régime of daily +routine. Any interference with it upset him completely, and made it +impossible for him to do any work. Early morning was the only time for +physical as we; as mental exertion. Evening found him thoroughly used +up, with every move an effort. Insomnia made him its prey. A curious +sensitiveness to heat and cold distressed him. In 1859, when the +"Origin of Species" appeared, he wrote to a friend that his health had +quite failed, and that indigestion, headaches, with a looming hopeless +breakdown of body and mind made his life a burden and a curse. The +twenty years of research he devoted to the problems of evolution were +one long torture. For sixteen more years, during which he worked upon +and produced immortal classics of biology, he was the most wretched +and unhappy sufferer from neurasthenia. His life was a continuous +alternation of small doses of work and large doses of rest. So he +was enabled to publish twenty-three volumes of original writing and +fifty-one scientific papers. Living a sort of quasi-sanitarium life, +with the rules and regulations of one undergoing a rest cure for +thirty-six years, he thus accomplished infinitely more than the +millions who have led the strenuous life. That he thus survived, as a +genius, among the perils of an intellectual nature in an environment +for which his adrenals sentenced him to destruction, must be put down +in large measure to the ministrations and good sense of wife and +children who supplied him with the endocrine energy he lacked. All +these details I have given in the attempt to analyze the internal +secretion constitution of this great man of genius, to establish that +he really suffered from inadequate function of his adrenal glands, for +the symptoms of chronic though benign adrenal insufficiency coincide +in their mass effect with the story of his life. He was not a good +animal, as Herbert Spencer declared was a first sine qua non of the +successful life. He was a poor animal, the poorest of animals, because +he possessed poor adrenals. What saved him was his congenitally +superior pituitary (the nidus of genius) and the overacting thyroid, +which combined to compensate to some extent for his fundamental lack. +According to his son he rose early because he could not lie in bed, +and he would have liked to get up earlier than he did. + +What other hints have we that in spite of his fatigue disease he was +a pituitocentric? The record of his physique and physiognomy, +documentary and that left in portraits and photographs. He was tall +and thin and his frame was naturally strong and large. Face was ruddy, +and his grey eyes looked out from under deep overhanging brows and +bushy eyebrows. The ears were large and prominent, the hair straight, +the nose broad and well developed. All these are distinctive pituitary +traits. The photograph of him taken by Maull and Fox in 1854 shows his +chin to be the square firm kind that goes with the ante-pituitary type +physique. (This photo is the frontispiece of the collection of essays +entitled "Darwinism and Modern Science," edited by A.C. Seward and +published in 1909). Charles Darwin, we may say, then, lived the +life of one with a hyperfunctioning pituitary, the anterior portion +dominating the posterior, a thyroid excess, and an adrenal much +deficient, the combination settling the fate of a grand intellect +in an invalid. It is interesting to note that an extant portrait +of Erasmus Darwin, Darwin's distinguished grandfather, shows a +pituitocentric, but with a rounder head and a fatter face, which point +to a predominance of the post-pituitary over the ante-pituitary. +Correspondingly, he was more speculative and poetic intellectually +than his grandson, and more irascible and imperious in his moods. + +After 1872, when Charles Darwin was sixty-three years old, a marked +change for the better occurred in his health. For the last ten years +of his life the condition of his health was a cause of satisfaction +and hope to his family. "He was able to work more steadily with less +fatigue and distress afterwards." This is probably to be explained as +following the gonadopause hi him--the cessation of activity of the +interstitial cells. After this event, the adrenals in the male nearly +always function more efficiently, and well being is improved even +though the blood pressure often rises coincidently. In the relative +vigor of that decade we have another bit of evidence that the adrenals +had much to say over Darwin's life. + +EPILEPTIC GENIUS + + He had a fever when he was in Spain + And, when the fit was on him, I did mark + How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake + His coward lips did from their color fly; + And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world, + Did lose his lustre: I did hear him groan. + + --Julius Caesar. + +Epilepsy, the "falling sickness" or "fits," is generally associated +with a deterioration or degeneration of mentality, and an inferior +personality is frequently an ingredient. Progressively increasing data +accumulate to incriminate more and more a disturbance of the endocrine +balance, on the side of multiple deficiencies, as the basic mechanism +at the bottom of a good many of them. Concurrent studies reveal that +abnormalities of the thyroid, the parathyroids, the ovaries and +testes, and even the thymus exist behind the attack. Investigation of +the content of the consciousness of the different kinds of epilepsies +from this point of view will doubtless bring to light some interesting +information. There is much to be done for the epileptic with this new +method of approach. + +Epilepsy, just the same, may occur in men gifted with the sort of +transcendent ability called genius. Mohammed, Lord Byron, Dostoyevsky, +Flaubert, to name a few cases, are famous instances. The point to be +settled is whether epileptic genius, that is epilepsy with superior +ability, occurs most often in pituitocentrics, the epilepsy being +symptomatic of a pituitary struggling against barriers, tugging +against bonds. As mentioned, in such cases epilepsy appears as the +twin brother of migraine in genius. Should that be established, +we should have more evidence for the pituitary dominance of most +specimens of intellectual power. As a case in point let us take the +most famous of the epileptic geniuses--Julius Caesar, "When the fit +was on I marked how he did shake; tis true, this god did shake." + +According to Plutarch, Julius Caesar was of slender build, +fair-complexioned, pale, emaciated, of a delicate constitution +(reminding us of Darwin), subject to severe headache and violent +attacks of epilepsy. In view of the work of Cushing, the concurrence +of "severe headache and violent attacks of epilepsy" is sharply +suggestive of a pituitary origin for both. In his seventeenth year +he was already engaged to be married, which proves his precocity. An +overactive, erratic pituitary could here also be held responsible. +Soon after he was proscribed by the dictator Sulla, and the first of +a series of epileptic convulsions is recorded. Shock tries the +pituitary, as well as the adrenals. + +His sexual libido was of the quality that stimulated his soldiers to +sing celebrations of his exploits. The first woman he was engaged to +be jilted. Cornelia, his first wife, he divorced on the ground that +"Caesar's wife must be above suspicion." Matrimony committed twice +thereafter landing him in the divorce court, he devoted himself to +liaisons, one with Cleopatra. This sexual hyperactivity was probably +another pituitary trait. + +The compound of intellectual and practical ability he realized was +of the rarest. It meant a most delicate balance between his +ante-pituitary, post-pituitary, adrenals and thyroid. He was an +orator, politician, historian, conqueror, and statesman. That his +thyroid functioned well can be deduced from a career which involved +more than three hundred personal triumphs as recognition from his +native city. On horseback, riding without using his hands, he would +often dictate to two or three secretaries at once. The masculine love +of glory and ambition, expression of a well-working ante-pituitary, +was combined with the effeminate echoes of an equally well-evolved +post-pituitary. No prima donna was more concerned with the care of +her skin, complexion and hair than he. The analogy extends even to +superfluous hair which he had removed, not by the modern electrolysis, +but by depilation with forceps and main force. The attendants at +his bath would polish his epidermis, for his satisfaction, until it +resembled alabaster or marble. + +Caesar was not the kind of great man that Darwin was, and only +a rather muddled careerist because he had too much adrenal and +post-pituitary. But he was pituitocentric of a certain type. We +possess no authentic portraits or busts of him to go by. But the bust +in the Museum of Naples, for which he probably sat (some, H.G. Wells +among them, will not accept this), presents the sort of face that is +often seen in pituitary epileptics, and the features and skull of a +pituitocentric: long, large, well-modeled head eyebrows prominent, +with tendency to meet, aquiline nose and strong chin. + +In these three, Napoleon, Nietzsche and Caesar, we have male +pituitocentrics, exhibiting diversities of life and tastes because of +differences in the co-working endocrine glands in their makeup. We +shall consider now a female pituitocentric who presents the strangest +contrasts in physique, physiognomy, conduct and character, dependent +upon a variation in the balance between the two portions of the +pituitary. + +THE LEGEND OF FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE + +All biographies consist of prevarications and all autobiographies +of fiction. That summing up of a mass of literature over which +industrious students have ruined their eyes, held good until after the +War, when things changed. Then Mr. Lytton Strachey, at one fell blow, +and with one magnificent masterpiece, hurdled the old idols and +established a new standard of deliberate accuracy in print. In his +"Eminent Victorians" he set the pace for the host of those who have +been stimulated by his good example, like Lady Margot Asquith. + +Of the four Victorian respectable worthies Strachey has dissected as +ruthlessly as the anatomist a post-mortem, his portrait of Florence +Nightingale, the founder of the modern science and art of nursing, is +most interesting because it provides data of the utmost value to +the student of the endocrine basis of human personality. In the +conventional two-volume biography of this superwoman, she is pictured +as an intellectual saint, stepped from a stained glass window upon her +wonderful visit to a clay-smeared earth. The biographer, presenting +all the ins and outs of her body and soul as he has, makes her live +before us with a fresh vitality that is startling. + +The species of life Florence Nightingale lived, involving as it did +struggle with a masculine world, and conquest of it, implies the +existence in her of certain masculine traits and marks, for the normal +feminine psyche is submissive rather than aggressive toward its +environment, human and otherwise. Belonging to a family in the highest +circles, it was upon the table d'hôte of her destiny that she should +become a regulation debutante, careeristina, and successful wife and +mother. Instead, she chose to question the whole routine of the life +of her class, and in her diary she records her doubts and cravings, +and her revolt against what is assumed by her family and friends to be +the normal course of existence for her. The attitudes and questionings +in these passages, the religious feeling displayed, are distinctly +masculine. Most easily could the following, for instance, pass as +having been written by a man: "I desire for a considerable time only +to lead a life of obscurity and toil, for the purpose of allowing +whatever I may have received of God to ripen, and turning it some day +to the glory of His Name. Nowadays people are too much in a hurry +both to produce and consume themselves. It is only in retirement, in +silence, in meditation that are formed the _men_ who are called to +exercise an influence upon society." In a note-book she puts May 7, +1852, as the date upon which she was conscious of a call from God +to be a saviour. Now the vast majority of women who have remained +spinsters at 32, in spite of considerable personal attractions and +high natural ability, are visited by waves of emotional fervor for a +de-personalization of the self. But in the case of the subject, as +Strachey has so well shown, the call was pursued with a self-willed, +pitiless, unscrupulous determination, worthy of Satan himself upon the +most ferocious evil bent. In its pursuit indeed she became what her +latest biographer has called a "woman possessed by a Demon." All +necessary, not alone because if she had been meek and mild she would +have existed in futility, but because of the high percentage of the +masculine endocrines in her composition. It is most regrettable that +we have no statement of the findings of a gynecologic examination of +her. That she was almost consciously masculine may be inferred not +only from the way she bullied Lord Pannure and worked to death her +dearest friend with the angelic temper, Sidney Herbert, who was so +amiable that he could be driven by one who wrote: "I have done with +being amiable. It is the mother of all mischief." She could also +write, "I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an +excuse. Yes, I do see the difference now between me and _other men_. +When a disaster happens, I act, and they make excuses." + +Lytton Strachey has painted superbly all this in his essay. But for us +his most significant passage is the following: "When old age actually +came, something curious happened. Destiny, having waited patiently, +played a queer trick upon Miss Nightingale. The benevolence and public +spirit of that long life had only been equaled by its acerbity. Her +virtue had dwelt in hardness, and she had poured forth her unstinted +usefulness with a bitter smile upon her lips. And now the sacredness +of years brought the proud woman her punishment. She was not to die +as she had lived. The sting was to be taken out of her: she was to be +made soft; she was to be reduced to compliance and complacency. The +change came gradually, but at last it was unmistakable." + +"_There appeared a corresponding alteration in her physical mould._ +The _thin, angular_ woman, with her haughty eye, and her acrid mouth, +had vanished, and in her place was the _rounded, bulky form_ of a _fat +old lady_, smiling all day long. Then something else became visible. +The brain which had been steeled at Scutari was, indeed, +literally growing soft. Senility--an ever more and more amiable +senility--descended." + +We have here an absolutely typical pituitary history, with another +case of pituitocentric natural ability. What happens when pituitary +hyperfunction or superiority becomes underfunction or inferiority is +precisely as Strachey has described so cleverly of the "ministering +angel": the acrid, thin and keen degenerate every time into the +amiable, fat and dull. Just as Napoleon was transformed by the +mutations of his pituitary, so was the Saint with the Lamp. And in +both instances the contrasting modifications, from one extreme of +glandular function to the other, supply us with the clue to the secret +hand of their inner being and becoming, which worked upon the twists +and turns of circumstance about them as a sculptor upon clay. + +The official biography by Sir Edward Cook contains three portraits, +representing three different stages, which bear out the pituitocentric +thesis of her personality and life history. One as she was at 25, and +pictured by Mrs. Gaskell: "She is tall; very straight and willowy in +figure; thick and shortish rich brown hair; very delicate complexion +... perfect teeth ... perfect grace and lovely appearance ... she is +so like a saint." The face is long and oval, of the post-pituitary +kind. Then gradually the ante-pituitary gained an ascendency in the +concert of her internal secretions, so coloring her life with its +masculine tints, and altering her face as well as her disposition. The +photograph of her taken when she was 38 shows a quadrangular outline, +and all the acridity that impressed Strachey. The last picture of her, +a water color drawing made in 1907, shows a round visaged old dame, +who might be the peasant grandmother of two dozen descendants. Little +patches of red over the cheek bones remind one of myxedema and +indicate that toward the very end of her life her thyroid failed her +as well as her pituitary. So that our biographer relates: "Then by +Royal Command, the Order of Merit was brought to South Street, and +there was a little ceremony of presentation. Sir Douglas Dawson, after +a short speech, stepped forward and handed the order of the insignia +to Miss Nightingale. Propped up by pillows, she dimly recognized +that some compliment was being paid her. 'Too kind--too kind!' she +murmured; and she was not ironical." In the days of pituitary and +thyroid hyperfunction we may be sure she would have been caustically +and penetratingly ironical. + +THE EXPLANATION OF OSCAR WILDE + +The case of Oscar Wilde, as one of the high tragedies of English +Literature and Life, attracted the attention of the whole world in its +heyday, and even today evokes controversy. As a literary figure and +artist, the poet of the Portrait of Dorian Gray, and "De Profundis," +belongs without a doubt to the immortals. As a convicted criminal, who +served for two years at hard labor in Reading jail, and afterwards, +a prey to chronic alcoholism, died in obscurity in Paris, he still +remains a subject of whispered conversation in private, and his crime +a taboo to the public, mentionable only at the risk of arousing the +terrible odium sexicum of the prurient majority. Oscar Wilde was a +homosexual of a certain type. In view of the previously laid down +considerations concerning the endocrine genesis of homosexuality, how +are we to explain him, and his natural history? + +As with the other exemplars of genius examined we need here, too, to +gain some insight into his "internal secretion heredity." His father, +Sir William Wilde, was a surgeon. Photographs of him show the long +and broad face of a pituito-adrenal centered individual, with +a corresponding duplex incarnation in the face, the upper half +strikingly spiritual, the lower curiously animal. + +He was active, practical and eminently successful. His wife recalls +Florence Nightingale, in face, figure and conduct (people who are +built alike as regards their internal secretions are those whom we +recognize as similar physically and psychically). She, too, was a +pituito-adrenal, and in so far resembled her husband. But as in a +woman ante-pituitary and adrenal superiority make for masculinity, +she must be classed as a masculinoid type of woman. She was socially +aggressive, and took part in the revolutionary movement of her time in +Ireland. Thus we find that Oscar Wilde was the result of a mating of +internal secretions acting in the same direction. The process might be +compared to parthenogenesis. + +It is on record that when enceinte his mother often expressed the +wish that her child be a girl. When a boy was born, she was immensely +disappointed. To compensate for her disappointment, she brought him up +a good deal like a little girl. She had him dressed in girls' clothes +at an age when most boys are violent destroyers of clothing. She would +hang massive jewelry upon him, for the delight of playing with the +resultant stage picture as a satisfaction for her discontented +desires. In the light of modern psychology, and our formulization of +her endocrine status, we must put down her conduct to a suppressed +homosexual craving. Had her son been built along the lines of strong +emphatic masculinity, her influence, though vicious, would probably +have found no congenial soil, and would have died out altogether after +his contacts with the outer world, beginning with school. No matter +how she would have conditioned his vegetative system temporarily, +his internal secretions, released then from compression, would have +asserted themselves and determined his fate differently. However, it +is quite possible that if such had been the case Oscar Wilde, the +aesthete, the paradoxer, the disciple of Walter Pater and Baudelaire, +would have stayed in the land of the to be born. I mean that then +we would not have had Oscar Wilde, but another person, genius or +commonplace, who also might have borne the name of Oscar Wilde. + +That was not to be. The singular assortment of endocrines that mingled +their activities to make Oscar Wilde shaped a personality which we +must classify as the thymocentric (thymus-centered). Why this should +be so is an interesting question. Pituito-adrenal plus pituito-adrenal +of his heredity should make two pituito-adrenals according to +elementary arithmetic and the rule of three. A cancellation of the two +factors of the equation rather than addition seems to have occurred. +The result was a persistent thymus superiority, with an instability of +the other two main glands involved. + +How do we know that Oscar Wilde was a thymocentric? Because in his +fullest development he exhibited all the earmarks of the thymus +pattern. We possess a number of good pictures and descriptions of him, +as he was really a contemporary, and would probably be alive today +if he had been put in a hospital for proper treatment instead of in +prison. An excellent description is that of Henri de Regnier's: "This +foreigner (Wilde) was _tall_, and of _great corpulence_. A _high_ +complexion seemed to give still greater width to his clean shaven +face. It was the _unbearded_ (glabre) face that one sees on coins. The +_hands_ ... were rather _fleshy_ and _plump_." The points of immediate +interest are the height, the complexion and the beardlessness. One +classic variety of the thymocentric is tall, has a baby's skin, and +has little or no hair on the face. A passage from a narrative written +by one of his warders confirms the last condition decidedly. "Before +leaving his cell to see a visitor, he was alway careful to conceal, as +far as possible, his unshaven chin by means of his red handkerchief." +Bristles on the chin, with little or none on the cheeks, is the +inference. It is important to stress the thymocentric significance of +this glabrosity of the face. Another sign to be put in italics was the +quality of his voice. It has been described as a beautiful tenor, when +he had it under perfect control, and high pitched and strident when +under the influence of passion or temper. Such a voice would be the +product of a larynx remaining partly or completely in the infantile +state, as in a woman's. That, and the large breasts he is said to have +had, point again to the thymus-centered constitution. All in +all, there can be no doubt that Oscar Wilde was a case of status +lymphaticus, the technical name for the thymus-centered personality. + +As happens in a number of thymocentrics, his pituitary must have +attempted to compensate for the endocrine deficiencies always present +in them. The exceptional size of his head was a pituitary trait. +Finding, possibly making, plenty of room for itself to grow, for some +unknown reason, in an extraordinary fashion, it reinforced the love of +the beautiful that is part of the feminine post-pituitary nature, with +an intellectual ability and maturity that was at first all-conquering. +In the face of a society organized for pure masculine and pure +feminine types, disgrace and disaster at last overtook him with almost +the ruthlessness of natural selection wiping out an unadapted sport +suddenly cropping up in an environment. In prison he suffered from +severe splitting headaches, which were probably due to changes in his +pituitary. Described as being directly over the eyes, they haunted him +until his death, and may have had a good deal to do with the absinthe +addiction he acquired. + +THE TREATMENT OF GENIUS + +The problem of Oscar Wilde raises an ethical question that still +remains to be finally answered. Granting that all of society should +one day see him and his kind as a peculiar and specific constitutional +product of an odd intermixture of internal secretions, what should +be done with him and them? It is easy to play with words like +"degenerates." But still, we do not condemn imbeciles, idiots or +defectives, or other substandard, subnormal creatures to the prisons. +For the sake of the good opinion society would maintain of itself, +it sends the latter nowadays to hospitals, sanitaria, or their +equivalents, where protection for itself without punishment for them +may be practised. But is confinement, or even treatment the solution? +For we have to consider what society would lose by cutting such +abnormals off from itself, and them from its stimulations. A number +of artists have been built like Oscar Wilde, musicians in particular. +Without them, would there not be a great gap, a yawning absence, in +the world's culture? + +Modern diagnosis and modern therapy might have done a great deal for +Napoleon, Nietzsche, Julius Caesar, Florence Nightingale, Oscar Wilde. +Were they alive today, and willing to submit themselves to scientific +scrutiny, the X-ray would tell us of the state of the pituitary and +thymus in them, chemical examinations of the blood the condition of +the thyroid and adrenals, detailed investigation of the body and mind +a flood of light upon their maladies as well as their personalities. +Therapy might have relieved Napoleon of his attacks, and so, halting +the creeping degeneration of his pituitary, made Waterloo impossible. +But then, would we have had the Emperor at all? Would there have been +enough of that instability that drives on the genius to his goal? +Nietzsche might have been relieved of his headaches, and Caesar of +his epilepsy--but then, would not--with correction of the underlying +streams of activity on the part of the other glands of the internal +secretion to compensate--their peculiar superiority and distinction, +and the fruits of their lives as by-products, have been destroyed. +Florence Nightingale, too, might have been a softer and more human +person. But then would she have revolutionized the practice of +nursing? Oscar Wilde possibly might have been made over into a +heterosexual. But then would not the world be the poorer without "De +Profundis," let us ask? To state the problem in the most general +terms: how much abnormality are we to tolerate (I speak, of course, of +malignant abnormality, and disregard benign abnormality altogether) +for the sake of the valuable that is concomitant? How much are we +to stand of that which degrades the germ-plasm while it raises the +mind-plasm of the race? The Flowers of Evil. Destroy or modify the +roots, change the seed, and the buds will bloom, if at all, not +orchids, but dull brown commonplaces. + +What means may be licensed for the attainment of a worthy end is +perhaps the broadest aspect of the problem. The instruments of Man's +ascent to divinity may arouse his instinctive repulsions, dislikes, +and destructive passions. The study of the internal secretions is +putting and will put the most powerful apparatus for the control of +the abnormal into our hands. What are we going to do with them? + +It does not follow that because we are beginning to understand the +normal that we are to establish one fixed absolute standard of the +normal. In view of all the possible mixtures, permutations and +combinations of the endocrine glands, that may construct an +individual, it is possible to conceive a million types of normals. +For normality means harmony, the harmonious equilibrium between the +hormones, which tends to continue itself, because it does no harm to +itself. So there are all sorts and conditions of men and women who +are classed as normals. We need create no inquiry into the value of +raising the subnormal to the normal level. It is when we come to +consider the possibility of lowering the supernormal (in certain +respects) to the normal, that we pause and hesitate. Traditional +morality assists not, but hinders us here. + +Whatever the race may ultimately decide, it is safe to predict that it +is now somewhat possible, and will become more and more possible, to +regulate or even check the ills of genius, without interfering with +its highest evolution and expression. For example, Bernard Shaw, to +take a living man of genius, is pretty visibly a pituitocentric of the +well-balanced variety. He has the height, the facial features, the +hands, and the sort of mentality that run together in his endocrine +make-up. He also has the headaches. It is quite probable that feeding +him pituitary gland extract in the proper dosage would relieve him of +his headaches. A process might be started in his pituitary, however, +that would diminish its extraordinary output which has assisted +to make his brain so brilliant. The possibility, nevertheless, +is excessively remote as the pituitary predominance in him is so +overwhelming, that nothing short of surgery, nature's or the medical +graduate's, could really affect that overmastering eminence. The time +will come, though it is not yet by a long, long road, when we shall +be able to intervene, and perhaps meddle, in nature's most intimate +plans. The right of the power to modify, like the power to kill, will +be defined and limited by common agreement before that goal will be +reached. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +APPLICATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES + + +The knowledge that the shape and action of a man's body as well as +his mind depend on the internal secretions inspires the hope of the +emergence of a hitherto inconceivable controlling power over human +life in the future. For in the wake of chemical discovery there has +always come chemical control. The nature of chemical research, the +necessity for clear thinking, accurate measurement, and experience +in the actual handling of materials, the fundamental tradition and +technique of the science, have made and will make the practical +applications about which we today may only speculate. What the study +of the internal secretions suffers from, at the beginning of the third +decade of the twentieth century, is insufficient appreciation of its +meaning for mankind. It is true that there are thousands of workers +scattered throughout the world contributing their mites to the general +store. They increase yearly, almost daily, and their achievements, +in spite of an uncritical enthusiasm in some quarters and a +semi-charlatanism in others, have been and continue magnificent. But +they are pecking at a mountain which requires organized, massive, +engineering organization for its blasting. + +The crying need is for an international institute, endowed and +equipped for investigation upon the proper scale, with all the +available appliances and methods already worked out and at hand. Such +an institution would possess the right chemical laboratories for +the making of blood analyses, metabolism examinations, and tests of +endocrine functions. There would be X-ray machines and experts to +radiograph the pituitary, pineal and thymus glands when possible. +There would be psychologists to carry out intelligence tests, +determine emotional reactions, and group mental aberrations, +deficiencies and defectives. There would be statisticians, trained in +biometrics, to criticize and compare data obtained. There would be +anthropoligists to note and measure variations in angles and curves, +ratios and quotients of the external conformation of the body. +Internists would record the history and status of the organs and +viscera. There would be librarians to collect, abstract and collate +the vast, accumulating literature. In short, the mystery of +personality, the most marvelous, complex, and variable process in the +universe, would be attacked and at length penetrated systematically +and persistently, with the ideal of absolute control of its +composition as the goal in view. + +The nature of the researches? They would be infinite in their variety +and significance. Their practical by-products, dropped in the pursuit +of knowledge by the scientist, as Atalanta's lover the golden apples +in his race, to assuage the scent of the hard-headed business man, +would be profitable enough for any country in peace or war, to pay +for itself ten times over and at compound interest. A volume could be +filled with suggestions for interesting and promising investigations. +But we may glance at some of the immediately useful aspects that might +exercise those concerned with the everyday life of men, women and +children. + +THE ENDOCRINE EPOCHS OF LIFE + +There is no more famous classifications of the epochs of life +that mark off the milestones of the individual's evolution than +Shakespeare's Seven Ages. So different is he at those different stages +of his development, so changed his body and mind that it has become a +part of popular physiology that we are entirely made over every seven +years, and that no cell in the organism lasts longer than that. The +tradition certainly does not apply to the brain and nervous system, +for the number of brain cells is fixed at birth, and cannot be +increased, only decreased, because they are too highly specialized to +reproduce themselves. + +What transfigures the individual as the years go by is no simple wear +and tear of the tissues, nor the replacement of old cells by new. It +is the rearrangement of relationships among the ductless glands, the +shifting of influences from the predominant to the subordinate, and +vice versa, in the constellation of the internal secretions, that +determines the unfolding of the personality. The transformations raise +doubt sometimes as to the reality of personal identity. What actually +happens in the changes from childhood to adolescence, from adolescence +to maturity, and so on, is the sloughing of one internal glandular +dominance for another. + +Growth, as a general name for the mutations, the ensemble of somatic +and psychic differentiation, from year to year, passes through five +epochs that are standard for the normal. The normal is the being who +harmonizes with his environment, and yet reacts with it because of +recurring needs within him. His endocrine equation settles what is +unique and different in him. But the gland which flourishes during the +epoch as its time of triumph, when it has its day, determines what +makes him like his fellows. + +From this point of view it becomes permissible to speak of the five +Endocrine Epochs. Similarities and resemblances of mind and body +between people at a given period of life, childhood, youth, maturity +must be put down to their common government by the salient endocrine +of the epoch. So one may list: + + Infancy as the epoch of the thymus + Childhood as the epoch of the pineal + Adolescence as the epoch of the gonads + Maturity as the epoch of whatever gland is left in control as the + result of the life struggle. + Senility as the epoch of general endocrine deficiency. + +Infancy as the epoch of the thymus explains why, in any given +geographic locality, the babies look alike and act alike. Specialists +in the observation and treatment of infants have noted that not until +after the second year is any tendency to differentiation discernible +to any extent among them. It is only after the second year, or +somewhere around that time, that the child begins to individuate, and +distinct individual traits and a personality manifest their outlines. +The thymus is the great inhibitor of all the glands of internal +secretion. By its checking activity upon the other members of the +endocrine system, the thyroid and pituitary in particular, it gives +the baby time to grow in bulk, which is its chief business during the +first two years of its existence. It quadruples its birth weight. The +brain and nervous system complete their growth in mass by the end of +the fourth year. Recall the experiments of Gudernatsch working with +tadpoles, who showed that feeding with thymus produced giant tadpoles +whose metamorphosis into frogs was inhibited, while feeding thyroid +produced frogs the size of flies. Differentiation occurred without the +preliminary increase in mass usual. As differentiation and bulk thus +appear antagonistic, at least at the beginning of growth, the function +of the thymus, at a maximum during infancy, seems then to be to +restrain the differentiating endocrines, until sufficient material +has been accumulated by the organism upon which the differentiating +process may work. + +After the second year, the thymus begins to shrink. That is to say, +officially its involution begins. Careful dissection will demonstrate +some thymus tissue even in a normal subject up to the fourteenth year. +This refers to the average normal, for the large thymus may continue +large and grow larger after the second year in the type of individual +designated in a preceding chapter as the thymocentric. + +If the thymus retrogresses after the second year, what takes its place +as a brake upon the forward driving impulses of the other endocrines? +We have every reason for assigning that rôle to the pineal. It +performs its service mainly, in all probability, by inhibiting the +sex stimulating effect of light playing upon the skin. Since it is +especially a sex gland inhibitor, the thyroid and pituitary become +freer to exert their influences than under the thymus régime. And so +we find that it is after the second year that thyroid and pituitary +tendencies manifest their effects. The Pineal Era, from the second +to the tenth to fourteenth years, remains to be investigated from a +number of viewpoints interesting to the parent, the educator, and +the student of puericulture. Precocity is directly related to early +involution of the pineal. For just as the thymus involutes at the +second year, the pineal atrophies before the onset of adolescence. + +Adolescence is the period of stress and strain throughout the somatic +and psychic organism because of the volcanic upheavals in the sex +glands. The history of the individual is dominated by them up to +twenty-five or so, when maturity commences in the sense of a relative +sex stability. They continue to exert a powerful pressure throughout +maturity. But life episodes and crises, diseases, accidents, and +struggles, experiences of pleasure and pain, as well as climatic +factors, settle finally which endocrine or endocrines are left in +control as a consequence of the series of reactions the period of +maturity may be analyzed into. + +THE INTERPRETATION OF SENILITY + +Senility inevitably follows maturity, not as night follows day by a +mathematical necessity, but because of the process of degeneration +which ultimately overtakes all the glands of internal secretion, +dominant as well as subordinate. Just why the degeneration must occur +no one can say. Injury to the endocrine organs of one sort or another, +ranging all the way from emotional exhaustion to bacterial infection, +is the reason usually considered sufficient. Just why recuperation and +regeneration do not preserve them in the elderly as they do in youth +is a problem to be solved when we understand the laws of regeneration, +at present almost totally beyond our control. Some say that it is a +matter of the wear and tear of our blood vessels, those rubber-like +tubes which transport food and drainage with nonchalant equanimity to +all cells as long as they last. In the classic phrase: a man is as +old as his arteries, ergo his ductless glands will be as old as their +arteries. And the age of arteries is simply a matter of wear and tear, +the resultant of the function which is universal among molecules. +Arteriosclerosis, the hardening of arteries, might be the whole story. + +But there are certain experiments and considerations which rather +confute that easy explanation, or at least make clear that the mystery +is not so simple. The work of Steinach, a Viennese investigator, has +contributed most to the elucidation of the nonarterial factor in +senility. No one has asserted more loudly the importance of the +interstitial cells that fill in the spaces between the tubules of the +testes in the male, and the follicles of the ovary in females. Rats +have been his medium of study, for they are most easily procurable, +live fastest, breed, and withstand experimental and operative +procedures better than any other animal. + +An old rat is like an old man in his dotage. His bald, shrivelled skin +covers an emaciated body. His eyes are dimmed by cataracts and his +breathing is labored and difficult because his heart muscle has lost +its tone. Huddled in a corner, life to him has become concentrated +into the desire for a little food, and immobility. If now, something +is done to his sex apparatus, a marvelous transformation may be +effected. That something no one could predict. It consists in slitting +the genital duct, which leads from the germinal cells to the exterior. +After the operation, the germinal cells, which grow into the +spermatozoa, atrophy and disappear, since they can no longer function. +As if released from some restraint, the interstitial cells, however, +multiply enormously. With their multiplication, the miracle of +rejuvenation is performed. + +After some weeks the sluggish currents of being in the rat, which had +slowed down as a preliminary to stopping altogether, flow fast and +furious. Waves of new chemical substances inundate his cells. And they +respond like the fields that border the Nile after the annual flood. +All his tissues, skin, muscle, nerve, even bone, are restored. A +vitality is created which makes him bound and dart like a youth of his +species. In due time, though, senility returns. It is as if a storage +battery, recharged, runs down and becomes dead again. Slitting the +genital duct of the other testis, causing its interstitial cells to +hypertrophy and multiply, repeats the effects of the first experiment. +The organism responds again to the new waves of vitality that vibrate +through it. That it is recharged is demonstrated again by a revival of +sex appetite and sex activity. The female which had become an object +of indifference is reinstated as a creature to be sought and pursued. +The second period ends in its turn. And now entirely new interstitial +glands, in the form of fresh testes removed from a young animal, are +transplanted into the body of the old rat. Once more youth returns. +But now it burns itself more quickly than even before. An acute +exhaustion of the mind appears first. Then all the other phenomena of +old age steal back upon the old rat, and senility, firmly established +in the saddle, rides him to the end. + +THE POSSIBILITIES OF REJUVENATION + +Whatever other deductions may be extracted from these experiments, +they prove beyond a doubt the existence of an endocrine factor in the +process of aging, as well as an arterial. They also demonstrate that +the internal secretion of the sex glands, well advertised as it has +been as the Elixir of Youth that Ponce de Leon, and Brown-Séquard with +so many others, pursued in vain, is not the whole story. For if it +was, the duration of the new youth should be another span of life, +whereas in actuality it is only a fraction of that time. This fact, +together with a number of others, make clear that while the gonads may +be the jeune premier of the drama, the vitality of the plot depends +upon the other endocrines. Since old age is an exhaustion, permanent +and irreparable of _all_ the members of the ductless gland +directorate, the reason becomes clear for the temporary quality of the +rejuvenation effected by the procedures of Steinach. + +Practically, then, the question at once arises: which of the glands in +particular are involved? There is first that ubiquitous agent in the +system, the thyroid. Chemical analysis of it has shown that the +iodine content decreases with the age of the individual, and becomes +specially low after forty. It is after the menopause in women that +myxedema, the disease of complete degeneration of the thyroid, and of +the physical and mental faculties, is most frequent. The thyroid +of old people exhibits, in varying degrees, signs of a similar +degeneration. Thyroid feeding, properly controlled, will clear up +certain of the deteriorations of mind and body observable in the aged. +The grossness of the features lessens, a number of the pains go, +muscular endurance increases, memory and intelligence do not remind +one so forcibly of the old dotard in his second childhood. Of course +the improvement at present achievable is only relative. But in the +prematurely aging, decay invading a half accomplished maturity, +marvels have been achieved at times with feeding of the gland. + +The pituitary, too, begins to retrogress after the period of maturity. +And an early retrogression means a short maturity. In women, the onset +of an obesity, and coincidently, of a lazy and dull morale, coincides +with this declension of the pituitary powers. All the glands of +internal secretion, in fact, shrink and shrivel as old age advances. +Only, as in other relationships, the predominating endocrine stamps +its signature more visibly upon the documents of decadence than the +others. Pituitary types, as said, get fat and slow, thyroidal become +bulky and stupid or thin and sour, the adrenal dark, shrunken and +forever tired of life. So type emerges, even in all-around glandular +deficiency. + +The problem of rejuvenation is the problem of recharging, or replacing +all of the glands of internal secretion, at least the most important, +the thyroid, the pituitary and the adrenals, as well as the gonads. +Longevity is perhaps largely a matter of preventing, or postponing +their wane. Beside, there is the prophylaxis of bacterial infections, +and their all embracing corrosions--which, too, have an endocrine +aspect. + +Persistence of youth or juvenility may be manufactured by nature in +two ways. There may be a persistence of early glandular predominances. +We have seen what happens to the thymocentric. That a pineal-centered +juvenile or infantile type exists may be safely predicted. Nature's +only other mode of securing perpetual youth seems to be by prolonging +the time allotted to the sex gland crescendo. + +As for the golden age of maturity itself, what humdrum people and +poets have despised as middle age, the margin of reserve of the ruling +hormone is a quantity almost malleable in our hands, but still to be +regarded with respect as a hard cold proposition by the physiologist. +In general, the continuance of any stage of development means the +maintaining of the glandular administration peculiar to it. So the +chubby debonair irresponsible whom nothing can touch is happy in the +possession of a pineal uncorrupted by the years, while the genius who +can turn out his best work at sixty-five must thank his pituitary for +standing by him to the end. + +THE SCIENCE OF PUERICULTURE + +There is a specialty now growing in the womb of science which in its +own good time will come to fruition as the study of the child's needs +or puericulture. Even today there exists a scientific basis for the +formulation of the principles upon which every child should be brought +up. Though we have had marvelous results from the campaigns to lower +infantile mortality, most of what has been done has been medical in +its interest, and so largely negative in its accomplishments. The +removal of the causes of evil no doubt gives the good its opportunity. +But how to raise a child, endowed with satisfactory ancestral stuff, +as a Grade A normal or supernormal, still remains to be erected into +an exact science. + +A number of attempts have been abortive in this field. Why they have +failed to arouse the ardor of the parent has puzzled some of the +pioneers. Child-culture as the foundation of all systems of education +has continued more or less of a hope rather than an achievement +because of a lack of appreciation of the different constitutional +varieties of children. A certain amount of attention has been lavished +upon children needing special attention, those mainly suffering from +insufficient development of one sort or another. In the last decade or +so, an endeavour to focus upon the exceptional child, exceptional +in intelligence or some special creative endowment, has started an +interesting movement. All of them have suffered from the fallacies and +troubles of the pure psychologist who would handle mind as an entity +in a vacuum. + +A realization of the different physical and psychic educational +needs of various children will arrive only when we see them as built +differently. Just as shoddy and silk, cotton and wool, alone or in +combination, all possess different qualities as wearing material, so +different children have varying capacities for the wear and tear of +education. The endocrine classification of the human race, applied +to children, will here yield a harvest to the educator and to the +country. Nothing is more evident than the diversified nature of the +needs of the various internal secretion types, once they are realized +as such. + +The history of a thymocentric type, for instance, is predictable from +the very first few months of his life. Difficulties in feeding, in +habit formation and adaptation, in the reaction to infections, in +social play and so on, one may expect for him. The course of events +for the other endocrine types also follow laws of their own. It will +be above all in the _understanding_ of children, their make-up, +reactions and powers, that the biologist will achieve some of his +finest triumphs. + +The educator will have to take account of the state of the pituitary +in estimating the normal intelligence, or influencing the abnormal or +subnormal intelligence. As well will he have to consider the thyroid +in the child whose conduct is refractory, even though his proficiency +in his studies is excellent. And the condition of the adrenal will be +ascertained in the types that tire easily, and that seem unable to +make the effort necessary or desirable. Periodic seasonal and critical +fluctuations in the equilibrium among the hormones will have to be +taken into account in the explanation of what have hitherto been put +down to laziness, naughtiness, stupidity, or obstinacy. + +A child's capacity for education, essentially its capacity for the +highest and most productive kind of life, is limited by inherent +factors. These factors are two: the quality of the nerve tissue, its +ability to make a number of associations, and the quantity of the +internal secretions, measured by the maximum obtainable in a given +situation. These inherent factors explain, too, why children born +and bred in virtually the same environment show the most extreme +differences in educability. That the differences are inherited was +made evident by Galton's finding that the chance of the son of an +eminent man exhibiting eminent ability was 500 times as great as that +of the son of a man taken at random. + +Every baby, then, is born with a combination of nerve cells and +ductless glands which determine its capacity for mental development, +that might never be realized, but could never be exceeded. If, in any +family, minor differences in educability are observed, they can be +put down to disturbance of these two factors occurring after the +fertilized germ cell had started to divide and reproduce itself. But +any marked falling off in either the nervous or endocrine factors has +to be considered pathologic, due to an impairment of them by adverse +environment. + +Recent studies have amply established that the proportion of +certifiable mental defectives, and of a much larger class, the +subnormal but not certifiable class, is progressing by leaps and +bounds. It is perhaps the most absurd frailty of our present system +of education that it takes almost no account of innate differences in +educability. To spend money upon the teaching of these children along +lines where they are unteachable is not only waste pure and simple, +but crime, for it deprives the educables of their just due. + +These, of course, are the crude and simple lines upon which the finer +and more complex evolution of the endocrine problems of the school +child will build. The fine art of education itself is crude and gross +and simple compared with what it might be, even as a beginning. The +science of education has yet to begin, as the offspring of that +science of the future, to which knowledge of the internal secretions +will contribute no little, the science of puericulture. + +VOCATIONAL EDUCATION + +It is difficult, indeed, to avoid becoming merely enthusiastic upon +the possibilities of the applications of the endocrines to the +educational domain. Happiness for the average individual consists of +a double success--success in his vocation (chosen or forced upon him) +and success in his sex life. A certain hue and cry has been raised in +the last few years concerning the vast and overwhelming importance of +sex in the happiness and even in the successes of a man's everyday +life. And no doubt there is a relation. Sublimation plays its part in +the explanation of vocational idiosyncrasies. The fact, however, that +perfect success in sex may occur with absolute failure in the career, +however, splits the problem for good into its realities: a physiologic +aspect as well as a psychologic. + +So, as school education will have to take serious account of endocrine +anomalies and possibilities, will the institution which selects and +trains for a career. Vocational misfits have aroused the ardor of our +efficiency experts. And again, the sweeping psychological attack has +beaten its head against the stonewall of ignorance of constitutional +predispositions and tendencies of material. The attempt to erect +psychologic types for vocational selections could never make much +headway because it could only flounder in a swamp of metaphors, +product of the vices of its methods. Not that anyone would wish to +discard at all the psychologic mode of approach. But no science, in +the sense of accurate examination, was possible, in the matter of +classification for vocation, without the insight into the physiology +of the candidate that the analysis of his endocrine formula will +provide. + +One need not dilate upon the value of such an examination. +Civilization has not yet learned how to pick its personnel. And so +artists and scientists, philosophers and politicians, financiers and +religious leaders, arise and survive by the operation of the laws of +probabilities and chances, rather than by any intelligent selection +and cultivation of material. The case, indeed, is simply a subdivision +of the vast subject: haphazard muddle in the conduct of life. A cry +has been raised for the superman, and a cry has been raised for a +method of anthropometry. For the lack of these two, it has been +said, all governments have been doomed to defeat. The study of the +endocrines will by no means supply a panacea. But as it will furnish a +means of approach to the determination of how men and women are built, +and why they are built differently, no one can gainsay the tremendous +advantages to the nation that will proceed to classify its population +accordingly, and know its strength and weakness in terms of the actual +generators of success and failure. + +Suggestions have been offered in the preceding pages of concrete +applications of endocrine knowledge to the understanding of behaviour, +of the genius and commonplace, criminal and Puritan. And in the +chapter on historic personages, we tracked some of the story in +detail. This vein when explored will quarry untold riches. It has been +observed that financiers of mark, like great musicians, are special +pituitary types. Also that the financiers are voracious meat eaters +and the musicians inordinately fond of sweets. Differences in anterior +and posterior predominances might account for this. That we are +playing here with no phantasy is proven by the fact that we can effect +changes of tastes as well as of intellectual direction by appropriate +feeding of various glandular extracts. Just as much, indeed, as we can +influence sex susceptibility, and the reaction to sex stimulation, by +the artificial introduction from without of the proper hormones. + +FATIGUE AND INDUSTRY + +In industry, business and profession, the biologist will come more and +more to be called as consultant. Labor unions as well as the large +employers of labor, and their employment managers have given much +thought to the problem of fatigue. Just what fatigue is, why different +individuals tire at different rates, why some are constructed for +monotonous routine while others must have constant variety and change, +the relation to accidents and to quantity output, are a few of the +major lines of inquiry upon which the endocrines obviously have a +large bearing. To the employment manager, labor turnover and the +selection of personnel are adjacent fields of research. + +Fatigue as an endocrine deficiency--a depressed state of one or +more of the glands of internal secretion, abolished when its normal +functioning is restored--is a general principle from which departures +of exploration of sub-problems will proceed. An endocrine organ will +secrete at a certain rate. When it is stimulated excessively, it will +eject extra amounts of its secretion. How long the period of excessive +stimulation may last must depend upon the secretion potential or +margin of reserve of the cells, varying from organ to organ, and from +individual to individual. After that, exhaustion and failure follows, +with the onset of the symptoms of fatigue. + +A pretty demonstration of this process has been worked out in the +electrical stimulation of muscle. If a muscle, say the biceps, is +irritated by an electric current, it will contract. As the strength of +the current is increased, the degree of contraction becomes greater. +A sort of stepladder effect of increasing contractions may be thus +obtained. After a time, the electric shocks cannot cause a greater +contraction, but only a lesser. And if continued, the muscle will +cease to function because of fatigue. If now, when the muscle begins +to lag in its response, and its contractions to decrease, one injects +into a vein extracts of thyroid, parathyroid, or adrenal glands, they +will immediately reinvigorate the failing contractions. The injections +must be made before the fatigue is carried to the point of absolute +exhaustion. It follows that these glands normally pour into the +circulation substances which counteract the effect of fatigue +substances, and in fact make possible muscular recuperation from +fatigue throughout the day as well as in emergencies and crises. + +Fatigue, conventionally recognized, is something acute and urgent. As +such it means a violent draining of the endocrine wells. But there +is also a chronic fatigue, which has been dignified with the name of +Fatigue Disease. Bernard Shaw once asked for someone to tell him +the name of the germ causing the symptoms of overwork. That being +impossible, he will have to be satisfied with the answer that it is +not a germ, but an internal secretion, or rather a defect of internal +secretion that is the cause. + +Whether or not the adrenals have been damaged by past experiences, +and upon their capacity to respond to the necessities of an occasion, +fatigue reactions primarily depend. A quotation from Sir James +MacKenzie, most distinguished of modern English students of medicine, +summarizes the matter neatly. "Abelous, and Langlois and Albanese have +studied the relation of the adrenal bodies to fatigue.... They infer +that the muscular weakness following removal of the adrenals is due +to toxic substances. In view of our present knowledge of the +physiological action of adrenaline in its various forms, it seems more +probable that the weakness is to be explained by the absence of the +normal tone producing internal secretions of the bodies in question." +In other words, the adrenals regulate muscle tone. They produce +nature's tonics for weary tissues. The chronic lassitude of thousands +of our generation, suffering from "that tired feeling," may be put +down to chronic adrenal insufficiency. + +It requires no superlative imagination to see that an adrenal poor +subject does not belong upon a job that involves muscle stress over a +long period, or indeed fatiguing conditions of any sort. Nor that a +thyroid poor individual is not the best choice for a position that +demands a keen, alert body and mind. In the selection of executives, +the nature and stamina of the pituitary will undoubtedly be taken very +seriously in the near future. + +A certain hocus-pocus concerning character reading, a perverted +revival of the ancient phrenology and physiognomy, has invaded the +employment territory in America as the newest charlatanism. The study +of the internal secretions, including blood and X-ray examinations, +will surely assist the demand for a truly scientific estimate +of constitution and character that can be relied upon in the +classification and distribution of personnel. + +THE PROSPECTS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH + +By their effects upon the endocrines, public health influences like +food, clothing, sleep and overpressure and last but not least, +_disease_, the so-called diseases of childhood, possess a tremendous +importance in limiting the output of the educable. They act to +subtract from and so to lower the rating, the capacity of the +germ-plasm. Most material and vital of these influences are the common +diseases of children, for they strike directly at the glands of +internal secretion. + +Measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, mumps, and the others have long +been accepted as providential visitations for sins known or unknown. +That children had to have them and were better off when they had them +has become part of the tradition of the laity, fostered by the lazy +ignorance of previous medical generations. But today we are beginning +to ask ourselves why children must have these endemic infections +of their age. The pathologist goes farther and asks the reason for +certain apparent immunities. He asks why the little boy who sleeps +with his brother sick with scarlet fever does not contract the +disease, even though not protected by a previous attack. + +Determining why susceptibility to a special disease in a particular +case exists will constitute the greatest line of advance for the +understanding and prevention of disease, and so the perfection of +public health. In the last influenza epidemic countless physicians +were puzzled by the spectacle of men and women in the pink of +condition carried off in twenty-four hours while puny associates were +either passed over, or pooh-poohed their colds. Pathologists have +spent their energies fruitfully upon the infectious causes of disease, +the microbes and parasites especially. But now, having solved most of +those problems, the vital question of why an organism permits itself +to be attacked is pushing itself to the front. Why a peculiar ailment +selects its victim, why the bacillus finds a fertile soil, is the +neglected problem, which must be solved before the abolition of +disease and its carriers will be remotely conceivable. + +Long ago, Hippocrates, revered founder of the art of medicine, +recognized that there was a specific affinity of disease for +individuals with more or less the same characteristic somatic and +psychic traits and trends. Tuberculosis, for instance, was noted for +its frequency in long-skeletoned, thin persons, remarkably optimistic. +And the plethoric, choleric nature of the sufferer from gout has +become proverbial. Before the era of the great bacteriologic +discoveries of the eighties and nineties, the concordance of esoteric +racial and personal markings was a great help in diagnosis to the +physician. For he realized, though he sometimes credited it to his +clinical intuition, that it was a certain type of personality that was +liable to the specific disease. + +But personality and its reactions, normal and abnormal, are determined +by the endocrines. So we should find that particular infections +run with special internal glandular predominances. For the picture +presented by an infection, temperature, rash, prostration, are the +details of the general reaction of the organism in the face of a +new situation, the presence of a powerful, destructive invader. +Information has accumulated that the invader is powerful and +destructive, as well as selective, because of endocrine deficiency of +one sort or another in the body it has attacked. Work of a number of +investigators has indicated that an individual's susceptibility or its +reverse, resistance, is intimately subjected to the derangements or +harmonies of the endocrine system. + +Comparison of the endocrine type and the disease assaulting has +yielded an even more interesting principle. Knowing the state of the +internal secretion reservoirs enables us to predict the liability to +certain of these infections of childhood. Diphtheria has been found to +occur most virulently among adrenal poor individuals. Moreover, they +are left poorer in adrenal afterwards. It follows that they would be +assisted by the feeding of adrenal. Mumps is a sickness that sometimes +permanently injures the gonads: the testes or ovaries. The thyroid +dominant, whose system is rich in thyroid, will rarely suffer from any +of the common diseases of children--if at all, from measles. Op the +other hand, those who have every infection of the period, and who, as +their mothers say, seem to get everything, are those whose system +is thyroid poor. Thyroid poverty is a splendid enticement to the +universal microbe. The thymocentric stands all diseases poorly. The +pituitary type is more liable to epidemic meningitis and infantile +paralysis, typhoid and scarlet fever. + +The public health officer of the future will be armed with a new +weapon in his fight against the spread of an epidemic. He will be able +to classify the endocrine traits of the population exposed, and to +advise a course of glandular feeding for the types specially liable. +The Schick test for diphtheria susceptibility is an illustration +of one method of approach to the problem of the epidemiologist in +settling who needs protection. The endocrines will assist him in the +great body of diseases for which no immunity test is at hand. Should +another influenza epidemic come along, for instance, the proper +handling, from the endocrine standpoint, of the thymocentrics and +the related adrenocentrics would help considerably in lowering the +mortality. + +Endocrine types have other tendencies, which when studied and +controlled, will decimate the great assassins of middle age: heart +disease and kidney disease, with accompanying degenerations of the +blood vessels and circulation. The adrenocentric tends to get up a +hyperacidity of the stomach and a high blood pressure, besides certain +forms of diseases of the lungs. The thyrocentric is predisposed to +heart disease, as well as intestinal disturbances. The pituitocentric +is liable to periodic and cyclic upsets in his health. + +Narcotism, the craving for narcotic or stimulant drugs, and its +subvariety, alcoholism, has been found most often among the +thymocentrics. Any type of endocrine inferiority, interfering with +success in life, may lead to the habit of drug addiction as one way +out. But the blood and tissues of the thymocentric appear to become +habituated to the narcotic stimulant more easily than the other types, +and so to demand it with a physical imperative comparable to the food +or sex urge. Among artists, philosophers and statesmen, on the other +hand, actively productive and so contrasted with criminals and +degenerates drug addiction has frequently been a mode of endocrine +compensation. That is, the drug produced temporarily the effects of +the internal secretion lacking or insufficient. Thus the effects of +cocaine may be compared with the effects of thyroid. But while there +is a normal mechanism for thyroid detoxication, the cocaine or heroin +derivatives mark the tissues permanently with their scars and deform +the personality. + +THE HYGIENE OF THE INTERNAL SECRETIONS + +All these protean expressions of endocrine determination may now begin +to be looked upon with the hopeful and optimistic attitude of him who +understands cause and effect and can control. The advances made in the +last ten years in the practical manipulation of the ductless glands +from without, the introduction of glandular extracts by feeding or +injection, and the modification of their structure and function by +surgery, the X-ray and radium, and other procedures, enable us +to regard more confidently the problems hitherto accepted as the +insoluble and intricate handiwork of Fate. Fate may have woven the +patterns of our being. But as we commence to probe the machinery and +to examine the looms more carefully, we begin to understand why the +wheels creak, and why there are seconds and odd lots in the product as +well as the rare and precious firsts. Moreover, we are learning how to +handle the machinery ourselves. The abdication of Fate can therefore +be confidently expected in due time. + +However, we have yet to begin, and we can begin with prevention. The +theory of Adler, that some organ inferiority is responsible for much +unhappiness in life has received much advertisement in conjunction +with the doctrines of the Freudians. It is a theory of little scope +when applied to the eyes, ears, heart and so on because only a small +minority of the cases are of that kind. But as we have seen, a +deficiency of an internal secretion, an endocrine inferiority, +reverberates throughout all the cells. Not only the mind, but all of +the members of the organism must strain and co-operate to make up for +the break in the balance. + +Endocrine inferiority is indeed the most frequent organic inferiority. +And we may explain a number of mental types upon that basis. Thus the +inferior gonado-centric, who has something wrong with his reproductive +organs, will evolve in one of two directions. If his adrenal and +thyroid are of poor quality, he will become the secluded introvert, +shut off from the interests of normal life. He will enter the +borderland of insanity if pituitary difficulties supervenes. If, on +the contrary, the adrenal, thyroid and pituitary are present in +a certain proportion, he will become the active, aggressive, +never-resting, keen, and relentless fanatic reformer. A woman who is +gonad deficient with a superior adrenal will suffer from virilism +and specialize in the extreme tactics and mythology of the feminist +movement. A number of life reactions are classifiable as the strivings +of endocrine inferior individuals to overcome their sense of +inferiority. The unconscious vegetative system and the system of +consciousness are both modified by the weakness of a link in the +glandular chain. + +What, therefore, is to be recommended in the prophylaxis of the +natural deterioration of the wells of life, the ductless glands? For +even if we may be able to replenish them when they dry up, would it +not be better to delay their dessication? The hormones reply to every +call of life and respond in every reaction. The normal constructive +process of their cells remanufactures what has been lost, and the +original capacity to respond is restored. If, though, the rate of +destruction and loss outruns the rate of repair and construction, they +will be permanently damaged. This is what occurs in shock, serious, +severe accidents and injuries, prolonged infections and diseases, +profound continued emotions, and the wear and tear of overwork. The +prevention of these excessive fatigues of the endocrine system in one +or all of its parts, and especially the prevention and enfeeblement of +the diseases of children which injure them at a period when they are +most sensitive to injury, is the task of the endocrine hygienist. +Periodic examinations, to check up the balance sheets of the hormone +factories and to measure the amount of their damage by means of blood +analyses, will provide the most valuable method in the campaign to +lengthen the productive and enjoying span of life. + +THE TREATMENT OF CRIME + +Endocrine hygiene will discover no wider or more fruitful area for +exploration and control than that of crime. For more than a generation +there have been attempts at a criminology, and a new understanding and +control of crime. In the United States a concomitant sentimentalism +has concocted measures like the honor system which, naturally failing +of their purpose, have undermined confidence in the idea of scientific +diagnosis and treatment of crime. As someone has noted, to ask a +criminal to promise not to misbehave, when discharged from prison, +is like asking a typhoid fever patient to promise not to have a +temperature above ninety-nine degrees the next morning. For a large +proportion of criminals--the percentage has yet to be determined, +although the most recent police commissioner of Chicago has estimated +it at ninety per cent--punishment for a period of time and then +letting him go free is like imprisoning a diphtheria carrier for a +while and then permitting him to commingle with his fellows and spread +the germ of diphtheria. + +Of course, the doctrine of responsibility is all tangled up with our +attitude towards and treatment of crime. Though clear thought makes +mandatory the recognition of a universal cause and effect law, +practical common sense has defined free will. Consent or the +withholding of consent to a given course of action has been the +criterion of responsibility. + +In practice, the limitation of responsibility will depend upon the +insertion of extraneous factors into the formula of consent. The +pragmatic test has been and will be the probability that the +correction of the somatic or psychic condition would have prevented or +will prevent the consent to the crime. As long as no such condition +will be demonstrable, society for its own protection will have to +confine the unfortunate individual. + +The character of the confinement, its duration, and the uses to which +it will be put should be dominated by the idea of discovering +the unknown criminal predisposition. If crime is an abnormality +scientifically studiable and controllable like measles, court +procedure and prison management will have to be transformed radically. +There is scattered throughout the world now a group of people who are +applying medical methods to the diagnosis and treatment of crime. They +are the pioneers who will be remembered in history as the compeers of +those who transformed the attitudes toward insanity and its therapy. +The insane were once condemned and handled as criminals are in most +civilized countries yet. The criminologic laboratory as an adjunct to +the court of justice, like that associated with the court of +Chief Justice Olson in Chicago, remains to be universalized. What +contribution to a more rational treatment of the criminal will the +study of the internal secretions make? + +It has been shown that the greater number of convicts are mentally and +morally subnormal. To explain the subnormality, the criminologist +has conducted and will continue to conduct investigations into the +heredity and early environment of the criminal, his education and +occupation, the social and religious influences to which he was +subjected, and the intelligence test quotient. The conditioning of the +vegetative system and the endocrine status of the prisoner, however, +will without a doubt come to occupy the leading positions in any +interpretation of crime in the future. + +Introspective observation of pre-criminal states of mind by so-called +normal persons reveals that in many of them there is an impairment of +reason and will power, in others an exaltation amounting almost +to hysteria. What are these but endocrine states of the cells, +experimentally reproducible by increasing or decreasing the influence +of the thyroid, the adrenals, the pituitary? Crimes of passion may be +traced in no small part to disturbances of the thyroid. A psychologic +examiner of a Pittsburgh court, interested in the subject, has found +an enlarged thyroid in over ninety per cent of delinquent girls. +Similarly, crimes of violence may be ascribed to a profound break +in the adrenal equilibrium. Criminal tendencies in women during +menstruation and pregnancy, periods of deep-seated mutation in the +internal glandular system, have long been noted. A kleptomania, +uncontrollable desire to steal, confined to the duration of pregnancy +alone, has been described. We have seen how the thymocentric, +especially if he possesses a small bony case for his pituitary, is +predisposed to crime. A recent study of twenty murderers in the State +of West Virginia showed them all to have a persistent thymus and the +thymocentric constitution. A study of the recidivists, those who +return for second and third offences, in one institution, disclosed +that a large majority had a subnormal temperature and an increased +heart and breathing rate. These are endocrine-controlled functions. +Conduct, normal or abnormal, being the resultant of the conflict of +conscious and subconscious impulses and inhibitions, the internal +secretions as controllers of the susceptibility of the brain cells to +impulses and inhibitions, must be held accountable for a portion at +least of the chemical reactions behind crime. + +It is possible, by X-ray treatment of the thymus, to cause it to +shrink to more normal proportions. It is possible, by feeding various +glandular extracts, to correct deficiencies or excesses of their +function, and so to remedy the underlying basis for a criminal career. +Here and there work of this kind has been successfully carried out in +selected instances. What a suitable drive upon the whole matter would +yield in happiness to the individual and dollars and cents to society, +time alone will show. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE EFFECT UPON HUMAN EVOLUTION + + +The ubiquitous and deep-seated influence of the internal secretions +upon life and personality comprises but a fraction of what is known, +and only a hint of what is to become known. There is an endocrine +aspect to every human being and every human activity, normal and +abnormal, internal process and its external expression, regulated +by laws of which we are beginning to catch a glimpse. Their control +promises us now a dominion over the most intimate and inaccessible +recesses of our lives in a way comparable only to the control we now +exercise over the forces and energies once revered as the instruments +of the gods--light, heat, magnetism, electricity. We have learned how +to control and change our environment. We are now learning, endocrine +research is now discovering, how to control and change ourselves. + +The story of the evolution of the two types of control has many +analogies. When man ceased looking upon his surroundings as inhabited +by spirits of good and evil, as he conceived himself, and discovered +that they were composed of things malleable and analysable in his +hands, he became their master. When now he drops the old superstitions +about himself as a spirit, an emulsion of a spirit of good and spirit +of evil, and sees himself more and more clearly as the most complex +of chemical reactions, regulated and determined as are the simple +and complex chemical reactions around him, he will begin to rule and +modify himself as he rules and modifies them. Whether or not he will +ultimately come to this final lucidity of thought and action, it +behooves us to consider some of the uses to which our present +knowledge might be put. + +Since every step of the daily routine or adventure, from waking to +sleeping, eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, working, +idling, fighting, playing, feeling, enjoying, sorrowing, every shade +of emotion and nuance of mood, in short every phase of happiness +and unhappiness, are endocrine episodes in the life history of the +individual, the sphere of applications is as long and broad and deep +as life itself. Not only do the internal secretions open up before us +the great hope--that Life at last will cease to stumble and grope and +blunder, manacled by the iron chains of inexorable cause and effect. +They provide tools, concrete and measurable, that can be handled and +moved, weighed and seen, for the management of the problems of human +nature and evolution. + +Every department of human life, the questions of labor and industry, +science and art, education, puericulture, international problems, +crime and disease, may be illuminated. War and Sex, those two master +interests of mankind, may be understood and handled sympathetically +as they have never before. The reactions of man alone, and man in the +crowd, will be clarified. The red thread of individuality which runs +through the woof and warp of all human affairs will be unraveled. + +Inevitably, customs, morals, codes of procedure and practice, +institutions, all those expressions of opinion which make conduct, +all the currents which contrive the infinite variety of life, will be +transmitted into another set of values. + +A remoulding, a remodeling will take place all along the line. +Manifestly an unstable thymocentric should not be treated as a +criminal, but treated in a sanitarium. A masculinoid woman needs +satisfactions not vouchsafed in the old "love, honor and obey" home. +How absurd it is to found codes of morality upon sermons or even the +latest psychologies. During the nineteenth century progress in physics +and mechanics overturned traditions thousands of years had painfully +toiled to erect. What is to happen when man comes at last to +experiment upon himself like a god, dealing not only with the +materials without, but also with the very constituents of his +innermost being? Will he not then indeed become a god? If he does not +destroy himself before, that is surely his destiny. For better or for +worse, we possess now in the endocrines new instruments for swaying +the individual as individual, and as related to other individuals, as +a member of a type, family, nation, species and genus. + +THE BASIS OF VARIATION + +The sense of likeness and the sense of unlikeness plays a decisive +rôle in the diurnal schedule of the individual. His sense of +resemblance to his father and mother, his kin and clan, mark him and +them off against the cosmos as an alliance of defense and offense. Yet +no matter how closely he is like them and they like him, he differs +and varies, they differ and vary, with a sort of mutual forgiveness, +because the amount of resemblance overtops the degree of variation. In +a paper on the "Rediscovery of the Unique," H.G. Wells emphasized the +unique quality of the individual, and how, in spite of the cleverest +devices of classification, living things ultimately escaped the +classifying net by virtue of their tendency forever to vary. + +The individual is unique. Yet when all is said and done, the fact +remains that between individuals there is resemblance, and among them +variation. What is the reason for their resemblances and what is the +cause of their variation? + +The conception of a particular chemical make-up of the individual, +statable and relatively controllable in terms of the internal +secretions, supplies a more rational and satisfactory method +of approach to the problem than any so far suggested as far as +vertebrates are concerned at any rate. In effect, the differences +between individuals may fundamentally thus be grouped among the +differences which distinguish other chemical substances. The +difference between water, technically known as hydrogen monoxide, +and the antiseptic fluid labeled hydrogen dioxide lies wholly in the +possession by the latter of an extra atom of oxygen in its molecules. +All the peculiarities and qualities by which hydrogen peroxide is +separated from water are referred to that additional quantum of +oxygen. So the diversity of constitution and appearance of two +brothers, alike in that they have inherited the same internal +secretion trends, may be traced to the superiority of the pituitary of +the one over the other. + +Variation and resemblance are large issues, crucial material of the +science of biology upon which much has been thought and written. That +the proportion of the endocrines determines variation and resemblance, +heredity and evolution is a hypothesis advanced, supported by a large +amount of facts, and capable of the most interesting experimental +verification and observation. If a child resembles particularly either +of its parents, grandparents or relatives, there is good reason for +believing that it is because their endocrine formulas are very much +alike. When people apparently not blood-related at all resemble +one other, the same law must hold. Resemblances may be partial or +complete, and the degree will depend upon the amount and ratio of the +internal secretions involved. + +The same endocrine constitutions will produce corresponding physiques, +physiognomies, abilities and characters. Deviations in endocrine type +from that of the original stock, more of one endocrine and less of +another, is at the bottom of the phenomenon of variation, basic for +the origin of new species as well as the extinction of the old. In +short, viewing the internal secretions as determinants, by their +quantitative variations, of a host of biologic phenomena furnishes a +concrete and detailed foundation for Darwin's theory of pangenesis. + +INHERITANCE OF ACQUIRED CHARACTERS + +Darwin's theory of pangenesis was an attempt to harmonize everything +known in his time about heredity. It supposed that the various +organs of the body gave off into the blood substances, themselves +in miniature, which were taken up by the sex cells, and so became +responsible for the development of their mother-organ in the newly +forming individual. Modern knowledge cannot accept all this as a +whole. But in a modified version, it has become the germ of a theory +of heredity of which J.T. Cunningham, of Oxford, is the chief backer. + +Beginning with the traits and qualities which distinguish the sexes, +grouped as the secondary sex characters, he showed that they are +correlated with the special sexual function of the species in which +they occur. These traits appear only when the hormones occur which +are present in one sex and that only when the gonads of that sex are +mature. In some cases they appear only at the period of the year +when reproduction takes place, disappearing again after the breeding +season. Their presence makes certain cells develop in excessive +numbers at a particular spot in the organism (as in the growth of +breasts from a few sweat glands) or causes them to specialize (to make +hair on the face in man, or to grow antlers on the head of a stag). +After castration, the hormones being absent, all these points of +contrast between the sexes fail to appear. So by analogy we may +explain all somatic and psychic differentiation as functions of the +glands of internal secretion. Contemplated from the angle of the +effect of environment upon the endocrines, and a reflected action +upon the germ cells, we may outline a mechanism of the inheritance of +acquired characters at certain times and consequent adaptation. The +cycle of events would be as follows: + +1. A state of lability of cells at a point because of increased or +decreased use. + +2. An increased or decreased appropriation by them of the hormone +controlling their function. + +3. A corresponding increase or decrease in function of the gland of +internal secretion and so, + +4. An increased or decreased representation of it in the reproductive +sex cells in the gonads. + +To take a classic illustration, the long neck of the giraffe. The neck +of certain animals living in a district populated by trees with high +branches would be in state of instability. If at the same time the +pituitary, for some reason, was unstable and reacted with an extra +supply of its secretion, it would stimulate the neck cells to +reproduce themselves. In turn the pituitary would become stabilized +in the direction of increased secretion, and hand on the component of +increased secretion to the sex cells. That component, in conjunction +with other factors, would therefore determine the emergence of a +definite species character. In other words, the glands of internal +secretion, as intermediaries between the environment and body, and +between the body and the reproductive sex cells or germplasm, tender +the clue to a phase of the puzzle of heredity, adaptation and +evolution. It is only a dotted outline of an explanation to be sure, +but one certainly capable of being filled in. + +THE BEARING ON BREEDING + +Since the endocrine glands are so subtly sensitive and responsive to +environment, and are at the same time so intimately concerned in the +process of inheritance--a law which sums up their influence upon +resemblance and variation in animals--there is no need to stress +their importance for the practical science and art of good breeding, +eugenics. Another mode of approach to its problems is opened up, and +fresh enthusiasm instilled into its hopes and aspirations. A method +of analysis of the factors involved, together with rules for the +prediction of the outcome of certain matings, when finally worked out, +will elevate its procedure to the level of the more exact sciences. + +A man's chief gift to his children is his internal secretion +composition. The endocrines are truly the matter of breeding as +they are of growth. They are the material carriers of the inherited +physical and psychic dispositions, powers, abilities and disabilities +from the soma to the germplasm and back from the germplasm to the +soma. All kinds of questions arise as soon as one attempts to consider +the bearing of this underlying principle upon concrete situations. +What happens, say, when a pituitocentric mates with a thyrocentric? +Or when a pituitocentric marries a pituitocentric? Is there a +reinforcement or a cancellation of the dominant endocrine? Is there +a quantitative addition of internal glandular tendencies in the +germplasm, or a more complex rearrangement dependent upon reactions +between all the internal secretions? + +The term endocrine dominants brings up the inquiries of Mendelism, and +the relation of Mendelian conceptions of dominant and recessive to the +internal secretions. The Mendelians have emphasized the rôle of the +unit factor in heredity, and the conservation of the unit factor as +an entity through all the adventures of matings. Also, that when unit +factors, say of the color of the eyes, come into conflict, brown or +black being mixed with blue or grey, one, the recessive, is submerged +and overlaid but not destroyed by the other, the dominant. So brown or +black eyes, dark hair, curly hair, dark skin, and so on, are dominant, +while blue or grey eyes, light or straight hair, light skin are +recessives. A nervous temperament is dominant to the phlegmatic. A +number of psychic qualities have been declared to be Mendelian unit +factors: memory, mechanical instinct, mathematical ability, literary +ability, musical ability, and even handwriting. + +As architects of human qualities the endocrines must be involved +in the Mendelian unit factors. Moreover, they seem to act upon a +particular locale in different degrees, which is the strongest +argument against the resolution of a number of structural traits into +Mendelian unit characters. Most characters, somatic or psychic, are +the products not of the action of one internal secretion alone, but of +the interlinked activities of all of them. The amount of fat deposited +under the skin, for instance, is influenced by the pituitary, the +thyroid, the pancreas, the liver, the adrenals and the sex glands. +Other qualities, likewise, are resultants of a compromise between all +the endocrine factors comprising the equation of the individual. If +we are to look for unit factors at all in endocrine heredity, we must +look more deeply into constitution, and measure the hormone potentials +and their mobilization or suppression. + +It will, in all probability, be found that the stability or +instability of an endocrine will have a good deal to do with the part +played by it in inheritance as well as in the life of the individual +An unstable pituitocentric marrying another unstable pituitocentric +will have children either exceptionally small or tall, or abnormally +bright or stupid. The instability tends to right itself in the next +generation, or that following. Genius as a sport, as well as sudden +degeneration of family stock, the whole problem of mutation, may be +closely connected with this tendency. + +It has been noted that the extinction of species has been preceded by +a great increase in their size, for example, the case of the great +reptilia of prehistoric time. That possibly represented pituitary +stabilization, and so an abeyance of the ability to vary, necessary +for fresh adaptation to a changing environment. Indeed, endocrine +instability appears the fundamental condition of the tendency to vary, +endocrine stability the opposite. + +Certain endocrine facts in relation to heredity should be mentioned. +The daughters of mothers who menstruated early, themselves menstruate +early. Animals fed upon thyroid during pregnancy, comparable to the +thyrocentric, give birth to offspring with a very large thymus, +comparable to the thymocentric. Women with partial thyroid deficiency, +or myxedema, bear cretins. These are suggestive of what the internal +secretions may do to an individual in inheritance and development. +Inherited endocrine potential is the maximum reaction of which a gland +is capable. This matter of potential is comparable to the factor of +reserve power or margin of safety demonstrated up to the hilt for +such organs as the heart and kidney as varying from individual to +individual. A low potential, like instability of an internal secretion +gland, may be latent, and not made manifest until the proper stimulus, +the maximum amount of stress and strain, like accident, disease, shock +or war, arrives. + +When the individual is tested the effects may be purely local because +there is always in the organism a point of least resistance. Physical +changes alone may be prominent. Or because somatic changes are minor, +the psychic will dominate the picture. An attack of the "blues," +unaccompanied by any demonstrable transformation of the bodily +processes, may be the sole symptom of an endocrine failure somewhere +in the chain due to hereditary weakness or low potential. + +So we may account for family trends and streaks, for varieties +and strains among individuals, upon more precise lines based upon +endocrine analysis. Family disturbances of the internal secretions of +the extreme sort denominated disease are well known. Indeed, a number +of family diseases or predispositions to diseases, have been traced +to them. Predisposition in any direction will probably be shown to be +caused by them, within limits. Research here has its opportunity. + +THE IMPROVEMENT OF RACIAL STOCK + +A vast new territory of inquiry and achievement, as yet totally +unexplored, is opened by the endocrines to the eugenists, and those +idealists whose most earnest aspiration is the improvement of racial +stock as a necessary preliminary to improvement of racial life. +Beginning with Galton, they have brought to light a great collection +of data to prove that human traits and faculties, good and bad, are +inherited. Ability has been shown to run in certain families and +degeneracy in others. Yet all of the practical net result has been +summed up in the term "negative eugenics," the eugenics of prohibition +and warning. + +Now the concept of personality, as woven around a system of chemical +reflexes, handed on from generation to generation, is bound to change +all that, and to create a structure of positive eugenics. It has been +said that what radium is to chemistry, the internal secretions are to +physiology. Just as radium enlightens the chemist about the history of +matter, and the integrations and disintegrations constituting the life +of an element--the internal secretions illuminate the history of the +individual as part of the life of the race, and of its integrations +and disintegrations. Seeing the individual as a system of chemical +substances interacting will assist enormously to predict the nature, +character and constitution of his descendants, which is essentially +what the eugenist is after. + +The study of matings, the heart of the matter, will concern itself +with the investigation and comparison of the kind of endocrine +personalities that mate, the internal secretion predominances that +cross, and the consequent endocrine personality of the offspring. +Data bearing upon physique and physiognomy, details of anatomy and +function, mind and behaviour will so be co-ordinated as no eugenist +has hitherto succeeded in doing. Laws of endocrine inheritance will +emerge that will bring the control of heredity within measurable +distance. Standards and norms of a new kind would be obtained. + +A beginning of this study of endocrine inheritance, on the pathologic +side, has been made. Some of these have been along Mendelian lines. +Following up abnormal growth (making giants and dwarfs) and abnormal +metabolism (goitre, diabetes, and so on), it has been stated that it +would seem that abnormal growth is dominant in the male, and recessive +in the female, while abnormal metabolism is dominant in the female and +recessive in the male. If an endocrine abnormality like a goitre, +or cretinism, or a dwarf or giant appear in a family as a sign of +endocrine instability, other members of that family will very likely +show internal secretion abnormalities. + +If one gland of internal secretion acts as the centre of the system +and the others as satellites, we should be able to trace what happens +to it in the different generations. Does it maintain its supremacy? Or +will it be ousted by another member of the group? The time will come +when we shall thus be able to advise prospective parents of the +consequences of procreation and to forecast the meaning for the race +of a particular marriage. Internal glandular analysis may become +legally compulsory for those about to mate before the end of the +present century. + +What are desirable and undesirable matings? The general law followed +by nature in her helterskelter way seems to be the production of the +greatest number of hybrids and variations possible, whether for +good or evil does not matter. Certain endocrine types appear to be +specially attracted to others belonging to the same group. Thus +thymus-centered types frequently marry. The ante-pituitary type of +male, the strongly masculine, mates often with the post-pituitary type +of female, the markedly feminine. The children exhibit the lineaments +of the pituitary-centered type. The general trend seems to be the +establishment of a better balanced, equilibrated type. Yet the +children often are apt to segregate into pituitary dominants or +pituitary deficients. Happiness and unhappiness in marriage should +be examined from the standpoint of endocrine compatibility or +incompatibility. Likewise those divorced or about to be divorced. + +The correction of endocrine defects, disturbances, imbalances and +instabilities, before mating, presents another field. It remains to be +seen whether we shall thereby, in one generation, be able to affect +at all the germplasm, hitherto revered by all pious biologists as an +environment-proof holy of holies. No one can deny, in the face of the +multitude of evidence available, that internal secretion disturbances +occur in the mother, which, when grave, offer in the infant gross +proof of their significance, and therefore when slight must more +subtly work upon it. Endocrine disturbances in infancy have been +traced to endocrine disturbances in the mother during pregnancy. +Pregnant animals fed on thyroid give birth to young with large thymus +glands. The diet of the mother has been proved conclusively to +influence the development and constitution of the child. As the +internal secretions influence the history of the food in the body, +they affect development in the womb indirectly as well as directly. +Certainly, whether or no we learn how to change the nature of +germplasm within a short time, we have in the endocrines the means at +hand for affecting _the whole individual that is born and sees the +light of day_. + +THE CONTROL OF MUTATIONS + +The true physical and intellectual evolution of man depends upon the +production of mutations of a desirable kind that can survive. The +information furnished by the study of the endocrines concerning +the genesis of personality provides the foundations for a positive +eugenics, a eugenics of the encouragement of desirable matings, with +the proper legal and social procedures. Selective breeding for the +production of the best endocrine types should become practicable. + +But the biologist should be able to go farther. If the eugenist is to +limit himself to the method of the animal breeder he will have to rest +satisfied with the characters or hereditary factors given, that turn +up spontaneously in an individual. But with the internal secretions +as the controllable controllers of mutations, the outlook changes. +It should become possible to produce new mutations, good and bad, to +speed up their production at any rate. The feeding of thyroid to +a gifted father before procreation might enhance immeasurably the +chances of transmission of his gift as well as of its intensification +in his offspring. A field of investigation is opened that would +embrace in due time the deliberate control of human evolution. + +All the physical traits, stature, color, muscle function, and so on, +offer themselves for improvement, as well as brain size, and the +intellectual and emotional factors which have dominated man's social +evolution. The general prevalence of nervous disorders in civilized +countries, visible even in the nervous infants the specialist in +children's diseases is called upon to treat, shows that the nervous +system of the better part of mankind is in a state of unstable +equilibrium. It may be another example of the curious coincidences +that have been called the Fitness of the Environment that the +investigation of the endocrines promises to put into our hands the +instruments of the control of the future of the nervous system. In +general, meanwhile, the eugenist should strive for raising the level +of the endocrine potential, and discourage its lowering. That means +the encouragement of matings in which all the internal secretion +activities are reinforced. On the other hand, those internal secretion +combinations, generally leading to a deficiency of all of them which +produce types of mental defectives, delinquency and crime should not +be allowed to occur. + +THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT + +What suggestions now are there for the euthenist who would control +the influence of environment upon child culture. There are certain +pertinent facts and leads that are worth considering. + +In analyzing environment, one must distinguish sharply in the jungle, +the non-living factors from the living. For while the nonliving act +upon the endocrines directly, the living act upon the vegetative +system, as a whole. The non-living factors are those with the intimate +scrutiny of which physics and chemistry have busied themselves: food, +water, air, light, heat, electricity, magnetism. The living are the +animals that prowl all over the planet, the predatories spreading the +gospel of fear. + +The dietetic habits of a person, for instance, are known to have an +influence upon the glands of internal secretion. Meat-eating produces +a greater call upon the thyroid than any other form of food. In time +this ought to produce a degree of hyperthyroidism in the carniverous +populations. Pre-war statistics concerning meat-eating in different +countries show the greatest meat-eating among the English-speaking +groups, who all in all must be admitted the most energetic. + + _Meat per Day per_ + _Countries_ _Capita in Grams_ + + Australia 306 + U.S. of America 149 + Great Britain 130 + France 92 + Belgium and Holland 86 + Austria-Hungary 79 + Russia 59 + Spain 61 + Italy 29 + Japan 25 + +Sea-water contains iodine. People living in contact with sea-water +would be apt to get more iodine in their systems, and so a greater +degree of thyroid activity. On the other hand, certain bodies and +sources of inland water hold something deleterious to the thyroid, so +that whole populations in Europe, Asia and America drinking such water +have become goitrous and cretinous, and a large percentage straight +imbeciles. Endemic cretinism is the name given to the condition. In +parts of Switzerland, Savoy, Tyrol and the Pyrenees, in America +around some of the Great Lakes, there are still such foci. Marco Polo +described similar areas he encountered in his travels through Asia. + +Certain foods with aphrodisiac qualities may act by stimulating the +internal secretion of the sex glands. A type of pituitocentric has an +almost uncontrollable craving for sweets. Alcohol and the endocrines +remain to be studied. + +Light, heat and humidity stand in some special relation to the +adrenals. Pigment deposit in the skin as protection against light +is controlled by the adrenal cortex. The reaction of the skin blood +vessels to heat and humidity is regulated by the adrenal medulla. A +change in the adrenal as a response to changes of temperature and +humidity in an environment would result in a number of concomitant +transformations throughout the body. So variation and adaptation are +probably connected. Most Europeans living for a sufficiently long time +in the tropics suffer from a combination of symptoms spoken of as +"Punjab head" or "Bengal head." The condition is probably the result +of excessive adrenal stimulation by the excessive heat and light of +the tropical sun, followed by a reaction of exhaustion and failure, +with the consequent phenomena of a form of neurasthenia. In the +section on the pineal gland there was mentioned the relation between +light and the pineal gland in growing animals, and how it serves to +keep in check the sex-stimulating action of light. The earlier puberty +and menstruation of the warmer climates may be explained as due to an +earlier regression of the pineal under the pressure of a great amount +of light playing upon the skin. + +All these, and many more could be cited, are instances of the direct +influence of environmental factors upon one or more of the endocrines, +and so upon the organism as a whole. Indeed, stimuli may be considered +to modify an organism only in so far as they modify the glands of +internal secretion. Consequently, climatic factors will tend to make a +population possess certain points of resemblance in common. + +Varieties of the human race exist as do varieties of dogs. The +pekingese and the fox terrier are as different as the Slav and Latin +are different: because of differences in internal secretion make-up. +The Slav peasant is definitely subthyroid in his general effect: +round head, coarse features, stubby hands, and his stolid, brooding +intellectual and emotional reaction. The Latin shows a pronounced +adrenal streak in his coloration, his emotivity, his susceptibility to +neurosis and psychosis. H. Laing Gordon, a Scot physician, reported +that of 700 cases he studied, more than twice as many of duplex eyed +individuals (brown or black, i.e., adrenal-centered most often), were +susceptible to the mental disturbances of war as the simplex (blue or +gray-eyed, i.e., thyroid-centered most often). He also pointed out +that such individuals tend to have a narrow and abnormally arched +palate. The Anglo-Saxon tends to be more sharply pituitarized, his +features are more clean-cut, his mentality more stable. The Frenchman +is rather a cross between the Anglo-Saxon pituitary-centered and the +Italian or Spanish adrenal-centered. + +So national resemblances, traceable to climatic influences being +repeated from generation to generation upon the endocrines, may be +explained physiologically. The physiologic interpretation of history +will indeed be found the broadest, including as complementary Buckle's +climatic theory, Hegel's ideas on the influence of ideas, and Marx's +on the superiority of the economic motives and forces. + +THE RACES OF MANKIND + +Arthur Keith, conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of +Surgeons of England, was the first to apply the principle of endocrine +differentiation to the problem of the color-lines--the lines which +have divided mankind crudely into the yellow, the red, the white and +the brown, the Negro, the Mongol, the Caucasian, the copper tinted +American. It has long been recognized by anthropologists that the +differences of color march with differences in every comparable trait. +Thus the ideal Negro is built upon a pattern in which all the elements +are specific and singular. When the looms revolve that make him, +there is produced a gleaming black skin, kinky black hair, squat +wide-nostriled nose, thick protruding lips, large striking teeth, +prominent jaws, and staring eyes. As his upright carriage and +bone-muscle-fat proportions are distinctive, so are his musical voice +and his easily wrought upon nerves. In contrast the Caucasian has a +good deal of hair on his body, his skin is a pale tan-pink, his lips +are thin, and his nose especially has the definite bridge which +narrows it. The Mongol, like the Negro, has the hairless body and the +beardless face, but unlike him has lank straight hair on his head, +while his features are flattened and fore-shortened. + +Upon the basis of these structural, functional and mental differences, +the qualitative and quantitative evolution of which in the race as in +the individual is guided by the glands of internal secretion, Keith +presents a very good case for the view that the white man is an +example of relative excess of the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal and +gonad endocrines. "The sharp and pronounced nasalization of the +face, the tendency to strong eyebrow ridges, the prominent chin, the +tendency to bulk of body, and height of stature in the majority of +Europeans" are the signs of pituitary dominance. Keith is also of the +opinion that "the sexual differentiation, the robust manifestations of +the male characters, is more emphatic in the Caucasian than in +either the Mongol or Negro racial types ... in certain negro types, +especially in Nilotic tribes, with their long stork-like legs, we seem +to have a manifestation of abeyance in the action of the interstitial +glands." As for the adrenal superiority of the white man, "it is 150 +years since John Hunter came to the conclusion ... that the original +color of man's skin was black, and all the knowledge that we have +gathered since his supports the inference he drew. From the fact that +pigment begins to collect and thus darken the skin when the adrenal +bodies become the seat of a destructive disease we infer that they +have to do with the clearing away of pigment, and that we Europeans +owe the fairness of our skins to some particular virtue resident in +the adrenal bodies." Finally, as regards the thyroid, a comparison of +the face of a cretin with that of the Negro or Mongol tells the story. +A certain variety of idiocy, Mongolian idiocy, in which the face +simulates cretinism so closely as to deceive practised clinical +observers, is characterized by a Chinese cast of the features and +eyes, hence the name. And in the Bushman of South Africa, the cretin's +face is even more startlingly recalled. + +There is every reason then for believing that the white man possesses +more of pituitary, adrenal, gonad, and thyroid internal secretions as +compared with the yellow man or black man. And since these endocrines +control not only physique and physiognomy, anatomic and functional +minutiae, but also mind and behaviour, we are justified in putting +down the white man's predominance on the planet to a greater +all-around concentration in his blood of the omnipotent hormones. +While the Negro is relatively subadrenal, the Mongol is relatively +subthyroid. Their relative deficiency in internal secretions +constitutes the essence of the White Man's Burden. + +MAN'S ATTITUDE TOWARD HIMSELF + +A last, but by no means least, application we may consider of the +developing knowledge of the internal secretions in relation to human +evolution is its effect upon Man's attitude toward himself and so +toward his fellow men. Whatever else he is, man is a land animal with +ideas. That makes him a thought-adventurer among materials. In a word, +he is the last word of mind working upon matter. But persistently he +has refused to recognize himself as matter and as subject to the laws, +to the physics and chemistry of matter. + +History consists of the protocols that record the high lights of the +interactions of materials and ideas which is the adventure of man in +time and space. Materials and ideas have reacted, the record shows; +materials come upon have begotten strange fantasies. Ideas that +flashed from nowhere into a consciousness have transformed utterly the +face of the earth. The herd-brute, agglutinated with his fellows by a +magnetism beyond his ken, could be infected with thought, and so cast +in the heroic mould. The possibility of communion,--that possibility +of possibilities, for without it none other could be possible--has +rendered man the heir of a divine destiny. For the progressive +education of the race, a single discoverer here, an inventor there, +and thinkers everywhere have been inspired. In due time their +inspiration becomes the possession of even the lowest brain but +capable of grasping it. + +Man's attitude toward himself, his self-consciousness, and his +attitude toward his fellow creatures has grown and varied and +evolved with his education about himself. According to the theory he +formulated concerning his being, his why and wherefore, he directed +and governed, punished and mutilated himself and them. But the +pressure of his curiosity, and the inexorable quality of the truth +would not let him stand still. The poetic genius within him, as Blake +called it, struggled on from one dogma concerning his nature to +another. Behaviour malignant or beneficent, horrible in its tragedy +and pitiable in its comedy, flowed inevitably on. Witchcraft trials +and the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition belong among the more +mentionable consequences of some of man's theories about his own +nature and its requirements. + +Heretofore the imaginative spirit has had its day in the matter. And, +curiously enough, an obsession to subjugate the natural has made it +exalt the supernatural. Visions, dreams, portents, revelations, all +symptomatic of an order of things above nature, are the stuff of what +more than ninety-nine per cent of the millions of the race believe +about themselves and their fate. Man's cruelty to man, through the +ages, is a comment upon how vast and ramifying may be the consequences +of a delusion. + +But now for a couple of centuries the critical spirit, which is the +spirit of science, has been invading the affairs of men. Humble but +persistent corrosive of delusion, it has infiltrated the furthest +bounds of ignorance and superstition. It has not dared to assert the +supremacy of its fundamental views upon the everyday problems of human +life because it was without concrete means of vindicating its claims. +That lack is now supplied by the growing understanding of the chemical +factors as the controllers and dictators of all the legion aspects of +life. + +The profoundest achievement of the physiologist will be the change his +teachings and discoveries will bring about in man's attitude toward +himself. When he comes to realize himself as a chemical machine that +can, within limits, be remodeled, overhauled and repaired, as an +automobile can be, within limits, when he becomes saturated with the +significance of his endocrine-vegetative system at every turn and move +of his life, and when sympathy and pity informed by knowledge and +understanding will come to regulate his relationships with the lowest +and most despised of the men, women and children about him, the era of +the first real civilization will properly be said to be born. + +Morality, as society's code of conduct for its members, will have +to change in the direction of a greater flexibility with the +establishment of organic differences in human types. There is nothing +that is more emphasized to the pathologist than that one man's meat is +another man's poison. In the family, as nature's laboratory for +the manufacture of fresh combinations of the internal secretions, +allowances will be made for divergences in capacity and deportment +from a new angle altogether. Schools will function as the developers, +stimulators and inhibitors of the endocrines, as well as investigators +of the individuals who have not enough or too much of one or some of +them. Prisons will have the same function, only they will be named +detention hospitals. The raising of the general level of intelligence +by the judicious use of endocrine extracts will mean a good deal to +the sincere statesman. The average duration of life will be prolonged +for an enormous mass of the population. If the prevention of war +depends upon the burning into the imagination of the electorates +what the consequences of war are, a high intelligence quotient and +revaluation of life will count for a good deal. + +Man is the animal that wants Utopia. So long as human nature was +looked upon as fixed constant in the ebb and flow of life, a Utopia of +fine minds could be conceived only by the dreamer and poet. The desire +for such a Utopia could only be regarded as a tragic aspiration for an +impossibility. The physiology of the internal secretions teaches that +human nature does change and can be changed. A relative control of its +properties is already in view. The absolute control will come. + +Nor need anyone fear that the science of the internal secretions in +its maturity will signify the abolition of the marvelous differences +between human beings that create the unique personalities of history. +A derangement of the endocrines has been responsible for masterpieces +of the human species in the past and will be responsible for them in +the future. The equality of Utopia can be the equality of the highest +and fullest development possible for each of its inhabitants. The +applications of endocrine control will not necessarily interfere +with the life of the individual. There will be breeding of the best +mixtures of glands of internal secretion possible. And there will +be treatment for those born with a handicap, or who have become +handicapped in the life struggle. There will be a stimulation of +capacity to the limit. But beyond that, compulsory equalization is a +theorist's bogey. + +The internal secretions are the most hopeful and promising of the +reagents for control yet come upon by the human mind. They open up +limitless prospects for the improvement of the race. A few hundreds of +investigators are engaged upon their study throughout the world. That +is one of the ironies of our contemporary civilization. A concerted +effort at the task of understanding them, backed by the labors of tens +of thousands of workers, would, without a doubt, accomplish as much +for humanity as the vast armies and navies that consume the substance +of mankind. If we could not obtain Utopia then, we might, at least by +abolishing the subnormals and abnormals who constitute the slaves and +careerists of society, render the human race less contemptible and +more divine. + + + + +INDEX + + + Ability, natural + Acquired characters, inheritance of + Acromegaly + Addison + Addison's disease + Adolescence, period of + Adrenal glands + and anger + and courage + and emergencies + and emotions + and fatigue + and fear + and neuroses + and pseudo-hermaphroditism + and puberty + blood pressure and + brain cells and + chromaffin cells of + cortex of + excess of secretion + failure of secretion + function of + glands of combat and fight + hair and + influence of in hermaphroditism + insufficiency of secretion + medulla of + pigment cells and + relation to pineal gland + relation to pituitary + secretion of + sexuality and + skin and + Adrenal-centered type + Adrenal face + Adrenal personalities, or types + compensated + insufficient + in pregnancy + of brain work + of girl + of hair + of skin + of teeth + Adrenal personalities, or types of women + reactions to modernism in + Adrenalin + Alcoholism and endocrine types + Analysis, endocrine + Anger + and adrenals + Antagonisms + Anti-Fate + Antitoxic function of thyroid gland + Ape-parvenu, the + Applications of endocrinology + Autonomic system + + Backgrounds of personality + Baldness and the thyroid + Baumann + Bayliss + Beard + Beard's neurasthenia + von Bechterew + Behavior + Bell, Blair + Bernard, Claude + Berthold + Black races, endocrine control in + Blood pressure, and adrenals + Body, influence of glands upon + Body-mind complex + Bones + long, development of + Bordeau + Bossi + Brain cells and adrenals + Brain, growth of + Brainwork, adrenal type of + Breakdown, nervous + Breeding, bearing of endocrine glands on + Brown-Séquard + + Caesar, Julius, an epileptic + pituitary in + Capacity + Careerist + as abnormals + feminine + instincts of + masculine + super- + Carlson + Castration + effects of + effects of, on thymus + Character + Charcot + Charging of wishes, endocrine + Check and drive system + Chemistry of the soul + Child--bearing, transfigurations of + Childhood, epoch of the pineal + Chromaffin cells of adrenals + Chromosomes + Climacteric + Color, endocrine control of, in races + Combat, adrenals and + Combinations of types of personality + Conduct + Constitutions, endocrine + Cooperation + Corpus luteum + and mammary glands + Courage and the adrenals + Cretinism + a thyroid deficiency + effect of feeding thyroid in + Cretinoid type + Cretin + Crime, treatment of + Criminals and endocrine types + Critical ages + Curling + Cushing, Harvey + + Dangerous age, the + Darwin, Charles + as a neurasthenic genius + his "Descent of Man" + his theory of Pangenesis + Davenport + Deficiency, mental + Development + Diabetes, and the pancreas + Diet, effect of on the endocrine glands + Directorate, endocrine glands as a + Diseases and endocrine types + Division of labor + Drug addiction and endocrine types + Dwarfs + + Education, of vegetative-system + vocational + Egomania + Elixir of life + Emergencies, adrenals glands of + Emotions, adrenals glands of + Endocrine + analysis + charging of wishes + constitutions + control in color of races + corporation + deficiency in old age + epochs of life + glands + and feeblemindedness + and insanity + as an interlocking directorate + bases of variation + bearing on breeding + discovery of + effect of diet on + influence upon body + influence upon mind + inferiority + neurosis + personality + sex traits + types + alcoholism and + criminals and + diseases and + drug addiction and + narcotism and + Endocrines, evolution of + Endocrinology, applications of + possibilities of + Energy + and thyroid + Enthusiasm and thyroid + Environment, influence of + Epilepsy, in genius + Epochs of life, endocrine + Eugenics, negative + positive + promises of + Eunuchoid face + personality + Eunuchoidism + Eunuchs + Evolution, human, effect of internal secretions upon + Exhibitionism + Expressionism + Eyes + + Face, adrenal + eunuchoid + hyperpituitary + hyperthyroid + Facial types + Family, and mixed sex + Fat, distribution of + Fat people + Fate and Anti-Fate + Fatigue and industry + as an endocrine deficiency + relation of adrenals to + relation of thymus to + Fear + mechanism of + relation of adrenals to + Feeblemindedness and the endocrine glands + Feminine pituitary type + Feminine precocity + Feminoid complex + constitution and personality + Fertilization + Fight, relation of adrenals to + Fingers, pituitary and + thyroid and + Forgetting + Freedom + Freud + Freudianism + Freudians + Friedleben + + Galli + Galton + Genius, epilepsy in + migraine in + neurasthenic + treatment of + Giants + Girl, endocrine types of + Glands, definition of + endocrine, as an interlocking directorate + discovery of + influence on body + influence on mind + Goitre, relation of iodine to + Gonads + and libido + and sexuality + and thymus + Gonads and thyroid + function + secretion + Gonad-centric personalities + homosexuality and + Growth + relation of thymus to + Guilford + Gull + + Hair + and adrenals + and pineal + and thymus + and thyroid + Hands, and pituitary + and thyroid + Henle + Hermaphrodite + Hermaphroditism + functional + influence of adrenals in + influence of pituitary in + Hibernation + and the pituitary + Historic personages + Darwin, Charles + Julius Caesar + Napoleon + Nietzsche + Nightingale, Florence + Wilde, Oscar + History, internal secretions in + von Hochwart + Homosexuality, and gonad-centric type + and thymus type + Hormones + harmony of the + Horsley + Howitz + Human nature + attitudes towards + case against + science and + Hunger + Hunter, John + Hygiene of the internal secretions + Hyperpituitary face + skin + Hyperpituitrism, + Hyperthyroid face + skin + type + of girl + pregnancy in + premenstrual molimina in + Hyperthyroidism + Hysteria + + Imagination, an endocrine gift + Improvement of racial stock + Industry, and fatigue + relation of endocrines to + Infancy, epoch of the thymus + Infantilism + Infantiloid constitution or personality + Inferiority, breeding of + Inheritance of acquired characters + Insanity, and the endocrine glands + Instinct + Instincts, pituitary + thyroid + Insuline + Intellectuality, and the pituitary + Internal secretions, determinants of vegetative pressures + effect of, upon human evolution + hygiene of + in history + Interstitial glands, see Gonads + type of teeth + Iodine, in thyroxin + relation of to goitre + + Janet + Judgment + Julius Caesar, an epileptic + pituitary in + + Keith + Kendall + Kinetic chain + drive + system + Kocher + + Laennec + Lanugo + Larey + Libido and gonads + sex + Life, well-springs of + Lime salts, and sex + Lincoln, Abraham + Lutein + + MacDougallians + Malthusian law of slavery + Mammary glands + corpus luteum and + placenta and + Man, a transient + attitude of towards himself + a product of glands of internal secretion + critical age in + secondary sex characteristics of + Manic depressive psychoses + Mankind, races of + Marie, Pierre + Masculine, the secret of the + Masculine and feminine, mechanics of, and see Sex + Masculine pituitary type + Masculinoid women + Masochism + Maternal instinct + different from sex instinct + relation of the pituitary to + Matings, desirable and undesirable + Megalomania + Memory + Mendelism + Menopause + Menstruation + and ovaries + cycle of + Mental deficiency + Migraine in genius + Mind, influence of glands on + oldest part of + Mitchell, Weir + Mixed sex and the family + Mixed types + Möbius + Modernism, reactions to in adrenal types + Moods, and the organic outlook + Moral irresponsibility and thymus type + Mujerados + Müller, Johann, + Murray + Muscles + Mutations, control of + Myxedema + operative + + Napoleon, case of + Narcotism, and endocrine types + Nature's experiments _vs_. Man's + "Nerves" + Nervous breakdowns + Neurasthenia + Neurosis + adrenals and + endocrine + war + Nietzsche, case of + Nightingale, Florence, legend of + Normal, what is + + Obesity + Operative myxedema + Ord, William + Ovaries, internal secretion of + relation of to menstruation + removal of, effect of + rôle of + Oversecretion + + Pancreas + diabetes and + function of + removal of + secretion of + Pangenesis, Darwin's theory of + Parathyroids + function of + secretion of + Paulesco + Pawlov + Permutations, of types of personality, + Perry, Caleb + Personality, background of + combinations of types of + determined by the endocrines + endocrine + eunuchoid + types of + adrenal + combinations of + gonad-centric + nature's experiments _vs_. man's + permutations of + pituitary of + Philosophers, prejudices of + Physics of the wish + Physiologists, attitude of + rôle of + Pigment cells and the adrenals + in skin of various races + Pineal gland + and hair + and childhood + feeding of to children + function of + muscle function of + Pineal gland, obesity and + puberty and + relation of to adrenals + to progressive muscular atrophy + secretion of + type of muscles + Pituitary gland + action of + and fingers + and toes + compared with thyroid + diminished action of + extirpation of + function of + in Julius Caesar + in Oscar Wilde + instincts + overaction of + personalities + regulator of organic rhythms + relation to adrenals + to growth + to hair + to hermaphroditism + to hibernation + to imagination + to intellectuality + to judgment + to maternal instincts + to memory + to puberty + to rejuvenation + to sex difficulties + to sexual glands + to stature + to thymus + secretion of + secretion, characteristics of inferior + characteristics of sufficient + type + feminine + masculine + of eyes + of hands + of muscles + pregnancy in + premenstrual molimina in + Pituitary-centered type + Pituitocentrics, Caesar + Darwin + Napoleon + Nietzsche + Nightingale + Pituitrin + function of + Placenta + and mammary glands + Placental gland + Plater, Felix + Plummer + Poise + Popielski + Possibilities of endocrinology + Postpituitary type of girl + Precocity, feminine + male + Pregnancy, in various endocrine types + Premenstrual molimina, in various endocrine types + Progressive muscular dystrophy and the pineal gland + Prostate + Pseudo-hermaphroditism and the adrenals + Psychanalyst, as a therapeutist + Psychology, new + Psychopathology of every day life + Puberty + glands, see Gonads + in female + significance of + Public health, prospects of + Pure types + Puericulture, science of + + Races of mankind + Reactions to modernism in adrenal types + Rejuvenation, possibilities of + Religion of science + Repression + Resilience of skin + Restelli + Reverdin, J.L. + Rhythms of sex + Robertson + + Sadism + Schiff, Moritz + Science, and human nature + origin of + religion of + Secondary sex traits + Secretin + Secretion + Sella turcica + Semon, Sir Felix + Senility, epoch of endocrine deficiency + interpretation of + Sensitivity + Sex + and lime salts + attitudes towards questions of + cause of + chemistry of + characteristics, secondary + conflict + crises + difficulties, pituitary and + glands, see Gonads + and hair + and puberty + and muscles + centered + chain + index + instinct + different from maternal instinct + libido + life, determining factors of + mixed, and the family + rhythms of + traits, or characteristics + endocrine + origin of + primary + secondary + Sexual cravings + glands, see Gonads, and Sex glands + and pituitary gland + Sexuality, and gonads + and adrenal glands + Shaw, G.B. + Shell-shock + Skeletal types + Skin + adrenal type + and adrenals + hyperpituitary type + hyperthyroid type + pigmentation + subadrenal type + subpituitary type + subthyroid type + Slavery, Malthusian law of + origin of + Soul, chemistry of the + Starling + Statesman, problems of + why he fails + Stature, pituitary and + Status lymphaticus, and thymus type + Steinach + Stirner, Max + Subadrenal skin + Subpituitary skin + Subpituitary type of women + premenstrual molimina in + Subpituitism + Subthyroid face + skin + type + of eyes + of women, pregnancy in + Subthyroidism + Sugar metabolism + Super-Careerist + Susceptibility + Sympathetic system + + Teeth + Tethelin + action of + function of + Thymic face + Thymo-centric personalities + Thymo-centric type + Oscar Wilde + Thymus + and gonads + and pituitary + and puberty + and sexual glands + and thyroid + effect of castration on + effect of feeding thymus to animals + extirpation of + function of + hair and + hyperactivity of + infancy, epoch of the + persistent, skin of + relation of fatigue to + relation of growth to + relation of weight to + removal of, effect on gonads + secretion + type of teeth + Thymus type + homosexuality and + moral irresponsibility and + status lymphaticus and + Thyroid gland + and adrenals + and baldness + and energy + and enthusiasm + and intersitial glands + and judgment + and memory + and pancreas + and pituitary + Thyroid gland and puberty + and rejuvenation + and skin + and thymus + antitoxic function of + as an accelerator + as a catalyser + as a differentiator + as an energiser + compared with pituitary + creator of land animals + deficiency + effect of feeding the gland + excess + functions of + hair and + instincts + personalities + secretion of, and see Thyroxin + type, of eyes + of hands + of muscles + of teeth + Thyroid-centered type + Thyrotoxin + Thyroxin + and energy mobilization + and energy production + and speed of living + Toes + pituitary and + thyroid and + Tonus + Types + endocrine + adrenal + adrenal-centered + alcoholism and + combinations of + cretinoid + criminals and + diseases and + drug addiction and + facial + hyperthyroid + mixed + narcotism and + of girls + pituitary, + pituitary-centered + pure + skeletal, + subthyroid + thyroid-centered + Unconscious, the + and the viscera + physical basis of + Undersecretion + Variation + endocrine glands as basis of + Varieties of internal secretions + Vegetative apparatus + Vegetative pressures + internal secretions + determinants of + Vegetative system + education of + Virilism + Viscera + the unconscious and + Vocational education + + War neurosis + Weight relation of thymus to + White races + endocrine control in + Wilde, Oscar + explanation of + Wishes + endocrine charging of + physics of + Women + adrenal type of + masculinoid + secondary sex characteristics in + + X-chromosome + + Yellow races + endocrine control in + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Glands Regulating Personality +by Louis Berman, M.D. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY *** + +***** This file should be named 10266-8.txt or 10266-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/6/10266/ + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock, Josephine 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Glands Regulating Personality + +Author: Louis Berman, M.D. + +Release Date: November 25, 2003 [EBook #10266] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY *** + + + + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY + +A STUDY OF THE GLANDS OF INTERNAL SECRETION IN RELATION TO THE TYPES +OF HUMAN NATURE + +BY LOUIS BERMAN, M.D. + +ASSOCIATE IN BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY + +1922 + + +The passage from the miracles of nature to those of art is easy. + +--Francis Bacon, _Novum Organum_, 1620. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + INTRODUCTION: ATTITUDES TOWARD HUMAN NATURE + I. HOW THE GLANDS OF INTERNAL SECRETION WERE DISCOVERED + II. THE GLANDS: THYROID AND PITUITARY + III. THE ADRENAL GLANDS, GONADS, AND THYMUS + IV. THE GLANDS AS AN INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATE + V. HOW THE GLANDS INFLUENCE THE NORMAL BODY + VI. THE MECHANICS OF THE MASCULINE AND FEMININE + VII. THE RHYTHMS OF SEX + VIII. HOW THE GLANDS INFLUENCE THE MIND + IX. THE BACKGROUNDS OF PERSONALITY + X. THE TYPES OF PERSONALITY + XI. SOME HISTORIC PERSONAGES + XII. APPLICATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES + XIII. THE EFFECT UPON HUMAN EVOLUTION + + + + +THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +ATTITUDES TOWARD HUMAN NATURE + + +THE CASE AGAINST HUMAN NATURE + +Man, know thyself, said the old Greek philosopher. Man perforce has +taken that advice to heart. His life-long interest is his own species. +In the cradle he begins to collect observations on the nature of +the queer beings about him. As he grows, the research continues, +amplifies, broadens. Wisdom he measures by the devastating accuracy +of the data he accumulates. When he declares he knows human nature, +consciously cynical maturity speaks. Doctor of human nature--every +man feels himself entitled to that degree from the university +of disillusioning experience. In defense of his claim, only the +limitations of his articulate faculty will curb the vehemence of his +indictment of his fellows. + +For all history provides the material, literature the critique, +biology the inexorable logic of the case against human nature. The +historical record is a spectacle of man destroying man, a collection +of chapters on man's increasing cruelty to man. Limitations of time +and space have been shortened and eliminated. Tools of production have +been multiplied and complicated. The sources of energy and power have +been systematically attacked and trapped. But the nature of man has +remained so unchanged that clap trap about progress is easy target for +the barrage of every cheap pamphleteer. + +The naturalist probes into codes of conduct, systems of morality, +structures of societies, variations in the scales of value that +individuals, races and nations have subjected themselves to as custom, +law and religion. Again and again the portrait is presented of +man preying upon man, of cunning a parasite upon stupidity and of +predatory strength enslaving the weakling intellect. Until finally are +evoked reactions and consequences that overtake in catastrophe and +cataclysm preyer and preyed upon alike. + +Human nature is but part of the magnificent tree of beast nature. Man +is linked by every tie of blood and bone and cell memories with his +brethren of the sea, the jungle, the forest and the fields. The beast +is a seeker of freedom, but a seeker for his own ego alone, and the +satisfaction of his own instincts only. Thus he struggles to a sort of +freedom which makes him the Ishmael of the Universe, everyone's hand +against him, as his own hand is against everyone. The human animal has +achieved no advance beyond the necessities of his ancestors, nor freed +himself from his bondage to their instincts and automatic reflexes. +And so the sociologist, the analyst of human associations, turns out +to be simply the historian and accountant of slaveries. + +Yet the history of mankind is, too, a long research into the nature +of the machinery of freedom. All recorded history, indeed, is but +the documentation of that research. Viewed thus, customs, laws, +institutions, sciences, arts, codes of morality and honor, systems +of life, become inventions, come upon, tried out, standardized, +established until scrapped in everlasting search for more and more +perfect means of freeing body and soul from their congenital thralldom +to a host of innumerable masters. Indeed, the history of all life, +vegetable and animal, of bacillus, elephant, orchid, gorilla, as well +as of man is the history of a searching for freedom. + +Freedom! What to a living creature is freedom? How completely has it +dominated the life history of every creature that ever crawled upon +the earth? Trace our cellular pedigree, descend our family tree to its +rootlets, our amebic ancestors, and the craving for more freedom is +manifest in the soul of even the lowest, buried in darkness and slime. +When the first clever bit of colloidal ooze, protoplasm as the ameba, +protruded a bit of itself as a pseudopod, it achieved a new freedom. +For, accidentally or deliberately, it created for itself a new +power--the ability to go directly for food in its environment, instead +of waiting, patiently, passively, as the plant does, for food to just +happen along. Therewith developed in place of the previous quietist +pacifist, quaker attitude toward its surroundings, a new religion, a +new tone: aggressive, predatory, careerist. + +That adventure was a great step forward for the ameba--a miracle that +freed it forever from the danger of death by starvation. But latent +in that move were all the terrible possibilities of the tiger, the +alligator, the wolf and all the varieties of predaceous beast and +plant, parasitism and slavery. The device that enabled the ameba to +change its position in space of its own will, and so increased its +freedom immeasureably, meant the generation of infinite evil, pain, +suffering and degradation for billions in the womb of time. + +THE BREEDING OF INFERIORITY + +Human history, being a continuation of vertebrate history, is full of +similar instances. The invention of the stock company, for example, +furnished a certain relative freedom to hundreds, a certain amount of +leisure to think and play, and independence to travel and record, and +immunity from a daily routine and drudgery. In turn, it bore fruit in +miseries and horrors multiplied for millions, like those of the child +lacemakers of Mid-Victorian England, who were dragged from their beds +at two or three o'clock in the morning to work until ten or eleven at +night in the services of a stock company. + +A corporation is said to have no soul. The struggle for freedom of +every living thing has no conscience. Throughout the living world, +from ameba to man, parasitism and slavery together with their +by-products, physical and spiritual degeneracy, appear as the after +effects of the more vital individual's efforts to remain alive and +free. The origins of slavery may be seen in the parasitisms of the +infectious diseases which kill man. The change from parasitism to +slavery was an inevitable step of creative intelligence. In the +transition evolution made one of those breaks which it indulges in +periodically as its mode of progress. + +The natural effect of slavery has been a selection of two sorts of +individuals along the lines of the survival of the adapted. It has +tended to perpetuate in the breed the qualities of the strong which +would make them stronger, and certain qualities in the weak which +would increase their weakness. For parasitism and likewise slavery +infallibly entail the degradation of certain structures and an +overgrowth of others by the law of use and disuse. The type of organ +which would function normally, were not its possessor parasitic in +that function, invariably degenerates or disappears. Parasitic insects +lose their wings. An entire anatomical system may even be lost. So the +tapeworm, which feeds upon the digested food present in the intestines +of its host, has no alimentary canal of its own because it needs none. +On the other hand, the organs of attack and combat grow by a constant +use into the most remarkable of efficient weapons. + +In human society the process continues. Out of the tapeworm nature, +the tiger nature, the wolf nature, the simian nature, human nature +evolves. Repeated episodes of subjugation and suppression mixed with +countless incidents of predaceous cupidity and rapacity have made +Man what he is today. Indeed, by a sort of instinct, society has +constructed its institutions upon empirical observations and +assumptions agreeing with this principle. The deductions concerning +human nature and human traits that an interplanetary visitor would +draw from a study of our common law would be at least slightly +humiliating to our incorrigible pride. Law courts, codes of civil +contract and criminal procedure, the systems of subordination in +armies and navies, castes and classes, men and women, employers and +employees, teachers and pupils, parents and children, are based upon +the fundamental, the conservative axiom that man, especially the +common plain man (Lincoln's phrase), is a being incurably lazy, +stupid, dishonest, muddled, cowardly, greedy, restless, obsessed with +a low cunning and a selfish callousness and insensibility to the +sufferings of his fellow creatures, animal and human. + +Why is it that Man, the noblest creature of creation, made in the +image of God, capable of the flights of attainment that distinguish a +Christ, a Caesar, a Plato, a Shakespeare, a Shelley, a Newton, is so +described, not alone by hopeless pessimists like Koheleth, Swift, and +Mark Twain, but by the common law, the common opinion, the common +assumptions of mankind? Because the development of slavery and +parasitism in human society, the subjection of the weak to the strong, +the dull and base to the clever and headstrong, set up a vicious +cycle: the liberation of more energy for the making of more and +more slaves and the propagation of slaves and slave qualities in a +geometrically increasing proportion. + +This might be called the _Malthusian law of slavery_. For the +qualities that I have named as man's own characterization of himself +are the qualities of the slave and the slave-soul. Nietzche took great +pains to repeat ad nauseam that these qualities were the qualities of +the slave. But by burdening himself with the hypothesis, evolved from +his inner consciousness, that the slaves imposed from below a morality +of weakness upon their masters, he missed the really obvious process +by which slaves beget more slaves, slavery begets more slavery, and +the slave-soul becomes universal. That process is the simple action +of physical and spiritual reproduction of the slaves. The subnormal +begets the subnormal, the inferior begets the inferior. + +Slavery appeared as an invention of the would-be-free. It was a +brilliant flash of genius of a seeker after freedom. However, it +became a boomerang. By multiplication and hereditary transmission, the +inferiority and the number of the slaves created a new overwhelming +problem for the superior few, the upper crust of the free. At last the +problem grew into the problem of problems, the problem of government, +that threatened all freedom, as an epidemic disease threatens even +the most healthy. Government, at first organized for conquest and +subjugation, had to change its character until it became more and more +to consist of experiments in a new social machinery that would free +somebody of the incubus. So through the centuries, one technique of +liberty after another was tested in the laboratory of experience. + +But always the attempts are so muddled, because the problem is not +grasped. Muddledom is the essence of the slave-soul. And the +essence infiltrates and poisons the whole atmosphere in which the +would-be-free think and act. Kings' heads are chopped off, a whole +class is guillotined, reform movements come and go, the masters fight +every inch of their retreat, and pile stratagem upon stratagem, device +upon device, to retain their spoils. + +The democratic formula of freedom for all comes to the fore. So at +last universal suffrage is introduced as the panacea. Freedom seems +within grasp. Now it looks as if a method and an objective have been +hit upon, that will lead both the free and the enslaved out of their +mutual bondage, and release the handcuffs which have bound them +together. All the trial and error tests to which history had subjected +institutions appeared to culminate in the formula that would +automatically yield Liberty. The French wanted a little more and added +Equality and Fraternity. The Americans put it quite definitely as the +formula that would assist the Pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness. +That formula is: the _democracy of the normals_. + +To be sure, a civilization might be organized for the breeding and the +glorification of the supernormals. Such a civilization may yet have to +be tried. But as the supernormals, as we know them today, are merely +biologic sports, in a sense, simple accidents, no one can tell whether +they will turn out true shots or just flashes in the pan. So it looks +the better course to stick to the plan of nature, which seems to be +the raising of the level of the normals, and the gradual increase of +their faculties and powers. + +WHAT THE STATESMAN IS UP AGAINST + +Under the terms of the democratic formula the problems of the +statesman seem to become enormously simplified. That is, if one +assumes that he has worked out a perfectly clear idea of what +a democracy means and what the normal means. Assuming these +unassumables, his problem simplifies into the definite object of +producing and developing the greatest possible number of normals--or +if you will, the greatest happiness of the greatest number of normal +lives. + +Furthermore you then begin to have the entirely novel possibility in +the world: some sort of collective effort for a collective purpose, +beyond the personal greeds and fears, factions and hatreds. So the +state, instead of fulfilling its old function of serving as the tool +of certain powerful individuals, latterly known as the Big Men, might +be transformed into an instrument toward freedom. With the ideal of a +democracy of the normals ever before him, the statesman could go on +to construct and modify his social machinery. That would entail the +satisfaction not alone of the animal needs, but also the highest +aspirations and therefore the provision of the finest conditions of +life for the normal: those most favorable, stimulative, and assistant +to creative activity. For what else is the content of the idea of +freedom? + +Without committing the intellectual sin which William James named +Vicious Abstractionism, the goal of the clearest progressive and +liberal thought and forces of the twentieth century might be summed +up as this freedom in a democracy of normals. A good formula which +coincides with the technique of nature in the evolution of species. +A fair fight, a free-for-all who are unhandicapped, is the motto +of natural selection. Where civilization shakes hands with natural +instinct, what but the happiest of results can be expected? + +Unfortunately, the formula in human society possesses an Achilles' +heel. Again it is slavery. Where slavery has become bred into the +bone, the standard of the normal becomes reduced so tremendously that +the average of normals, the majority, are hopelessly inferior. In +effect, they are really subnormal. So the ideal of our ideal statesman +is bound to be defeated because of the inadequacy of his material. + +No matter how interested in his main business: the promotion of +freedom for creative activities in a democracy of the normals, he is +bound to be beaten by the majority consisting of subnormals. There is +nothing left for him but to cater to the minority of careerists, the +one-eighth of the electorate representing superior intelligence. The +intelligence tests employed in the War showed that and also that +forty-five per cent of the examined, or about one half the total +population, had a mental capacity, or natural ability that would never +develop beyond the stage normal to a twelve-year-old child. They are +doomed to remain forever subnormal. + +THE CAREERISTS AS THE ABNORMALS + +The careerists are those who practice the careerist religion. The +careerist religion is the religion par excellence of modernity. +Someone once said, with the perfect candor of the North American, that +America is the land of opportunity. He meant that America is the land +of the Careerist or, as it has also been put, it is the land of the +man on the make. The careerist, or the man on the make, is of a +thousand genera and species, varieties and subvarieties, with +transition links between. One finds him at every level of society. + +Excepting a negligible minority, the feminine career of today (as of +the last ten thousand years of the race's history) consists in the +acquisition of a husband. After that she is so identified with him +that her own life, as something distinct, individual and unique, +becomes blurred and then completely erased. The feminine careerist, +the careeristina, if you will, is a definite type. Consider the +unimportance of a collective purpose to the woman whose career is the +mate, and then the mate's career. All the kinks and twists of the +feminine mind, resulting from the necessities of that fundamental +primary problem, would form a multitudinous and interesting list. The +most successful careeristinas are the absolutely unconscious ones +because they are not passively besieged nor actively bombarded by any +doubts as to what they want. They play their game exceedingly well as +do not the quasi-rebels and faint-hearted revoltees that form no small +percentage of the Newest Women. For a number of women the feminist +movement has been an attempt to break away from the traditions of +the wife-careerist, and to strike a line of auto-careerism. Can +the careeristina instinct, the fruit of the practice of so many +generations, be uprooted by the good intentions of a mere statesman? + +But the masculine careerist is a marvelous creature. He is a biologic +sport, an abnormal variation. New York is the place to watch and +study him in his thousands and tens of thousands. You can observe +him climbing, climbing, climbing, precisely as an ant climbs a tree. +Nothing can really discourage or sway him from his chosen path. If he +is not getting on financially, he is getting on socially, or he is +using the one method of advance to help him with the other. How the +line of least resistance and greatest advantage is determined for and +taken by him is a fascinating process. + +The careerist instinct, the inherited flair for a career, must not be +confounded with the instincts of self-preservation, self-expansion +or self-expression, because they are utterly different. Indeed, the +careerist instinct is often their direct antagonist, clashing with and +dominating them. The making of the career involves the distortion, the +mutilation, degradation, degeneration or even the complete suppression +of the true personality. But it is all instinctive. To consider the +life of the careerist as an expression of instinct will explain too +the success of so many who have no inner awareness of what they want. +These go straight for the career, looking neither to the right nor +to the left, without doubt or hesitation, just as they go for the +respiration business as soon as they are born. + +Then there is the Super-Careerist. Ordinarily, the careerist is rather +obvious, easily recognizable, with diaphanous motives and conduct. But +there is another and rarer bird, the careerist of talent, even the +careerist of genius, whom it is not so easy to see through. Clever and +brainy, he may be a good all around trifler, or his specific gift for +some line of achievement may make him more effective. There is nothing +he may not call himself: conservative, liberal, progressive, or +radical. Often he is an agnostic about social and political affairs +and problems, which passes for the indecision of the open mind, and is +quite handy to render him all things to all men. But perpetually, the +underlying careerist instinct drives him to use all men and women, all +ideas and movements and forces he comes in contact with for his own +personal advancement, just as the slave making instinct guides the red +ant in all its activities to procure its captives. Ideas do not make a +hero out of him, but he makes heroes of ideas, because they serve him +in his ascent. + +Because he is the most subtle, the most complex and the most deceptive +type of careerist, he is the most dangerous to the adventure and +speculation in intellect which mankind is. To say that he is a wolf in +sheepskin is to be unjust to him, since he is most successful when he +is most unaware of his own charlatanry. He is most sincere when he +is most insincere, and most truthful when he lies best. A little +self-consciousness of hypocrisy is a corrupting thing, much of it +completely incompatible with the most successful careerism. Tartuffe +is always applauded by the world when he plays Hamlet, if he really +believes in himself as Hamlet. And, as all he has to do, if he is at +all talented, is to look into his glass and see himself in the part, +he carries it off very well. + +WHY THE STATESMAN FAILS + +Slaves and careerists, subnormals and abnormals, are the important +elements of the constituency of every modern statesman. The financial +and social careerists as business men, professionals, artists, +publicists, presidents of countries, politicians, philosophers +dominate his outlook, his plans, his horizon. The slaves, the +inferiors, the subnormals exist merely to be exploited by them. No +one questions the causes of the multiplicity of them. No one asks why +there are so many little lives. For a fundamentally minded statesman +the control of the production of the careerist, why he is produced, +and how he may be prevented, becomes the primary problem of his art. + +Well, you say, what are you going to do about it? That is human +nature. The Evils of Human Nature! There is the perpetual answer to be +repeated by our clever editors unto Eternity. You cannot get away from +human nature. It is human nature to be a careerist. It is human nature +to put the immediate triumphs of the self and its pleasures above +the more indirect, the more remote and distant benefits of a great, +wonderful, free community. We are all careerists. In so far as +democracy has succeeded as a form, it has persisted because there was +in it for the common man the promise of his getting more out of life +that way than any other way. For himself. And the devil take the +others. The myopia of such crude selfishness continues to determine +his politics to this very day. And so he proceeds to vote for favors +bestowed and patronage past or potential. That is, when he does not +throw his ballot away altogether into the fire of family habit, +sectional inertia, or race prejudice. + +Again you say, that is human nature. It is human nature for us to +be narrow, to be confined within the circle of personal thought and +desire, without imagination for the beyond. So the calf is limited in +its wanderings to the radius of the rope by which it is tethered. The +servile soul will always be submissive and docile, greedy and stupid. +What else could you expect from the descendant of the solitary beast +who once lived for thousands of years in caves? Without servility of +the soul, without chains for the spirit of the wild animal against +the world, men could never have been driven to live together for +twenty-four hours in communities. + +The conception of human quality out of which all social machinery has +been devised and built is a conception of slave quality and careerist +quality. As we are all caught in the net, as the unconscious memories +of our slave and careerist ancestors flow in our blood and echo in our +cells, all we can do is accept it and work with it. Human nature is an +incurable disease. Like Jehovah's definition of Himself, it is, it has +been, and ever will be. Everywhere the same, always the same, forever +the same, there is no way out. + +POOR HUMAN NATURE + +All of these strictures upon poor human nature are exceedingly +delightful to our careerists. Every unpleasant social fact, every +outrage to our best instincts, every exhibition of incapacity, +incompetency, inefficiency, indifference, every example of +super-criminal negligence is pardoned as an effect of that universal +sin, human nature. Take the case of the statesman and the diplomats +who failed to prevent the Great War, though they saw it coming for +years, and who should therefore all, Entente as well as German, +American as well as Japanese, be indicted for their criminal +negligence, precisely as a physician would be for failure to report +and stop the spread of an epidemic disease. All these crimes of +omission and commission are excused on the plea that it was all due to +human nature, and that what can be blamed on human nature in general +can be blamed on no one in particular. + +Poor human nature! Flagellated on every hand, what are we to do with +it? Why is the careerist so numerous and ubiquitous? Why does the +slave-soul infiltrate like a cancer the soul of society with its black +fluid? Is freedom, the divine idea, nothing but the toy of an orator +to the majority, a distant star in the night to a helpless minority? +Yet the instinct to freedom, the appetite for freedom, flickers +through the centuries as a fitful flame, though snuffed out by every +gust of class passion, every wind of mob resentment, and every storm +of national jealousy. Though the inferior subnormals multiply into +great sheep majorities, and the careerists, like Napoleon, morbid +variants, involve millions in their disease, the idea of freedom +persists obstinately. Have we any reason for regarding it as other +than an illusion? + +If freedom is an illusion, we must admit the doom of democracy. And no +Wagnerian crashes of orchestration mitigate the tragedy of the scene +as our eyes are opened to the twilight of our new gods. For what other +social methods are there left to us? In the struggle against nature's +barriers upon human aspiration for perfect satisfactions, it looks as +though every other method has failed us. + +In the past, refined aristocracies and benevolent despotisms have +failed as miserably as our democracies are now failing and as we are +sure crude anarchism and communism would. Their inferiority has thrown +them on the scrap heap. As for our present ways of government as a +permanent method, the storage of power in the hands of the Clever Few. +War burns in the lesson of how little the careerist regards either +the subnormal or supernormal. He condemns them all sooner or later to +wholesale slavery and carnage. + +Is man then never to be the architect of his own destiny? Are we to +surrender our faith in the future of our kind to the spectacle of a +miserable species sentenced by its own nature to self-destruction? We +thought to rise upon the wings of knowledge and beauty, lured by +the mysteries of color and the magic of design and the might of the +intellect and its words, that have transfigured life into the greatest +adventure ever attempted in time and space. But we find ourselves +merely another experiment, intricate and rather long drawn out, to be +sure, with marvelous pyrotechnics, magnificent effects here and there, +but bound to eliminate itself in the end, to make stuff for the +museums of the real conqueror of the stars yet to come. We are +condemned to be classed with the dodo and the mammoth by the coming +discoverer of an escape from the slave and careerist. And so let +us resign ourselves to fate. Let us eat of the humble bread of the +stoic's consolation in the face of the mocking laughter of the gods, +let us admit that Mind in Man has unconsciously but irretrievably +willed its own self-annihilation. What remains for us except to beat +our breasts and proclaim: So be it, O Lord, so be it? + +MAN AS A TRANSIENT + +Yet, true as it is that the human animal has achieved no advance +beyond the necessities of his ancestors, nor freed himself from his +bondage to their instincts and automatic reflexes, is there no way out +anywhere? Is there perhaps some ground for hope and consolation in the +thought that we, of the twentieth century, no longer see ourselves, +Man, as something final and fixed? Darwin changed Fate from a static +sphinx into a chameleon flux. Just as certainly as man has arisen from +something whose bones alone remain as reminders of his existence, we +are persuaded man himself is to be the ancestor of another creature, +differing as much from him as he from the Chimpanzi, and who, if he +will not supplant and wipe him out, will probably segregate him and +allow him to play out his existence in cage cities. + +The vision of this After-man or From-man is really about as helpful to +us as the water of the oasis mirage is to the lost dying of thirst +in the desert. The outcries of the wretched and miserable, the +gray-and-dreary lived din an unmanageable tinnitus in our ears. Like +God, it may be but a large, vague idea toward which we grope to +snuggle up against. It seems implicit in the doctrines of evolution. +But how do we know that in man the spiral of life has not reached its +apex, and that now, even now, the vortices of its descent are not +beginning? How do we know that the From-man is to be a Superman and +not a Subman? How can we dare to hope that the slave-beast-brute is to +give birth to an heir, fine and free and superior? + +We do not know and we have every indication and induction for the most +oppositely contrary conclusions. Life has blundered supremely, in, +while making brains its darling, forgetting or helplessly surrendering +to the egoisms of alimentation. So it has spawned a conflict between +its organs, and a consequent impasse in which the lower centres drive +the higher pitilessly into devising means and instruments for the +suicide of the whole. + +As War shows plainly to the most stupidly gross imagination, the germs +of our own self-destruction as a species saturate our blood. The +probability looms with almost the certainty of a syllogistic +deduction, that such will be the outcome to our hundreds of thousands +of years of pain upon earth. In the face of that, speculations upon +a comet or gaseous emanations hitting the planet, or the sun growing +cold, become babyish fancies. How clearly the possibility is pointed +in the discussions about the use in the next War of bacterial bombs +containing the bacilli of cholera, plague, dysentery and many others! +What influenza did in destroying millions, they can repeat a thousand +times and ten thousand times. What else the laboratories will bring +forth, of which no man dreams, in the way of destructive agents acting +at long distance, upon huge masses and over any extent of territory, +is presaged in that single example. But besides thus willing, by an +inner necessity, its own annihilation, Life, in the very structure +and machinery of its being, seems caught into the entanglements of an +inescapable net, an eternity-long bondage it can never rip, to flee +and remake itself into the immortal image that is its God. + +And so there go by the board the last alleviations of those unbeatable +optimists who would soothe their aching souls with at least the drop +of comfort: that if man is a mortal species, with not the slightest +prospect of a continuing immortality, not to mention a glorious future +and destiny, there are others. Man, after all, may be simply a bad +habit Life will succeed in shaking off. No philosophy or religion can +afford to be anthropocentric merely. It must include all life and all +living things to which we are blood-related. There are other species +or latent species to take up the torch that burned poor homo sapiens +and ascend the heights. The ant and bee may yet mutate along certain +lines that would make them the masters of the universe. + +But no matter what species or variety gets the upper hand in the +struggle for survival and power, the implications of the qualities +necessary to victory in conflicts of individual separate pieces of +protoplasm will be there. Besides, life is always begotten of life. +That is why synthetic protoplasm is nothing but a phrase. It is +impossible to conceive of something alive, possessed of the property +of remembering, that is not possessed of a store of past experiences. +You can no more think of getting rid of these unconscious memories of +protoplasm than you can think of getting rid of the wetness of water. +They are imbedded in the most intimate chemistry of the primeval ameba +as well as in our most complex tissues. + +The memories of the cold lone fish and the hot predatory carnivor who +were our begetters, may haunt us to the end of time. The bee and the +ant, too, have woven inextricably into the woof of their cells the +instincts that sooner or later would send their brain ganglia, +even when evolved to the pitch of perfection, to elaborating the +self-and-species murdering inventions and discoveries that are +apparently destined to slay us. The powers of unconscious memory and +unlearnable technique of reaction to experience, once grooved, thus +prove the great gift and the eternal curse of protoplasm. Making it +possible for it to be and become what it is and has, they have +also made it forever impossible for it to be or become its own +contradiction. + +Add to this unsloughable remembrance of the past, for better, for +worse, the secretive consciousness of its present needs every living +thing, as against every other living thing, is obsessed with. As a +peregrinating, finite, spatially limited being, it is separated from +all other living beings by inorganic, dead masses, and yet driven to +contact with them by a fundamental impulse to assimilate them into +itself, and make them part of itself. That assimilatory urge is +present in every activity from coarse ingestion as food to the moral +metabolism of the hermit-saint who would influence others to do as he. + +FATE AND ANTI-FATE + +In effect the history of Life resembles the life history of the +smallest things we know of, the electrons, and the largest, the great +suns and stars of space. The electron begins, perhaps, as a swirl in +the primeval ether, joins other electrons, forms colonies, cities, +empires, elements of an increasing complexity, through stages of a +relative stability, like lead or gold. Until it reaches the stage of +integration which wills its own disintegration, that we have been +taught to look upon with proper awe and reverence as radium. And we +are told that nebulae wander until they collide and give birth to +stars, stars wander and collide and give birth to nebulae. Life begins +as a quivering colloid, goes on painfully to build a brain, which +automatically refines itself to the point of discovering and using +the most efficient methods of destroying others, and by a boomerang +effect, itself. Fate! + +The conception of Fate was a Greek idea. The classic formula for +tragedy, the struggle of Man with the sequence of cause and effect +within him and without, that is so utterly beyond his grasp and ken, +or power to modify, originated with them. But they must also be given +the credit for having conceived an idea and started a process which, +at first slowly and gropingly, now slipping and falling, torn and +bleeding among the thorns of the dark forest of human motives, +presently goes on, with a firmer, more practiced, more confident step, +to emerge into the light as the deliberate Conqueror of Fate. That +idea-process, this Anti-Fate is Science. + +Science began with the adventures of free-thinking speculators, who +revolted against religious cosmogonies and superstitions. Sceptics +concerning the knowledge that was the accepted monopoly of the +priesthood must have existed in the oldest civilization we know +anything of, more than twenty-five thousand years ago, the +Aurignacians. But it was to the Greeks that we owe that amalgamation +of curiosity delivered of fear, that merger of systematic research +and critical thinking untrammelled by social inhibitions which is the +essence of modern science. Out of them has come the great Tree of +Knowledge of our time, which is, too, the only Ygdrasil of Life, +undying because it lives upon successive generations of human brain +cells. + +Science, as the pursuit of the real, began with very small things by +men with very small intentions. Inventories, collections of isolated +data, something permanent for the mind out of the flux of transient +sensations, little tracks and foot paths in the jungle of phenomena, +were their goal. With no sense of themselves as the mightiest of +master-builders, cultivating humility toward their material at any +rate, the little men ploughed their little fields, striking the oil +of a great generalization or classification or explanation with no +fanfare of trumpets. + +First as freaks and cranks, then as scholars and pedants, then +protected and perhaps stimulated under the competitive royal patronage +as societies and academies, they prepared for the harvest. Comparing +them to pioneer farmers sowing an undeveloped territory is really +totally inadequate and inaccurate. For the most part, they were like +coral makers, laboriously constructing, with no vision, certainly no +sustained vision, of the whole. To the practical men of affairs, the +shopkeepers and traders, the land-owners and ship-owners, the soldiers +and sailors, the statesmen and politicians, the people who specialized +in maneuvering human beings and materials, they were, for this +futile devotion to abstract knowledge, marked ridiculous and absurd +weaklings, mollycoddles, babies, not to be trusted with the demands +and dangers of public life. + +But it so happened remarkably late in history that with the discovery +of the possibilities of coal there was a great boom in the demand for +industrial machinery. At the same time there were thrown up the most +marvelous advances in physics and chemistry. Recurring War became not +the clashes of mercenary armies, but the catapulting of whole nations +at each other. New destructive devices out of the laboratories were +raised into the commandants of the course of history. Then science +acquired prestige. + +Science as King, science as power, looms as the great new figure, the +overshadowing novel factor, in practical statesmanship. Unlike the +factor X in the traditional equation, it is the known factor par +excellence, the factor by which the value of all the other factors +of human life will be ascertained and solved. As knowledge of the +conditions determining all life, it stands as the courageous David of +the race against the Goliath territory of the uncontrollable and the +inevitable, even the unknowable. Human history resolves itself into +the drama: Science contra Fate. Quite a change from the vaudeville +show of the restless personal ambitions of vindictive fools and greedy +scoundrels, the mischief and adventures of half-witted geniuses and +licensed rogues that have been figures of the prologue. + +The future of science has become the future of the race. So much of +an inkling of the truth is beginning to be appreciated. That is +ordinarily taken to mean that the process by which the Wessex man +became the New York and London man, the accumulation of accidental +discoveries and inspired inventions of scattered individuals, will go +on, providing a succession of marvels and miracles for the careerist +and his retinue. Not only is he to be entertained and served by them, +but any commercial value will also be exploited by him. The natural +wonders of the laboratories have taken the place of the supernatural +absurdities of the medieval mind as a fillip for the imagination of +the man in the street. Even spiritualism apes the technique of the +physicist. The credulity of reporters alone concerning developments +in surgery, for example, is incredible. There is enough rot published +daily for a brief to be made out against the idolatry of science. + +THE RELIGION OF SCIENCE + +Science also as a religion, as a faith to bind men together, as a +substitute for the moribund old mythologies and theologies which kept +them sundered, is commencing to be talked of in a more serious tone. +The wonder-maker may have forced upon him, may welcome, the honors +of the priest, though he pose as the humble slave of Nature and her +secrets. Presently the foundations and institutes, which coexist with +the cathedrals and churches, just as once the new Christian chapels +and congregations stood side by side with pagan temples and heathen +shrines, may oust their rivals, and assume the monopoly of ritual. +Should its spirit remain fine and clear, should it maintain the +glorious promise of its dawn, should its high priests realize the +perpetually widening intimations of its universal triumph, and escape +the ossification that has overtaken all young and hopeful things and +institutions, the real foundation for a future of the species would be +laid, and so its ultimate suicide prevented. + +The time has gone by, however, for any complacent assurance that the +redemption of mankind is to be attained by a new religion of words. +There is no doubt that the damnation or salvation of an individual has +often been determined by a religious crisis, in which the magic of +words have worked their witchery. There is plenty of evidence that a +psychic conversion will effect an actual revolution in the whole way +of living of the victim or patient, as you like it. William James, +in his "Varieties of Religious Experience," established that pretty +definitely. When it comes to groups, races, nations, the outlook is +wholly different. There is a conflict of so many and diverse habits +and interests, beliefs and prejudices, that hope for some common +merely intellectual solvent for all of them is rather forlorn. If at +all, the resolution of the conflict will come by a pooling of actual +powers and interests, in which the religion of science will play +the great part of the Liberator of mankind from the whole system of +torments that have made the way of all flesh a path of rocks along +which a manacled prisoner crawls to his doom. + +SCIENCE AND HUMAN NATURE + +Science has a future. The religion of science has a future. Can +science assure us that human nature, in spite of its beast-brute-slave +origins holds the possibility of a genuine transformation of its +texture? Can Fate's stranglehold upon us be broken? There will be +certainly a tremendous, an overwhelming increase in the general +stock of informations we call physics and chemistry and biology. An +abundance of new comforts, novel sensations, fresh experiences, and +breath-bereaving devices that will thrill or heal, will follow of +course in their wake. The religion of science will infiltrate +and penetrate and permeate by its capillary action the barbaric +superstitions, the ridiculous rites, the unsanitary insanities of our +social systems. + +But what about the poor human soul itself, with its inherent vices +and virtues, its fears and indulgences, audacities and nobilities, +jealousies, shames, blunders, incurable likes, cravings and diseases? +Can science change the texture of the slave and careerist, if they +represent the subnormal and the abnormal? What about the Becky Sharps, +the Mark Tapleys, and Tom Pinches, not to speak of the Nicholas +Nicklebys and the Hamlets, the Micawbers and the Falstaffs? What +future have they as they recur in the generations? Indeed, does not +the very fact of their recurrence, of them and of the hundreds of +other types and temperaments, point implacably to the conclusion to +which the historian, the philosopher and the biologist have driven us: +that in the grip of an endless chain of pasts the human soul has no +future? + +That may appear an irrelevant, an immaterial, and an incompetent +question to our men of business and affairs. Human nature, as fallen +angel or ape parvenu, has always looked upon itself as fixed for +eternity. "Human nature never changes, and is everywhere and always +will be the same." "As a man is built." "Bred in the bone." These are +the axioms of our social and economic Euclids. Indeed, Man, assuming +that his nature is as uncontrollable as the course of the stars, has +limited his research into the substance of freedom to a groping for an +understanding of the adequate external conditions of liberty. Thus he +set himself another of the insoluble problems he seems to delight +in by neglecting the most important factor in the equation. Yet the +invisible soul of man, ignored, as a variable, varying quantity, has +upset all societies and constitutions, and all schemes of bondage as +well as of freedom. + +For freedom, it becomes obvious as soon as it is clearly stated, is +sheer impossibility until the internal conditions of his nature +are ascertained, and the way paved for their control. A simple +illustration of the working of this principle is supplied by our +democracies, grossly pretenders. How can a democracy be possible +without a knowledge of the control of the individually and socially +subnormal, who, since they offer themselves to exploitation by +the careerists, prove themselves the weak links in the chain of +co-operation with an equal opportunity for all, that is the democratic +ideal? In what does the equality or inequality of men consist? Just +what are the qualities necessary for successful competition, or if you +will, co-living, of man with his fellow-men, and how and why do they +operate? No freedom, independent of the servile repetitions of +history and heredity, is conceivable until these inquiries have been +elaborately carried out toward a certain working finality. + +THE PROMISES OF EUGENICS + +There are, to be sure, the claims and assertions and negative +achievements of the youngest of the sciences, eugenics. They are +invincible optimists, the eugenists: it is perhaps a case of a virtue +born of necessity. Thus Francis Galton, in the preface to the "Bible +of Eugenics," his essays on Hereditary Genius, declares: "There is +nothing either in the history of domestic animals or in that of +evolution to make us doubt that a race of sane men may be formed +who shall be as much superior, mentally and morally, to the Modern +European, as the Modern European is to the lowest of the Negro races." +High hopes beat in this declaration. But Galton could not have +foreseen that the signing of a scrap of paper by one of the Modern +Europeans would let loose all the other Modern Europeans in a +pandemonium of horrors the lowest of the Negro races could not but +envy as a masterpiece of its kind. It seemed to be suspiciously easy +for him to accept an excuse to slide down the dizzy height he had +climbed from the African level. + +The eugenists would put their trust in the encouraged breeding of the +best and the compulsory sterility of the rest. But what is the best, +and who are the best, and where will you find them when they are not +inextricably emulsified with the worst? It's a long, long way to the +day of a segregating out and in of Mendelian unit-characters. Besides, +this is a strange world of choices. Nobody is to be considered worthy +of parenthood until he has fallen in love properly. Nobody who would +permit an outsider's decision as to when he was properly in love would +be worth thirty cents as a parent. There is the ultimate dilemma +of the eugenist--the dilemma which destroys forever the dream of a +control of parenthood from the point of view of merely psychic values. + +NEW PSYCHOLOGY + +There are the claims and outcries and promises of the +psychologists--the specialists in the probing of the human soul and +human nature. In our time, the demand for a dynamic psychology of +process and becoming, psychology with an energy in it, has split them +into two schools--the emphasizers of instinct and the subconscious, +the McDougallians, and the pleaders for sex and the unconscious, the +Freudians. A synthesis between these two groups is latent, since their +differences are those of horizon merely. For the McDougallians look +upon the world with two eyes and see it whole and broad--the Freudians +see through their telescope a circular field and exclaim that they +behold the universe. It is true that they own a telescope. + +But what has either to offer our quest for light on the future of +the species? Nothing very much. Thus, to turn to the disciples +of McDougall. In a recent volume entitled, "Human Nature and its +Remaking," Professor William Ernest Hocking of Harvard contends that +Man, all axioms about his nature to the contrary, is but a creature +of habit, and so the most plastic of living things, since habit is +self-controlled and self-determined. By the self-determination of the +habits of the race will the new freedom be reborn. It sounds old, +very old. And pathetic because it recognizes original and permanent +ingredients of our composition in the words pugnacity, greed, sex, +fear, as elements to be accepted in any system of the principles of +civilization. It is the bubble of education all over again. What in +our cells is pugnacity? What in our bones is greed? What in our +blood is sex? What in our nerves is fear? Until these inquiries are +respected, conscious character building or even stock breeding must +remain the laughing stock of the smoking rooms and the regimental +barracks. + +Come the Freudians. To them we owe the aeroplanes to a new universe. +They have opened up for us the geology of the soul. Layer upon layer, +cross-section upon cross-section have been piled before us. And what +a melodramatic cinema of thrills and shivers, villains and heroes, +heroines and adventuresses have they not unfolded. Each motive, as +the stiff psychologist of the nineteenth century, with his +plaster-of-Paris categories and pigeon holes and classifications, +labelled the teeming creatures of the mind, becomes anon a strutting +actor upon a multitudinous stage, and an audience in a crowded +playhouse. Scenes are enacted the febrile fancy of a Poe or a de +Maupassant never could have conjured. The complex, the neurosis, the +compulsion, the obsession, the slip of speech, the trick of manner, +the devotion of a life-time, the culture of a nation all furnish bits +for the Freudian mosaic. Attractions and inhibitions, repulsions and +suppressions are held up as the ultimate pulling and pushing forces of +human nature. + +But is the problem solved? Is not human nature primarily animal +nature? And do we so thoroughly understand this animal nature? Does +not all this material of Freudianism consist of variations upon social +burdens imposed on the original human nature? To be sure, at every +moment of life, choices have to be made, and choice involves the +clashing of instincts and motives, with victory for one or some, and +defeat for the others. But the Freudian material per se--the sex +material--is it not merely the by-product of a certain state of +society? A sane society would eliminate nearly all of Freudian +disease, but still have original human nature upon its hands. Why is +it that of two individuals exposed to the same situation, one will +develop a complex, the other will remain immune? The only soil we know +of, the real foundation stones of our being and living, are the cells +we are made of. Tell me the cellular basis of a complex, and I will +grant that you have arrived at some real knowledge. + +WAY FOR THE PHYSIOLOGIST + +There has grown up, contemporaneously with the teachings of Freud, +a body of discoveries and knowledge in physiology, concerning +these factors, which is like a long sword of light illuminating a +pitch-black spot in the night. The dark places in human nature seem to +have become the sole monopoly of the Freudians and their psychology. +But only seemingly. For all this time the physiologist has been +working. Beginning with a candle and now holding in his hands the most +powerful arc-lights, he has explored two regions, the sympathetic +nervous system and the glands of internal secretion, and has come upon +data which in due course will render a good many of the Freudian +dicta obsolete. Not that the Freudian fundamentals will be scrapped +completely. But they will have to fit into the great synthesis which +must form the basis of any control of the future of human nature. That +future belongs to the physiologist. Already his achievements provide +the foundations. I propose in the following chapters to sketch the +history and outline the elements of this new knowledge, and then to +glimpse some of the larger human reactions to it. A good deal of this +new knowledge is not altogether new. A number of the isolated facts +have been known and talked about for more than two generations. But +the newer additions, and the light they have thrown upon old problems +present the opportunity for a synthesis, which must sooner or later be +made. + +THE CHEMISTRY OF THE SOUL + +Besides, it is time that the secrets of the laboratories stepped out +into the market place, unashamed. Imaginative man has played for ages +immemorial with wondrous fairy tales and fancies of what he would +achieve. The sciences of physics and chemistry have made everyday +commonplace realities out of his radiant dreams. One need not repeat +the cliches of our editors. But the analogy is there nevertheless. No +control over heat and light and electricity, today our slaves, was +possible until physics and chemistry took them in hand. No control of +the human soul is possible until it too will be taken in hand by them. +We may now look forward to a real future for mankind because we have +before us the beginnings of a chemistry of human nature. The internal +secretions, with their influence upon brain and nervous system as +well as every other part of the body corporation, as essentially +blood-circulating chemical substances, have been discovered the real +governors and arbiters of instincts and dispositions, emotions and +reactions, characters and temperaments, good and bad. A huge complex +of evidence, as various, complicated and obscure as human nature +itself, supports that fundamental law. + +The chemistry of the soul! Magnificent phrase! It's a long, long way +to that goal. The exact formula is as yet far beyond our reach. But we +have started upon the long journey and we shall get there. Then will +Man truly become the experimental animal of the future, experimenting +not only with the external conditions of his life, but with the +constituents of his very nature and soul. The chemical conditions of +his being, including the internal secretions, are the steps of the +ladder by which he will climb to those dizzy heights where he will +stretch out his hands and find himself a God. Modern knowledge of +these chemical substances, circulating in the blood, and affecting +every cell of the body, dates back scarce half a century. But already +the paths blazed by the pioneers have led to the exploration of great +countries. The thyroid gland, the pituitary gland, the adrenal glands, +the thymus, the pineal, the sex glands, have yielded secrets. And +certain great postulates have been established. The life of every +individual, normal or abnormal, his physical appearance, and his +psychic traits, are dominated largely by his internal secretions. All +normal as well as abnormal individuals are classifiable according to +the internal secretions which rule in their make-up. Individuals, +families, nations and races show definite internal secretion traits, +which stamp them with the quality of difference. The internal +secretion formula of an individual may, in the future, constitute his +measurement which will place him accurately in the social system. + +"More and more we are forced to realize that the general form and +external appearance of the human body depends, to a large extent, +upon the functioning, during the early developmental period, of the +endocrine glands. Our stature, the kinds of faces we have, the +length of our arms and legs, the shape of the pelvis, the color and +consistency of the integument, the quantity and regional location +of our subcutaneous fat, the amount and distribution of hair on our +bodies, the tonicity of our muscles, the sound of the voice, and +the size of the larynx, the emotions to which our exterior gives +expression. All are to a certain extent conditioned by the +productivity of our glands of internal secretion." (Llewellys F. +Barker, Johns Hopkins University, 1st President of Association for +Study of Internal Secretions.) + +The implications for the statesman, the educator, the vocational +expert, the student of the neurotic and of genius, of delinquents, +deficients and criminals, the explorers of the exceptional and the +commonplace, the understanding of the poetic and kinetic, base and +dull types, as well as of those two master interests of mankind, Sex +and War, are manifest. The mystery of the individual, in all his +distinct uniqueness, begins to be penetrated. And so every phase +of social life, in which the individual is at bottom the final +determinant, must be reviewed in the light of the new knowledge. +History may be examined from an entirely new angle. The biographies +of our Heroes of the Past, in the Carlylean sense, will bear +reinspection. Even Utopias will have to be revised. + +The internal secretions constitute and determine much of the inherited +powers of the individual and their development They control physical +and mental growth and all the metabolic processes of fundamental +importance. They dominate all the vital functions during the three +cycles of life. They co-operate in an intimate relationship which may +be compared to an interlocking directorate. A derangement of their +function, causing an insufficiency of them, an excess, or an +abnormality, upsets the entire equilibrium of the body, with +transforming effects upon the mind and the organs. In short, they +control human nature, and whoever controls them, controls human +nature. + +The control of the glands of internal secretion waits upon our +knowledge of them, the nature and precise composition of the +substances manufactured by them, and just what they do to the cells. +Envisaging the future, that knowledge today is meagre. Looking back +fifty years, it becomes an amazing achievement and revelation. It is +worth our while to survey the accomplished, and to trace its general +human significance. For a certain tangible degree of knowledge and +control has been attained and should be part of the average citizen's +equipment in dealing with the everyday problems of his life. + +THE ATTITUDE OF THE LABORATORY + +A certain number of so-called experimental physiologists, that is, +the physiologists of the animal laboratory, who will have nothing but +syllogistic deductions and quantitative determinations based upon +animal experiments as the data of their science, will be apt to look +askance upon the preceding paragraphs, and those which will follow. To +them, any man who relates the internal secretions to anything, outside +of the routineer's paths, puts his reputation at stake, if he has +any reputation at all to start in with. They would have us deliver +a Scotch verdict upon all the questions which arise as soon as one +attempts to take in the more general significance of the glands of +internal secretion. This, even though the more general implications +concerning the effects of their products, the relations of them to +growth and development, nutrition and energy, environmental +reactions and resistance to disease, as well as the grand complex of +intelligence, are admittedly well ascertained in some directions. + +The method of absolute measurement in science has yielded miracles. +For some thousands of years, an isolated individual, here and there +or an isolated institution have devoted themselves to the task, +struggling not only with their own weaknesses, but with religious and +political dogmas which spoiled and vitiated even the beginnings of +their efforts. When, in the seventeenth century, men associated +themselves in research, for free communication and discussion of their +findings, a great invention came alive. Close on its heels was born +the exact experimental method. Amazing triumphs were born of that +marriage which swept away before it ignorance and superstition and +prejudice. Its children and grandchildren have flourished and grown +strong and mighty. They have transmuted the material conditions of +life. Certainly all the laurels belong to the method of absolute, +measured observations. + +Yet all this time the old method of inductive observation has not gone +dead. Most magnificent triumph of nineteenth century science, the +evolution theory of Charles Darwin, remains the most conspicuous +instance of clarification of thought in human history. That work was +the outcome of an attempt to relate and interpret a collection of +observations on species and their variations, that had long lain to +hand, a mixture without a solvent. Darwin saw certain generalizations +as solvents, and behold! a clear solution out of the mud. But it was +by piling evidence upon evidence, co-ordinating isolated facts not +directly associated, that the towering structure was erected. There is +no prettier sample extant of the powers of the inductive method. + +Not that there are no triumphs of the quantitative method in store for +the biologist. Already, the materials of the Mendelians have become +basic parts of his structure. And today, in pursuit of the solutions +of hundreds of the problems of living matter, chemists and +physiologists are employing the most precise standards, units, and +measures of the physical sciences. Blood chemistry of our time is a +marvel, undreamed of a generation ago. Also, these achievements are +a perfect example of the accomplished fact contradicting a priori +prediction and criticism. For it was one of the accepted dogmas of the +nineteenth century that the phenomena of the living could never be +subjected to accurate quantitative analysis. + +However desirable the purely quantitative experimental methods may be, +they naturally need always to be preceded by the qualitative studies +of direct observations. Inevitably there will be numberless errors, +apparent and real inconsistencies and contradictions, and ideas that +will have to be discarded. Just the same there is no other method of +progress. Every bit of evidence points towards the internal secretions +as the holders of the secrets of our inmost being. They are the well +springs of life, the dynamos of the organism. In trailing their scent +we appear to be upon the track not only of the chemistry of our +bodies, but of the chemistry of our very souls. An increasing host of +factors and studies marshal themselves solidly for that declaration. +Endeavor to conceive the consequences and possibilities for the +future. A synthesis of the known in the field provides even now a +means of understanding and control of the perplexities of human nature +and life that are like a vista seen from a mountain top after the +lifting of a fog. + +The most precious bit of knowledge we possess today about Man is that +he is the creature of his glands of internal secretion. That is, Man +as a distinctive organism is the product, the by-product, of a number +of cell factories which control the parts of his make-up. Much as the +different divisions of an automobile concern produce the different +parts of a car. These chemical factories consist of cells, manufacture +special substances, which act upon the other cells of the body and so +start and determine the countless processes we call Life. Life, body +and soul emerge from the activities of the magic ooze of their silent +chemistry precisely as a tree of tin crystals arises from the chemical +reactions started in a solution of tin salts by an electric current. + +Man is regulated by his Glands of Internal Secretion. At the beginning +of the third decade of the twentieth century, after he had struggled, +for we know at least fifty thousand years, to define and know himself, +that summary may be accepted as the truth about himself. It is +a far-reaching induction, but a valid induction, supported by a +multitude of detailed facts. + +Amazingly enough, the incontestable evidence, that first pointed to, +and then proved up to the hilt, this answer to the question: What is +Man? has been gathered in less than the last fifty years. Darwin and +Huxley, and Spencer, who first opened men's eyes to their origins, +were ignorant of the very existence of some of them, and had not the +faintest notion or suspicion of the real importance or function of any +of them. + +THE PREJUDICES OF PHILOSOPHERS + +Now, there are certain prejudices and problems which appear to be +rudely brushed away by the dogmatic arrogance of the principle stated. +What, you say, is Man but an affair of his peculiar gland chemistry? +But what of mind, soul, consciousness? Still another of these +pathetically one-sided and superficial theories of man as a machine +pure and simple which would make him the most complicated of +mechanisms, a marvel of intricate parts, but would deprive him of his +essence as self-conscious unique in the universe. Man, thinking man, +at any rate, dreads to lose the cherished impregnable conviction that +he is something apart, inherently, and therefore infinitely different +from every other phenomenon in the range of his cosmos. + +A thorough dissection of the relation and attitude toward psychic +material of the consistent physiologist, who refuses to deal in +contradictory terms, would lead us a little too far. So would the +reconciliation between the claims of mind and the concept of the +organism as a system of chemical reactions. The most fundamental +aspects of that herculean task, warned by the sign, No Trespassing, +we shall leave to the metaphysicians. The influence of the glands of +internal secretion upon the mind we must consider, but at present +postpone. Yet the hot-headed contenders on both sides may be reminded +of certain facts. + +We live in the most iconoclastic of ages. There are sane people alive +today going quietly about their business who deny the very existence +of consciousness. These heretics of course pooh-pooh absolutely the +lions of metaphysics. On the other hand, it may be pointed out to our +mechanists who believe in mechanism to the bitter end, that even if +man can be described entirely as a mere transformer of energy, there +is no reason why he cannot also be described as a transformer of +energy plus someone who makes use of the transformer and of the +energy transformed. The stone wall before the honest mechanist is the +abolition of purpose, and design, an old insoluble problem upon +his premises. Preach, until you are blue in the face, behaviorist +tropisms, in which man is pushed and pulled about in his environment +as are iron filings in a magnetic field. Think up objective +physiologies in which your life and mine become a series of +concatenated influences and compound reflexes. Play with words like +the concentration reflex when you mean idea, and the symbolic reflex +when you mean language. But your most rigid nomenclature will never +abolish the mystic personal purpose in the equation, no matter how low +the step in the animal series to which you descend. The declaration +that a man is dominated by certain glands within his body should not +be taken to give aid and comfort to those who would banish mind from +the universe. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HOW THE GLANDS OF INTERNAL SECRETION WERE DISCOVERED + + +Just what are the glands of internal secretion? And how have we become +possessed of whatever information about them we have? A brief review +of how the idea of a gland of internal secretion came into the human +mind and of the contributions that have converged into a single body +of knowledge is worth while. + +A gland is a collection of cells (those viscous globules which are the +units of all tissues and organs). It manufactures substances intended +for a particular effect upon the body economy. The effect may be +either local or upon the body as a whole. + +Originally, a gland meant something in the body which was seen to make +something else, generally a juice or a liquid mixture of some sort. +A classical example is the salivary glands elaborating saliva. The +microscope has shown us that every gland is a chemical factory in +which the cells are the workers. The product of the gland work is its +secretion. Thus the sweat glands of the skin secrete the perspiration +as their secretion, the lachrymal glands of the eyes the tears as +theirs. The collectivism of management and control is the only +essential difference between them and the modern soap factory or +T.N.T. plant. + +Man as a carnivor, and as a consequent anatomist, has been acquainted +with these more superficially placed glands for some thousands of +years. During all this time and during the epoch of the achievements +of gross anatomy, it was believed that the secretions of all glands +were poured out upon some surface of the body. Either an exterior +surface like the skin, or some interior surface, the various mucous +membranes. This was supported by the discovery of canal-like passage +ways leading from the gland to the particular surface where its +secretion was to act. These corridors, the secretory or excretory +ducts, are present, for example, in the liver, conducting the bile +to the small intestine. Devices of transportation fit happily into +a comparison of a gland to a chemical factory, corresponding thus +closely to the tramways and railroads of our industrial centers. + +Little more than a hundred years ago, it was observed that certain +organs, like the thyroid body in the neck, and the adrenal capsules in +the abdomen, hitherto neglected because their function was hopelessly +obscure, had a glandular structure. As in so much scientific advance, +the discovery or improvement of a new instrument or method, a fresh +tool of research, was responsible. The perfection of the microscope +was the reason this time. + +If one wishes to trace the idea of internal secretion by cells to an +individual, it is convenient, if not pedantic, to give the credit to +Theophile de Bordeu, a famous physician of Paris in the eighteenth +century. Bordeu came to Paris as a brilliant provincial in his early +twenties and by the charm of his manner and daring therapy fought +his way to the most exclusive aristocratic practice of the court. +Naturally a courtier, taking to the intrigues of the royal court like +a duck to water, making enemies on every hand as well as friends, and +with a fastidious and impatient clientele, he yet found time to dabble +in the wonders of the newly perfected microscope and to speculate upon +the meaning of the novelties revealed by it in the tissues. _He coined +the thought of a gland secretion into the blood_. + +It was in the year 1749 that he came to Paris from the Pyrenees, +a young medical graduate, destined to become the most fashionable +practitioner of his time. At the age of twenty-three he was holding +the professorship of anatomy at his alma mater, Montpelier, where +his father was a successful physician. At twenty-five he was elected +corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Sciences. A handsome +presence and a Tartarin de Tarascon disposition assured his success +from the start. The medical world was then composed of the emulsion of +charlatanry and science Moliere ridiculed. Success stimulated envy and +jealousy. One of the richest of the older medical men set himself the +job of procuring his scalp. On a trumped-up charge of stealing jewels +from a dead patient--a favorite accusation against the doctors of the +eighteenth century--he had Bordeu's license taken away from him. The +good graces of certain women to whom Bordeu had always appealed, and +who indeed supplied the funds to get him started in Paris, rammed +through two acts of Parliament to reinstate him. Nothing daunted, he +returned to his quest for a court clientele, and was rewarded finally +by having the moribund Louis XV as a patient. + +This was the man with whom the modern history of the internal +secretions begins. Not content with adventures among the courtiers and +desperadoes of the most corrupt court in the most corrupt city of the +world, he went in for research. The high power microscope that came +into vogue when he was studying, revealed vague wonders which he +described in a monograph, "Researches into the mucous tissues or +cellular organs." But what makes him interesting is a slender volume +on the "Medical Analysis of the Blood," published in the year of the +American Declaration of Independence. The sexual side of men and women +aroused Bordeu's most ardent enthusiasms. Starting with observations +on the characters of eunuchs and capons, as well as spayed female +animals, he formulated a conception of sexual secretions absorbed +into the blood, settling the male or female tint of the organism and +setting the seal upon the destiny of the individual. Thus he must be +donated the credit of anticipating the most modern doctrine on the +subject. + +The generation after him witnessed the triumph of the cell as the +recognized unit of structure of the tissues, the brick of the organs. +It was soon found that the cells of the more familiar glands, like +the sweat or tear glands, resembled the cells of the more mysterious +structures named the thyroid in the neck, or adrenal in the abdomen, +of which the function was unknown. What had hitherto prevented +classification of the latter as glands was the fact that they +possessed no visible pathways for the removal of their secretion. So +now they were set apart as the _ductless_ glands, the glands without +ducts, as contrasted with the glands normally equipped with ducts. +Since, too, they were observed to have an exceedingly rich supply of +blood, the blood presented itself as the only conceivable mode of +egress for the secretions packed within the cells. So they were also +called the blood or vascular glands. + +The names which became most popular were those which represented a +contrast of the glands with the ducts, conveying their secretion to +the exterior, as the glands of EXTERNAL SECRETION and the glands +without the ducts, the secretions of which were kept within the body, +absorbed by the blood and lymph to be used by the other cells, as +the glands of INTERNAL SECRETION. How different these two classes +of glands are may be realized by imagining the existence of great +factories manufacturing food products, which would diffuse through +their walls into the atmosphere, to be absorbed by our bodies. + +There are certain terms for the glands of internal secretion which +are used interchangeably. They are spoken of often as the _endocrine_ +glands and as the _hormone_ producing glands. Endocrine is most +convenient for it stands for both the gland and its secretion. Hormone +is employed a good deal in the literature of the subject. But it +applies specifically to the internal secretion, and not to the gland. + +THE EXPERIMENTAL PIONEER + +All this clarification of the concept of the glands of internal +secretion occurred in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. +However, no inkling of their real importance to the body, of which +quantitatively they form so insignificant a part, was apparently +revealed to anyone. Not even the most daring speculation or brilliant +guess work in physiology engaged them as material. Thus Henle, the +great anatomist, calmly affirmed that these glands "have no influence +on animal life: they may be extirpated or they degenerate without +sensation or motion suffering in the least." Johann Mueller, the most +celebrated physiologist of his day and contemporary of Henle, wrote +in 1844 and coolly stated, "The ductless glands are alike in one +particular--they either produce a different change in the blood which +circulates through them or the lymph which they elaborate plays a +special role in the formation of blood or of chyle." In other words, +they were dismissed as curious nonentities, of no real significance +to the running of the body. Laennec, the French founder of the Art of +Diagnosis in Medicine, once said that nothing about a science is more +interesting than the progress of that science itself. He might have +added that nothing either was more interesting than the contradictions +in that progress. For while these grand moguls of their sciences were +enunciating their dogmas, pioneers here and there were already setting +the mines that were to explode them. + +The experimental method, to the value of which biologists were +just beginning to awaken, was destined to be the vehicle of Time's +revenges. An application of it to the mysteries of sex was the +immediate occasion. Sex and sex differences have always more or less +obsessed the imagination of mankind. The volumes of theories about +them would constitute a respectable museum. Certain gross facts, +however, were known. The effects of loss of the sex glands upon the +configuration of the body and the predominating constitution in +animals and eunuchs have always attracted attention. The proverbs and +stories of all nations are full of references to them. But up to the +nineteenth century no controlled experimental work was ever carried +out regarding them. It was in 1849, that A.A. Berthold of Goettingen, a +quiet, sedate lecturer, carried out the pioneer experiment of removing +the testes of four roosters and transplanting them under the skin. It +was Berthold's idea to test whether a gland with a definite external +secretion, and a duct through which that secretion was expelled, +but which yet had powers over the body as a whole that were to be +attributed only to an internal secretion, could not be shown, by +a clean-cut experiment, to possess such an internal secretion. He +succeeded perfectly. For he found that, though, in thus separating the +gland from its duct and so cutting off its external secretion, the +action of the cells manufacturing that secretion was destroyed, the +general effects upon the body were not those of castration. The +animals retained their male characteristics as regards voice, +reproductive instinct, fighting spirit and growth of comb and wattles. +Whereas if the glands were entirely removed, these male traits, +peculiar to the rooster, were completely lost. The inference was the +existence of an internal secretion. + +To Berthold belongs the honor of being the first experimental +demonstrator who proved the reality of a gland with a true internal +secretion and the power it exercised through the blood upon the +entire organism. Besides, he showed that a typical gland of external +secretion could also have an internal secretion, a possibility never +before considered. That two kinds of cells could live within the same +gland: one set usually recognized as producing the external secretion, +the other evolving the internal secretion, was an astounding original +conception. + +ENTER CLAUDE BERNARD + +Science is supposed to be immune to the personal prejudices and +emotional habits of the vulgar. It is the tradition that a new +contribution to knowledge emerging from no matter how obscure the +source, should be hailed as a gift from the gods. But the sad truth of +the matter is that a new finding in science requires as much backing +as a new project in high finance or social climbing. Berthold, like +Mendel, the founder of genetics, was a great pioneer. But there was no +personage, no person of consequence, with no patronage by anyone of +consequence, no wife or kin, to push him, and no audience to stimulate +him. His poor four little pages of a report, published ten years +before Darwin's "Origin of Species," attracted not the slightest +notice. Buried in the print of a journal with a subscription list of +possibly two or three hundred, of whom perhaps two dozen may have been +interested enough to read it, but without any recorded reaction on the +part of any of them, it was a flash in the pan. Though it was good, +original, conclusive stuff, it was cut dead, absolutely, by the +scientific world. As a result, forty years elapsed before the +implications of his studies were rediscovered by the Columbus of the +modern approach to the internal secretions, the American Frenchman, +Brown-Sequard. + +It took a first class man of genius in his field, in Paris, with a +respected position in the whirl of its medical planetary system and +a university appointment, to boom and advertise the doctrine of the +internal secretions, so that people began to sit up and listen and +take sides--on the wrong grounds. This Frenchman was Claude Bernard. +At a series of lectures on experimental physiology delivered at the +College of France, in 1855, he coined the terms internal secretion and +external secretion and emphasized the opposition between them, on the +basis of an incorrect example, the function of the liver in the supply +of sugar to the blood. + +Just as Columbus reached America, carried on a series of logical +syllogisms, built upon unreal pictures of a straight path to the East, +Claude Bernard opened up the continent of the internal secretions to +the experimental enthusiasts of his time by a discovery which today +is not grouped among the phenomena of internal secretion at all. In +attempting to throw light upon the disease diabetes, in which there +is a loss of the normal ability of the cells to burn up sugar, he +examined the sugar content of the blood in different regions of the +body. He found that the blood of the veins, in general, contained less +sugar than the blood of the arteries, which meant that sugar was taken +from the blood in passing through the tissues. But the venous blood of +the right side of the heart contained as much sugar as the arterial +blood. Evidently, somewhere, sugar was added to the blood in the veins +before it got to the heart. The blood of the vein which goes from +the liver to the right side of the heart was then found to contain a +higher percentage of sugar than is present in the arteries. The vein +which transmits the blood from the intestines to the liver had +the usual lower percentage of sugar corresponding to the analysis +established for the other veins. The liver, therefore, must add sugar +to the blood on its way to the heart. Extraction of the liver then +revealed the presence in it of a form of starch, an animal starch, +which Bernard called glycogen, the sugar-maker. The origin of the +sugar added to the blood on its way from the liver to the heart was +thus settled. Bernard went on to hail glycogen and the sugar derivable +as the internal secretions of the liver, and to erect, and then drive +home, a theory of internal secretions and their importance in the body +economy. + +The case he had hit upon was exquisitely fortunate, as the liver had +hitherto been regarded purely a gland of external secretion, the bile. +Nowadays, glycogen and the blood sugar are not considered internal +secretions, because they are classified as elementary reserve food, +while the concept of the internal secretions has become narrowed down +to substances acting as starters or inhibitors of different processes. +Moreover, the process of liberation of sugar from glycogen itself in +the liver, upon demand, is today set down to the action of an internal +secretion, adrenalin. Claude Bernard's conception, like a novelist's +characters, has turned upon its creator, taken on a life of its own, +and evolved into something he never intended. He looked upon an +internal secretion as simply maintaining the normal composition of the +blood, which bathed alike and treated alike the democracy of cells. +Today, the blood is believed merely the transporting medium for the +internal secretion, destined for a particular group of cells. + +ADDISON'S AS THE FIRST ENGLISH CONTRIBUTION + +The years 1855-56 are red-letter years in the history of the glands of +internal secretion. They witnessed, not only the publication of +Claude Bernard's "Lectures on Experimental Physiology," but also the +appearance of a monograph by Thomas Addison, an English physician, +entitled "On the constitutional and local effects of disease of the +suprarenal bodies." In this, he described a fatal disease during which +the individual affected became languid and weak, and developed a dingy +or smoky discoloration of the whole surface of the body, a browning +or bronzing of the skin, caused generally by destructive tuberculous +disease of the suprarenal or adrenal bodies. Addison promptly put down +these constitutional effects of loss of the adrenal bodies to loss +of something produced by them of constitutional importance. He was +particularly struck by the change in the pigmentation of the skin, so +much so that his own designation for the affection was "bronzed +skin." Since then, however, the condition has been universally styled +Addison's Disease. + +There is something spectacularly mysterious and picturesque about most +of the malign, insidious effects of the disease which appealed at once +to a number of investigators. The most adventurous, the most daring, +the most imbued with enthusiasm for the experimental method, was the +American Frenchman, Brown-Sequard, who is acknowledged the father of +modern knowledge of the glands of internal secretion, though to Claude +Bernard belong the honors of the grandfather. + +BROWN-SEQUARD THE GREAT + +Brown-Sequard, as the outstanding figure in the history of the glands +of internal secretion, deserves some notice as a personality. In the +words of the note-makers for novels and plays, he was a card. He was +born in 1817 at Port-Louis, on the island of Mauritius, off Africa, +then French property. His father was a Mr. Brown, an American sea +captain; his mother a Mme. Sequard, a Frenchwoman. Early in childhood, +the father sailed away on one of his voyages and never came back. The +mother thereafter supported herself and her son sewing embroideries. +At fifteen, Brown-Sequard, with the physical appearance of an Indian +Creole, was clerking in a colonial store by day, and composing poetry, +romances and plays by night. The call of Paris was in his blood, which +was indeed a supersaturated solution of wanderlust. + +Soon he was landed there to make his fortune in literature, only too +speedily to be disillusioned. Exhibition of manuscripts to a leading +literary light merely evoked curt advice to learn a trade or go into +business. He would have none of either and studied medicine instead, +earning his way by teaching as he learned. In the laboratories, he +made the acquaintance of people who more than once were to be his +salvation in the ups and downs of his career. In 1848 he was one of +the secretaries of the Society of Biology, newly founded by Claude +Bernard. + +Some trouble, perhaps some effect upon his health of cholera which +then swept Paris, caused him to return to his native Mauritius, to +encounter an epidemic of cholera. There he slaved manfully, for which +a gold medal was afterward struck for him. That over with, he embarked +in 1852 for New York, without a word of American, learning English on +board. This was the first of a series of voyages. As he often boasted, +he crossed the ocean sixty times, not a bad record for the days when +the _Mauretania_ was still in the womb of time. He made a hopeless +failure out of practice in New York, became so poor as to practice +obstetrics at five dollars a case, and married a niece of Daniel +Webster. Then he went back to Paris. Back to America next as Professor +of Physiology at the University of Richmond, Virginia, a job occupied +for a few months only because of his opinions on slavery, ostensibly +anyhow. + +To Paris then the rolling stone meandered again. So that soon after he +was offered and accepted the charge of a great newly opened hospital +for epileptics in London. That proved merely an interlude and in +1863 we find him back in his fatherland (if we may hold France his +motherland) as Professor of Neuropathology at Harvard. In New York +fame preceded him now with a thousand trumpets, so that on the day of +his arrival, he was kept busy seeing patients until night, when he +had to desist because of exhaustion. But still he did not prosper. An +unfortunate second marriage almost broke his heart, and an attempt +to found in New York a new medical periodical, the _Archives of +Scientific and Practical Medicine and Surgery_, got him into hot +water. Not until the death of Claude Bernard in 1878 left vacant the +chair of physiology in the College of France, did he find peace and +rest. He hastened to Paris, was appointed, and lived, in spite of the +most erratic of existences, to the ripe old age of 78, working up to +the last minute. + +Addison's monograph stimulated Brown-Sequard, in the year after its +printing, to reproduce the fatal disease experimentally by excising +the suprarenal capsules in animals. Addison was very modest in his +monograph. He stated that the first case of the malady had been +reported by his great predecessor at Guy's Hospital, London, Richard +Bright, the describer of Bright's Disease. Then he talks about the +"curious facts" he had "stumbled upon" and refers to an "ill-defined +impression" that these suprarenal bodies, in common with the spleen +and other organs, "in some way or other minister to the elaboration of +the blood." In the preface to his work he had spoken more confidently +of the fact that Nature, as an experimenter and a vivisector, can +beat the physiologist to a frazzle. Indeed, he begins like this: "If +Pathology be to disease what Physiology is to health, it appears +reasonable to conclude that, in any given structure or organ, the laws +of the former will be as fixed and significant as those of the latter: +and that the peculiar characters of any structure or organ may be as +certainly recognized in the phenomena of disease as in the phenomena +of health. Although pathology, therefore, as a branch of medical +science, is necessarily founded on physiology, questions may +nevertheless arise regarding the true character of a structure or +organ, to which occasionally the pathologist may be able to return a +more satisfactory and decisive reply than the physiologist--these two +branches of medical knowledge being thus found mutually to advance and +illustrate each other. Indeed, as regards the functions of individual +organs, the mutual aids of these two branches of knowledge are +probably much more nearly balanced than many may be disposed to admit: +for in estimating them we are very apt to forget how large an amount +of our present physiological knowledge respecting the functions of +these organs has been the immediate result of casual observations made +on the effects of disease." William James expressed the same thought +some decades later, when he emphasized that the abnormal was but the +normal exaggerated and magnified, played upon by the limelight, and +therefore the best teacher and indicator of the exact definition and +limitations of the normal. + +Addison, speaking before the South London Medical Society in 1849, +declared that in all of three afflicted individuals there was found a +diseased condition of the suprarenal capsules, and that in spite of +the consciousness "of the bias and prejudice inseparable from the hope +or vanity of an original discovery ... he could not help entertaining +a very strong impression that these hitherto mysterious organs--the +suprarenal capsules--may be either directly or indirectly concerned +in sanguification (the making of the blood): and that a diseased +condition of them, functional or structural, may interfere with the +proper elaboration of the body generally, or of the red particles more +especially...." A modern, acquainted with after developments, would +say that Addison was very hot upon the trail indeed. But withal, +though he must have been well aware of John Hunter's advice to Jenner +on vaccination, "Don't think, make some observations," his training in +the indirect reasoning and deductions of the clinician prevented him +from going right on to a direct experimental test of his theories. + +This Brown-Sequard proceeded to do. Removing the adrenal glands in +several species of animals, he found, meant a terrible weakness in +twenty-four to forty-eight hours, and death shortly after. If only one +were removed, there was no change apparent in the normal animal, but +death occurred rapidly upon removal of the other, even after a long +interval. Furthermore, transfusion of blood from a normal into +one deprived of its suprarenals prevented death for a long time, +indicating that the suprarenals normally secreted something into the +blood necessary to life. + +The years 1855-1856 beheld two other important glands of internal +secretion, the thyroid, the gland in the neck astride the windpipe, +and the thymus, in the chest above the heart, make their debut. + +The thymus was introduced by the great classic monograph of Friedleben +on the "Physiology of the Thymus," in which he mentioned the usual +forgotten pioneers: Felix Plater, a Swiss physician, who in 1614 had +found an enlarged thymus in an infant dying suddenly, and Restelli, +an Italian, who interested himself in the effects of removal of the +thymus more than ten years before. Friedleben believed that in the +young without a thymus, there occurred a softening of the bones, and +general physical and mental deterioration. He started the ball rolling +for a number of researches. + +Moritz Schiff, of Frankfort-on-the-Main, showed that excision of the +thyroid gland in dogs is invariably fatal. A number of physicians in +the first half of the century had reported certain remarkable symptoms +associated with enlargement of the thyroid gland, as goitre. In 1825 +the collected posthumous writings of Caleb Perry, an eminent physician +of Bath, England, recorded eight cases, in which, together with +enlargement of the gland, there developed enlargement and palpitation +of the heart, a distinct protrusion of the eyes from their sockets and +an appearance of agitation and distress. Schiff's paper was the first +to throw any light on the subject. But for some reason, probably the +same as in Berthold's forlorn experiments with the sex glands, the +work of a person of no importance was ignored, or perhaps the more +charitable view is that it was forgotten. Yet the tide of observation +kept sweeping in relevant data. + +In 1850, Curling, an English pathologist, studying the cretinous +idiots of Salzburg, written about centuries before by Paracelsus, +discovered that with their defective brain and mentality there +was associated an absence of the thyroid body, and accompanying +symmetrical swellings of fat tissue at the sides of the neck. Then +Sir William Gull in 1873 painted the singular details of a cretinous +condition developing in adult women, a condition to which another +Englishman, William Ord, of London, five years later donated the title +of myxedema, because of a characteristic thickening and infiltration +of the skin that is one of its features. + +Surgery then enters upon the scene. The great Swiss surgeon. Theodore +Kocher, performed the first excision of the thyroid gland in human +beings for goitre, in the same year. In 1882, J.L. Reverdin, another +surgeon of Geneva, noticed that in man complete removal of the thyroid +was followed by symptoms identical with those collected under the name +of myxedema, and used the phrase "operative myxedema" to emphasize +his conviction of the connection between them. Then Schiff, in +1884, neglected twenty-five years, came back, with an array of +demonstrations, proving that the various symptoms, tremors, spasms and +convulsions, following removal of the thyroid, could be prevented by +a previous graft of a piece of the gland under the skin, or by the +injection of thyroid juice into a vein or under the skin, or by the +ingestion of thyroid juice or the raw thyroid by mouth. + +A crystallization of ideas about the true function of the thyroid was +now inevitable. In 1884, Sir Victor Horsley produced an experimental +myxedema by removal of the thyroid in monkeys, resembling closely in +its symptom-picture the disease as it occurs in human beings. Moebius, +a German neurologist, came out boldly for the conception that a number +of ailments could be due to qualitative and quantitative changes in +the secretion of the thyroid, and that just as myxedema and cretinism +were due to an insufficiency of the secretion, Parry's disease was +to be ascribed to an excessive outpouring of it. The next steps +were easy. In 1888, Sir Felix Semon, as an outcome of a collective +investigation, established for all time that cretinism, myxedema and +post-operative myxedema were one and the same. + +It was bound to occur to someone that if human myxedema and animal +experimental myxedema were one and the same, Schiff's procedure of +prevention and cure by feeding thyroid gland by mouth in the latter +could be applied to the former. The idea occurred to two men, Murray +and Howitz, in 1891. Murray's patient, a Mrs. H., was shown before the +Northcumberland and Durham Medical Society, an English country medical +organization, in February, 1891. She was forty-two years old and had +borne nine children. The illness attacking her had begun insidiously, +with a gradual enlargement and thickening of her face and hands. +She had become very slow in speech and gait, sensitive to cold, and +languid and depressed in spirit to the point of inability to go about +alone. Murray, employing the glycerin extract of the thyroid gland of +a freshly killed sheep, injected twenty-four drops hypodermically, +twice a week. There was an immediate and marvelous improvement, which +continued steadily, Murray finding that it could be maintained by +feeding the gland by mouth. The features and skin returned to the +normal, speech quickened and she became able to walk about and live +her life without hesitation or assistance. She lived to the age of +seventy-four, dying in 1919. In the twenty-eight years, during which +it was always necessary to administer the thyroid, she consumed over +nine pints of thyroid, comprising the glands of 870 sheep. + +Giants and dwarfs and fat people have always interested people as +freaks, departures from the usual and the normal, and have formed the +stock of popular museum, circus and country fair. Every mythology has +concerned itself with them. The Titans among the Greeks, Og, Gog +and Magog among the Hebrews, are examples of the fascination of the +superlarge. John Hunter, the founder of experimental surgery, spent a +fortune in chasing after the skeleton of a famous Irish Giant in 1783. +Dwarfs have also fascinated--witness the short-limbed satyrs of the +Greeks and the dwarf gods (Ptah and Bes) of Egypt, as well as the +vogue of the court dwarf-buffoons, of whom Velasquez has left us some +portraits. Fat people, obesity as a manifestation of personality, have +aroused wonder and amusement the world over. The Fat Boy has always +furnished good sport to the Sam Wellers. + +All these characters, tall or short, fat or lean, are related to the +activity of a gland of internal secretion in the head, the pituitary, +which became a centre of interest in the late eighties. Because of its +situation, the opinion of the ancients was that it was the source of +the mucus of the nose, an opinion reinforced by the greatest anatomist +of the Dark Ages, Galen, and held up to the seventeenth century. In +other words, it was considered simply a gland of external secretion. +Experimental removal of the pituitary was essayed by Horsley in 1886, +the same man who two years before had reproduced myxedema successfully +in monkeys. Others succeeded his attempt. But the conclusions drawn +were uncertain or contradictory, resulting from the difficulties of +the operative technique of getting at a gland placed at the base +of the brain. Not until 1908 was the problem solved by Paulesco of +Bucharest, who devised a way of reaching it by trepanning the skull. +He was thus able to prove beyond a doubt that the pituitary gland was +essential to life, and that without it no animal could continue to +live for any length of time. Soon after, Harvey Gushing and his +associates at Johns Hopkins Hospital discovered that removal of part +of the gland was followed by a pronounced obesity and sluggishness. +A basis for the understanding of obesity and growth was then +established. + +In the eighties, there came to the clinic of Pierre Marie in Paris, +a pupil of the great Charcot, various women complaining of headache. +They also told him about an enlargement of their hands and feet, and +an alarming change in the bones of the face. He differentiated the +affection from its imitators, and created its present designation of +"acromegaly" (enlargement of the extremities). Also he correlated +their relationship to the giants who have been mentioned. Acromegalics +have been also likened to the Neanderthal Man, who had probably, as +the gorillas may have, an excess of the pituitary in their systems. +For four years he studied the morbid phenomena in the tissues of these +sufferers at last consigned to their end. First one, and then another, +and then a third and a fourth exhibited a striking hypertrophy of the +pituitary body and a consequent widening of the portion of the base +of the skull which cradles the gland. He proceeded to say so in +the graduating thesis of his pupil, Souza Leite. The inference +was inevitable that the entire process was to be put down to an +overactivity of the pituitary. Ever since, too, the growth of the +skeleton has been accepted as controlled by that gland. + +About this time another set of old observations came to life again, +related to those of Docent Berthold on the auto-grafting of the testes +of a cock, with complete retention of its sexual characters, which he +said, must be due "to the productive action of the testes, i.e., to +its effect upon the blood, and thence to the corresponding effect of +such blood upon the entire organism." Of course, stock raisers and +poultry fanciers have noted the interesting outcome of castration for +about as long as their professions have existed. And for ages the +diminution of sexual activity as a predecessor to the decadence of +senility has been harped upon. Rejuvenation, especially in connection +with sexual activity, as well as with tissue and spiritual elasticity, +has been one of the haunting phantoms of the imagination for as long +as we have records of articulate humanity. Together with El Dorado, +the Elixir of Youth has shared the honors with the Philosopher's +Stone. The idea of employing the chemical materials of the sex glands, +the testes or the ovaries, to bring back youth, to restore juvenility, +had not, as far as we know, occurred to anyone who at any rate put +himself on record, by word or deed, until 1889. The hero of the new +departure was the hero of so many daring adventures among speculative +experiments, Brown-Sequard. + +At this time the wanderer was an aged sage, seventy-two years old, +fit, as custom goes, only for retirement and resignation to the fate +of all flesh. The old passion of experimenting upon himself as well as +upon the guinea-pigs, dogs, cats and monkeys, by which he was always +surrounded, was as alive and kicking as ever. I suppose he had been +thinking for years concerning some method for the resumption of youth, +for we find him exclaiming, when the opportunity loomed of a great +laboratory on Agassiz Island, Long Island, on one of his recurrent +flights to New York: "Would that I were thirty!" And other passages in +his personal communications refer again and again to his consciousness +of growing old. The miracles that were being performed by injecting +thyroid and feeding thyroid in animals probably acted as the spark to +an inflammable mass of ideas long smouldering in the subcellars of his +mind. The effects were reported to the Society of Biology in Paris, +one memorable evening, June 1, 1889, in two notes on the results of +the hypodermic injection in man of the testis juice of monkeys and +dogs, and certain generalizations deduced therefrom. Such juices, he +stated, had a definite energy-mobilizing or, as he put it, dynamogenic +action upon the subject himself, stimulating amazingly his general +health, muscular power and mental activity. + +These experiments, their nature, the manner in which they were +conducted, the character and age of the experimenter, and the results +claimed, were exquisitely good stuff for ridicule. Cartoonists and +reporters leaped upon the theme with the avidity of the true-blue +interviewer. Paris, where to be ridiculed is to be killed in public +with the most ignominious of deaths, reacted as only the French +temperament can react. The wits of the salons crackled, the +bourgeoisie chortled, the proletariat roared. The Elixir of Life had +been discovered and it was excellent sport. + +But Brown-Sequard remained unshaken. He had all the roues of Paris +running to him, and consequent charges of quackery and charlatanism. +How much of these unsavory epithets really applied to him will not be +determined until we have a better acquaintance with his more intimate +life. A biography and collection of his letters is needed. But it is +certain that the general principles he arrived at, aided as much by +the wings of intuition as by the clues of incomplete and incompletely +controlled experiments, survive as the foundations of whatever we know +about the internal secretions, and all our present viewpoints. He +summed these up in 1891 as follows: + +"All the tissues, in our view, are modifiers of the blood by means of +an internal secretion taken from them by the venous blood. From this +we are forced to the conclusion that, if subcutaneous injections of +the liquids drawn from these parts are ineffectual, then we should +inject some of the venous blood supplying these parts.... We admit +that each tissue, and, more generally, each cell of the organism, +secretes on its own account, certain products or special ferments, +which, through this medium (the blood), influence all other cells of +the body, a definite solidarity being thus established among all the +cells through a mechanism other than the nervous system.... All +the tissues (glands and other organs) have thus a special internal +secretion, and so give to the blood something more than the waste +products of metabolism. The internal secretions, whether by direct +favorable influence, or whether through the obstacles they oppose to +deleterious processes, seem to be of great utility in maintaining the +organism in its normal state." + +The only part of this statement not conceded today is that relating to +the formation of internal secretions by tissues other than those of +which the cells are definitely glandular, that is secretory: as can be +determined under the microscope. Brown-Sequard added to the concept +of internal secretions, fathered by Claude Bernard, the idea of a +correlation, a mutual influencing of them and of the different organs +of the body through them. The nervous system had hitherto been +regarded as the sole means of communication between cells, by its +telegraphic arrangements of nerve filaments reaching out everywhere, +interweaving with each other and the cells. The Brown-Sequard +conception inferred the existence of a postal system between cells, +the blood supplying the highway for travel and transmission of the +post, the post consisting of the chemical substances secreted by +the glands. To be sure, the doctrine was only an inference, though +well-founded, of which the direct experimental proof was not to +be obtained until the researches of Bayliss and Starling. Yet to +Brown-Sequard belongs the immortal credit, if not of the originator, +at any rate of the resurrector of the idea of using gland extracts to +influence the body. The unwarranted hopes aroused by his enthusiastic +reports of rejuvenating miracles have long since been dissipated. +Moreover, they smeared the whole subject with a disrepute which clings +to certain narrow and unreasonable minds to this day. But as every +physiologist since has acknowledged, he was and remains the great +path-breaker in the conquest of the internal secretions. + +THE HORMONES + +The problem of the internal secretions was now attacked from another +angle. A great Russian physiologist, Pawlow, called attention to the +fact that the introduction of a dilute mineral acid, such as the +hydrochloric acid, normally a constituent of the stomach digestive +fluid, into the upper part of the intestine, provoked a secretion +of the pancreas, which is so important for intestinal digestion. He +explained the phenomenon as a reflex, a matter of the nerves going +from the intestine to the pancreas. + +His pupil, Popielski, threw doubt upon so easy an explanation, by +proving that the same reaction could be elicited even after all the +nerve connections between the gut and the spinal cord were severed. If +the relation was a reflex, it would have to be classed now as one of +those local nerve circuits, which are pretty common among the viscera, +a local call and reply as it were, without mediation of the great long +distance trunk lines in the spinal cord and the medulla oblongata. + +The work of Bayliss and Starling, two English physiologists, was +commenced then to test the hypothesis. They soon found that the +experiment could be so devised as to exclude any influence whatever on +the part of the nervous tissues, and yet result positively. Thus, if a +loop of intestine was so prepared as to be attached to the rest of the +body only by means of its blood vessels, all the nerves being cut, +putting some acid into it was still followed by a flow of pancreatic +juice, no less marked than when none of the parts about the piece +of gut had been disturbed. It was evident that the stimulus to the +pancreas was carried by way of the blood stream. That the stimulating +substance was not the acid itself, was shown by the failure of the +reaction to occur when the acid was injected directly into the blood +stream. Since there was this difference in the effects between acid in +the intestine and acid in the blood, it was manifest that the active +substance must be some material elaborated in the intestinal mucous +membrane under the influence of the acid. So they scraped some of the +lining of the bowel, rubbed it up with acid, and injected the filtered +mixture into the blood. They were rewarded by a flow of pancreatic +juice greater in amount than any obtained in their other experiments. +From the filtered mixture they isolated in an impure form, a solid +substance which, when introduced into the circulation, has a similar +action. To this, of which the exact chemical make-up is as yet an +unknown, they gave the name secretin. + +Secretin and its properties they used to generalize as a perfectly +direct and amply demonstrable example of an internal secretion. +Metaphors are no less valuable in physiology than in poetry. They +declared that the internal secretions appeared to them to be chemical +messengers, telegraph boys sent from one organ to another through the +public highways, the blood (really more like a moving platform). So +they christened them all hormones, deriving the word from the Greek +verb meaning to rouse or set in motion. As a science is a well-made +language, a new word is an event. It sums up details, economizes +brain-work and so is cherished by the intellect. The study of the +internal secretions has advanced by leaps and bounds since it became +convenient to speak of them as hormones. Withal, the brilliant work of +Bayliss and Starling stands as the third great foundation stone, +the first Claude Bernard's and the second Brown-Sequard's, in the +architecture of the modern concepts of the internal secretions. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE GLANDS: THYROID AND PITUITARY + + +The glands of internal secretion, the history of which, as tools of +thought, I reviewed in the previous chapter, have each an interesting +evolutionary story. Without some acquaintance with that story, the +rough outline of their physical architecture, and the particular work +they are called upon to perform in the body, no adequate understanding +of their influence upon types of human nature and personality is +possible. + +THE THYROID GLAND + +This gland consists of two maroon colored masses astride the neck, +above the windpipe, close to the larynx. These are bridged by a narrow +isthmus of the same tissue. They remind one of the flaps of a purse +opened up. The gland has always attracted much attention because its +enlargement constitutes the prominent deformity known as goitre. + +To begin with, the thyroid was once a sex gland, pure and simple. In +the lowest vertebrates and in the homologous tissues of the higher +invertebrates, the fractions of the thyroid are intimately connected +with the ducts of the sexual organs. They are indeed accessory sexual +organs, uterine glands, satellites of the sex process. From Petromyzon +upward that relationship is lost, the thyroid migrates more and more +to the head region, to become the great link between sex and brain. +How alive that function still is, is grossly shown by the swelling of +the gland with sexual excitement, menstruation and pregnancy. + +Relative to the body weight it is largest in the mammalia, and +smallest in the fishes. It therefore grows larger as the vertebrate +ascends in the scale. It has, in fact, developed in direct proportion +to and side by side with the fundamental, differentiating vertebrate +characteristics. Of these, the possession of a dry hairy skin instead +of a moist or mucus bearing, chitinous skin, the ownership of +an internal bony skeleton and a large skull, and a complicated +development of brain, are the diagnostic signs. Thyroid internal +secretion has a very definite controlling relation to all of them: to +skin, its hairiness, moisture and amount of mucus, to the growth and +size of the bones, especially the bones of the extremities and the +skull, and to intelligence and the complexity of the convolutions of +the brain. Injury to the thyroid, especially in growing animals, is +followed by profound retrogression or arrest of development in skin, +skeleton and brain. + +In the fishes and the cyclostomes the thyroid is represented only by +some small scrubby patches, little larger than the heads of pins, +scattered along the aorta, the great blood vessels from the heart, and +out a little way along each gill. It becomes larger and more compact +among the amphibians and reptiles, but still remains quite small. +Large and prominent among the birds and mammalia, it is largest and +most prominent among the primates and man. It is hence permissible to +think of the thyroid as a dictator of evolution, to crown it as the +vertebrate gland par excellence, and to call the typical vertebrate +brand marks secondary _thyroid_ characteristics in precisely the +sense of Darwin classing the horns of cattle as secondary _sexual_ +characteristics. + +In such enthusiasm for the thyroid as a determinant of evolution, its +pillar of cloud by day and column of fire by night, one should not +forget the other glands of internal secretion. In them all, we may +suppose, Life, tired of inventing merely prehensile, destructive and +reproductive organs, hit upon the happy thought of contrivances which +are in essence chemical factories to speed up the rate of variation +and so of a higher evolution. + +CREATOR OF THE LAND ANIMAL + +According to this conception the thyroid played a fundamental part in +the change of sea creatures into land animals. Experimentally, thyroid +has been used to transform one into the other. Thus the occasional +change of a Mexican axolotl, a purely aquatic newt, breathing through +gills, into the amblystoma, a terrestrial salamander, with spotted +skin, breathing by means of lungs, has long been known. Feeding the +axolotl on thyroid gland produces the metamorphosis very quickly, even +if the axolotl is kept in water. In the reptile house at the London +Zoological Gardens full-grown examples of the common black axolotl and +the pretty white variety are exhibited. Some are nearly three inches +long. Alongside are shown several examples of the amblystoma stage, +produced in one of the laboratories of Oxford University and at +the gardens by thyroid feeding. A variation of the thyroid in the +direction of increased secretion was probably responsible for the +first land animals. + +THYROXIN, SECRETION OF THE THYROID + +Under the microscope, as in the test tube, the thyroid shows +remarkable and unique features. Closed spherules lined by a single +layer of cells enclosing a gelatinous material known as colloid, which +stains deeply with acid dyes, comprise the units of its architecture. +Essentially, it may be pictured as a series of jelly bubbles secreted +by outlying cells. + +A relatively high percentage of iodine is the unique distinctive fact +in its chemistry. Discovered by Baumann in 1895, the presence of the +element has focused the intelligence of chemists upon the gland, +with the consequent demonstration of arsenic also in it. It was soon +manifest that the secretion of the gland was dependent upon the +iodine content for its activity. Active extracts of the thyroid like +thyreoglobulin and iodothyrin were proven to contain iodine, and to +become inactive when the iodine was removed. Efforts to isolate the +iodine containing active principle in pure form were fruitless until +the work of Kendall at the Mayo Foundation. He obtained it as a white, +finely crystalline, odorless and tasteless substance, heat stable, +and analyzable. The free form separates as a sheaf of fine needles. +Kendall at first called it the a-iodine compound, then named it +thyroxin. + +There are other internal secretions of the thyroid, with a function of +their own, that have no iodine. But they are secondary, and obscure. +Thyroxin is accepted today as the purified internal secretion of the +thyroid because all the effects of the whole gland may be elicited +with it. Thyroxin produces results with doses amazingly minute +compared with the quantity of whole gland necessary. Moreover, a dose +of thyroxin appears to last an organism in need of it over a period of +time; the other has to be administered continuously. + +Studies with thyroxin carried on in recent years have rounded out the +whole concept of the business of the thyroid in the body economy. +One may sum it up by saying that the thyroid secretion is the _great +controller of the speed of living_. The more thyroid one has, the +faster one lives; the less one has, the more slowly one lives. + +That is not to imply any direct proportion between the amount of +thyroid secretion in an individual, and the length of life to which he +is destined. The speed of living, in the chemical sense (which is the +fundamental sense), and the rate at which the chemical reactions go on +that constitute the process of life, are dependent upon the thyroid. +When the reactions go faster, more oxygen and food material are burned +up or oxidized, more energy is liberated, the metabolic wheel rotates +more quickly, the individual senses, feels, thinks and acts more +quickly. + +Likening one energy machine to another, the thyroid may be compared +to the accelerator of an automobile. That is a rough and superficial +comparison because an accelerator lets in more of the fuel to be +burned up, while the thyroid makes the fuel more combustible. It thus +resembles more the primer, for a rich mixture of gasoline and air +burns at a greater velocity than a poor one. But the action of thyroid +could really be simulated only by some substance that could be +introduced into the best possible of gasoline mixtures, to increase +its combustibility by a hundred per cent or more. For that is what +thyroid will do to our food. Nor has it only this destructive or +combustion side. Withal there is at the same time a constructive +action, for the process frees energy to be used for heat, motion or +other need. The thyroid, therefore, in addition to its role as an +accelerator, acts, too, as the efficient lubricator for energy +transformations. So we see it as accelerator, lubricator and +transformer of our energies. + +THE GLAND OF ENERGY PRODUCTION + +The isolation of thyroxin has made possible the determination of the +influence of the thyroid hormone upon the evolution of energy in any +higher animal organism. There is, for every individual, a constant, +known as the metabolic rate, or the combustion rate, a reading of the +rate at which his cells are consuming material for heat. The metabolic +rate is thus a gauge of the energy pressure within the organism. +It may be calculated by measuring the amount of carbon dioxide gas +exhaled during a unit of time, and the number of calories of heat +radiated by the skin simultaneously. A simplified device has lately +rendered it practicable to make actual determinations by a few +five-minute readings of the rate of oxygen absorption by the lungs. +Plummer, also connected with the Mayo Foundation, has shown that what +would amount to less than a grain of the thyroxin would more than +double the amount of energy produced in a unit of time. To be exact, +one milligram of thyroxin increases the metabolic rate two per cent. +That illustrates some of the power of the internal secretion of the +thyroid and its importance to normal life. + +THE MOBILIZATION OF ENERGY + +But not only is the height of pressure of energy in the cells +controlled by the thyroid. The mobility of that energy is also +controlled. Without it, rapid and large fluctuations of energy output, +and elasticity and flexibility of energy mobilization for any sudden +mental or muscular act, let alone an emergency, become impossible. A +woman suffering with myxedema, the condition described by the English +physician Gull as a cretinoid state supervening in the adult life +of woman, has an insufficient amount of thyroxin in her blood and +tissues. She is clumsy and awkward and will stumble when endeavoring +to walk upstairs. Any effort is almost paralyzed because the range +of fluctuation of energy, the ability to mobilize energy, in turn +dependent upon an ability to increase the metabolic rate, is limited. +In slang phrase, she cannot step on it. Her existence is set to go at +a rate in the neighborhood of forty per cent below the normal. By the +administration of thyroxin, her metabolic rate can be raised to any +desired figure, the spark can be adjusted, so to speak, to any point +we like, and it can be so maintained for years. + +In the normal animal, to be sure, the internal secretion of the +thyroid is not absolutely essential to life. So it contrasts with the +hormone of the minute parathyroids placed so closely to it, a minimum +dose of which is absolutely a prerequisite for continued life. The +fundamental chemical reactions within the cells occur in the complete +absense of thyroxin. But they go on in a relatively fixed, rigid and +unvarying way, confined within the narrow limits of a constant figure. +Under such conditions, the level of energy production is bound to be +low, and to remain low, and the modus of its mobilization slow and +unwieldy. With thyroid is introduced the trick of _catalysis_, or the +speeding up of the vital chemical reactions, through the agency of an +_intermediate_ which accelerates the process. It is par excellence the +great catalyst of energy in the body. (A catalyst is an intermediary +like the trace of water, which will bring about an explosion between +dry oxygen and hydrogen that without it have stayed inert with the +strongest currents of electricity.) Thus it supplies a mechanism not +only for quantity output of that subtle reality we label energy, but +also an apparatus for varying the available amount of it, and for +permitting the maximum range in ease and rapidity of its utilization. +The thyroid is still another device of life for procuring more and +more variation and differentiation, its goal, as far as we can peer +through the opalescent screen upon which its manifestations quiver. + +From another point of view, the thyroid may be looked upon as the +organ evolved for maintaining the same amount of iodine in the blood +as there is in sea water. Sea water was our original habitat, since, +like Venus, we have all come up out of the sea. + +The more intimate study of the composition of the blood has revealed +the most astonishing parallelism between it and the compounds of sea +water. The blood is sea water, to which has been added hemoglobin as +a pigment for carrying oxygen to the cells not in direct contact with +the atmosphere, nutrients to take the place of the prey our marine +ancestors gobbled up frankly and directly, and white cells to act as +the first line of defense. To keep the concentration of iodine in the +blood a constant, the thyroid evolved, since there is no iodine in +most foods and very little in those which do contain it. + +That a minimum amount of iodine in the food is necessary to health is +shown by the existence of goitre regions. Around some of the Great +Lakes in the United States, for instance, the water does not contain +enough iodine. As a result, numerous cases of goitre occur. Iodine in +the form of sodium iodide in small doses will act as a prophylactic. +The amount of iodine in the blood is about one or two parts to ten +millions, and that of the liver is about three or four parts to ten +millions. Since the liver is the most complex and active chemical +factory in the body, its appropriation of a greater amount of iodine +for itself is understandable. + +When thyroxin is administered in a single dose, there is a distinct +lag in the absorption of it by the tissues. A single dose does not +generate its maximum effect until the tenth day. This effect continues +for about ten days. Then there is a gradual decrease in the intensity +of reaction for another ten days. So that the length of time a single +administration of thyroxin functions within the body is about three +weeks. Again we have occasion to notice a protective device of the +cells. Since the presence of thyroxin in the tissues determines the +rate at which they burn themselves up, it is obvious that if there +were no mechanism for retarding its action, and at need varying it, +they really would set fire to themselves. That is to say, if the +tissues held a maximum of the thyroid internal secretion, and had to +take up more and more as it was fed out to them by the thyroid through +the blood, the pressure of energy production would attain the state of +a boiler without a safety valve. Even if self-destruction were avoided +by the ingestion of the largest quantities of energy-bearing foods, +rest for the cells would be difficult, if not impossible. + +The thyroxin in the tissues diminishes after a period of great +exertion, the thyroxin probably being carried back to the thyroid +gland and kept there as reserve until further demand. So it has been +discovered that during the winter months, the thyroid glands of beef, +sheep and hogs all contain much less iodine than during the summer +months. During the winter months, manifestly, more energy is required +to maintain body temperature, hence the gland surrenders more of its +secretion to the tissues and so keeps less of it itself. There must +be, too, a certain wearing out of the potency of the iodine with time. +Even dead inorganic catalysts, made of simple elements, wear out after +having been used time and time again. + +Though the thyroid is the supreme energizer, life is incompatible with +a certain excess of it. Death can be produced by successive daily +injections of its internal secretion. But it has, besides the +energizing effect, certain formative and nervous influences equally +marvelous. As illustrations, there are the cases of thyroid +deprivation in human beings, cretinism and myxedema, as well as +those in which it is believed there occurs an excess of the +thyroid secretion in the blood and tissues, the condition of +_hyper_thyroidism. + +CRETINISM AS THYROID DEFICIENCY + +Not that there is any arresting contrast of startling difference +between the phenomena presented by different species. The younger the +animal, the grosser the morbid symptoms witnessed. The animal fails to +grow. The bones and cartilage, except of the skull, fail to develop. +The abdomen projects and becomes large and flabby. The sex organs +atrophy. There is sterility. Pregnant rabbits abort, hens produce +very small eggs or none at all. These are the results of removing the +thyroid in animals. + +Apathetic, indifferent, dirty, awkward, apparently idiotic, describe +the human cretins. Their skin is rough and coarse, peeling in sheets. +In some it is considerably knarled and creased as in the aged, and in +others swollen, hard and resistant. The hair becomes shaggy and rough, +losing all luster, and tends to grow irregularly and fall out. The +temperature becomes subnormal and an anemia supervenes. There is a +distinct reduction in the resistance to infections and intoxications. + +Cretinism in the human is a condition in which the burning taper we +call Life flickers and smoulders and smokes. Thirty years ago it +was an example of the most hopeless idiocy. Whole populations were +afflicted with it. But neither man of science, nor bigot-fanatic, +assured by the Divine Confidence of its meaning as a visitation, +believed it could be modified an iota. Today, that inept word "cure" +may be applied to our power of attack upon it, provided it is +permitted to attack early enough. Modification, in the direction of +the most surprising betterment, is the miracle that has been wrought. + +The history of a cretin runs somewhat as follows: A baby is born, +which in all appearances seems normal. Perhaps the nose is a trifle +squatter than even the average new-born's flat nose. There may also be +abnormal sleepiness, greater even than that of the normal baby in the +first month or two in that there is no spontaneous awakening from +the coma for food. But in most cases this is put down to normal +variability, or maybe to that limbo of all a baby's troubles: +weakness. After some months, it is noticed that the infant is failing +to grow at the normal rate, either physically or mentally. Examination +at this time reveals a curious thickening of the dental ridges. Then +the tongue takes the centre of the scene, by becoming unusually thick +and prominent, to the point of projecting beyond the mouth at all +times, and interfering with breathing, when the infant is in a +recumbent position. + +More and more of the characteristics of the affection turn up. The +queer, repulsive, pitiful face of the cretins, which makes them all +seem brothers or twins, shapes itself. A yellowish, white or waxy +pallor; rough, dry, scaly, bloated skin; swollen, often wrinkled brow; +watery eyes, often almost concealed by the thickened eyelids; the +depressed pug nose with its wide, thick nostrils; large, erect ears; +the wobbly, drooling tongue, sticking out at one, yet not in derision; +the hair thin, and like tow in texture rather than human; eyebrows +and eyelashes are scant, and often absent; the nails short, thin and +brittle; the teeth, very late in coming, may be represented by a few +sharp points, irregular, decaying quickly, sometimes not succeeded at +all by those of the second dentition. + +Whatever growth occurs is irregular and disproportionate. The trunk, +though small compared with the head, appears massive against the +background of the diminutive extremities. The back is somewhat humped, +arching at the waist-line, while the abdomen protrudes like a balloon, +with a hernia, often, at the navel. The extremities are short, bowed, +cold, and livid, covered with rolls of the infiltrated skin, rolls +which cannot be smoothed out. Hands and feet are broad, pudgy, and +floppy, the fingers stiff, square and spade-like, the toes spread +apart, like a duck's, by the solid skin. Above the collar bones there +are frequently great pads of fat which sometimes encircle the narrow +bull neck. + +The mental state varies with the degree of deprivation of the internal +secretion of the thyroid. In the worst cases it is repulsively +vegetable. Even the intelligence common to the higher animals is +wanting. The cretins of the "human plant" kind, as they have been +nicknamed, will not recognize mother or father or any person about +them, or even a person from an object, and manifest no interest in +anything or anybody, not even toys. Hunger and thirst they manifest by +grunts and inarticulate sounds, or by screaming. They neither smile, +cough, nor laugh, but sit like sphinxes, breathing, but not reacting. + +There are, of course, all grades and varieties. There are those who +recognize parents and familiar faces, and exhibit some evidence of +affection for them, acquire a limited vocabulary, and then cease, no +progress possible even with the alphabet. They attain the size and age +of two or three years and there stop altogether, as if a permanent +brake were applied to the wheels of their growth. Some higher types +may even come to speak connected sentences, and exhibit a certain +mild spontaneity, though stupid and slow and abnormally deliberate, +resembling the acquired form of thyroid deprivation or insufficiency, +for which Ord invented the name myxedema. + +I have filled in with some detail this thumbnail sketch of thyroid +deprivation as it occurs in infancy to illustrate how wide a sweep the +gland's lariat embraces. Skin, hair, bones, muscle and fat, brain and +intelligence, growth and development, are modified precisely as the +size and shape of certain crystals are modified by the presence or +absence of ingredients in an apparently homogeneous solution. A +fertilized ovum, in which the predecessor of the thyroid gland is +present, that is to say, in which there is the seed and soil for its +sprouting, looks the same as one without that formative material. Yet, +when the time comes for the internal secretion of the thyroid to put +in its oar in the metabolic game, its presence or absence makes all +the difference in the world to the individual. + +In the middle of the nineteenth century, when the concentration of +phosphorus in the brain was established as significant, the cry for +the emphasis of that fact was--without phosphorus no thought is +possible. We can much more relevantly declare that without thyroid, +no thought, no growth, no distinctive humanity or even animality is +possible. For the epigram about phosphorus was bombast, since it can +be declaimed with equal truth that without oxygen, without carbon, +without nitrogen, without any of the food elements that go to make +up the chemical composition of brain matter, no thought is possible. +Indeed, if one were set upon the indictment of a single chemical +element as the begetter of consciousness, the prisoner at the bar +would have to be copper. There is more copper in the brain by a +considerable degree than in any other organ of the body. Which perhaps +will be exceedingly regretted by the patrons of the aristocracy of the +soul who would have it as an emanation of a deposit in the brain of +silver at least, if not gold. They are like the old lady who would +never permit herself to be cured of her ailments except by gold plated +pills. Copper, however, is not necessary to intelligence. Without +thyroid there can be no complexity of thought, no learning, no +education, no habit-formation, no responsive energy for situations, +as well as no physical unfolding of faculty and function, and no +reproduction of kind, with no sign of adolescence at the expected age, +and no exhibition of sex tendencies thereafter. + +EFFECTS OF FEEDING THYROID + +How subtly the internal secretion affects every phase and aspect of +child as well as adult, by doing something to the speed of activities +in their cells, is told straightway by the effects of it when eaten +or introduced into the skin or blood of various people. A cretin, +idiotic, dwarfish, deformed, hopeless, an incessantly prodding burden +of sorrow to the mother, who looks upon the masterpiece she had +labored to bring forth, and beholds a terrible gargoyle, becomes +transformed when fed thyroid. + +In a few days the cretin will get warmer, and require much less +wrapping and bed-clothing. With the improvement in circulation, the +color becomes better and the extremities lose their coldness. In a +week or so, irritability and resentment at disturbance appear. He will +begin to recognize and know his parents, smile and play. There is +a gradual return to the normal of the facial appearance, and a +resumption of growth. All kinds of marvelous growth effects occur. +Twenty teeth may be cut in six months. Coarse, rough dry, shaggy hair +becomes fine, silken, long and curly. The skin becomes soft, moist and +roseate. Inches in height may be added every month. Bright, active, +even talkative, are the descriptive terms an observer would apply +after a few months. A complete remaking of body and soul is apparently +affected. + +Yet, should the administration of the thyroid cease, an almost +immediate reversion to the original vegetative condition is +inevitable. After a few days, reactiveness slows down, the child will +speak only when spoken to, will sit quietly in a chair all day and +act semi-anesthetized. Gradually hair and skin return to the previous +cold-blooded animal state, and the whole picture of the cretin is in +full bloom. Supplying the internal secretion of the gland promptly +repeats the transformation. + +One wonders what is to be the ultimate fate of these reformed cretins. +Since the tale of the opening of life to them, once considered +hopeless idiots, is scarce a generation old, we have no data, as +yet, as to the character of their children or grandchildren, their +adventures and vicissitudes, in short, their life history. Those of +whom we have any record are normal and healthy school children or +workers, alive to the interests of childhood or their occupation +and social circles. No one outside their family knows that they are +cretins, and the most acute observer would be hard put to it to +suspect. What a theme for the reflections upon appearances the eminent +Victorians loved! + +There are possibilities the imagination may envisage. One may suppose +such a cretin, with all his other ductless glands intact, grown +successfully to manhood under careful medical guidance. No one but +himself is aware of his affliction, outside of his medical advisers. +Luck aids him to rise in the world, or perhaps he has been born with +a spoon of the precious metals in his mouth. Adolescence, love and +marriage dance their sequence. Our hero of course keeps his dread +secret to himself. Whether such an omission of confidence would +entitle his wife to a divorce is something courts will be called upon +to decide sooner or later. But, without anticipating, the honeymoon +involves a trip to the South Seas. A storm and a wreck throws them +alone on an island, tropical, easy to live on, and rescue in the +course of a few months certain. The man, to his horror, discovers that +he has saved of his medicaments only a pill box containing half a +dozen of thyroid tablets, his requirement being one a day. He sees +them go day by day. Finally they are all gone. He feels his faculties +slipping hour by hour. Shall he tell her? Indecision grips him, and he +delays until the day when his consciousness sinks to the point where +his mind no longer grasps his problem. The wife must endure the +spectacle of the enchantment of her husband, and his change from +gallant lover to dull animal ogre. A new version of Beauty and the +Beast! + +Cretinism as one manifestation of a soul without thyroid or without +enough thyroid is not all. The first great successes with thyroid were +achieved in adults, particularly adult women, exhibiting a peculiar +obesity, coldness, loss of hair and teeth and a remarkable lassitude +and torpor that might be summed up as a chronic drowsiness, like a +saturation of the blood with some narcotic drug. Or there may be a +melancholia, or a lack of ability to seize the finer points of a +mental process, or an argument treated in the abstract. Children +are said to be lazy, slow or dull. They experience an irritating +difficulty in understanding questions and expressing their wants and +desires, and so are declared to be vicious, or stupid. + +All these are grades of the degeneration which Ord, the Englishman, +named myxedema. At its worst it is a sort of bloating and drying of +the body and the mind. Then there is infantilism, which is helped by +the giving of thyroid extract. It differs from the ordinary cretinism +in that, while one is reminded of the latter by the physical stunting +and the other stigmata, there is a certain amount of intelligence +which enables the individual to hold his own while he is a child. He +becomes a grown-up baby: at twenty prefers the company of children of +ten, and passes under the evil influence of designing so-called normal +persons. So dominated he will lie, steal, start fires, commit almost +any crime, with no inherent flair for criminality, but because of a +lack of independent judgment and inability to resist suggestion, and +a desire to please friends. He is simply an overgrown child who still +loves to play with toys, laughs and cries, becomes angry or afraid, +unreasonably and ridiculously, and yells for mamma when thwarted or +scared. + +So much for what happens when there is not sufficient of the thyroid +secretion in the blood and tissues. Now to consider the effects of +an excess of it, the condition called hyperthyroidism, as the +insufficiency of it is labelled subthyroidism. Too much thyroxin can +be introduced into the system of a normal individual, or even a cretin +by the simple administration of too large doses or over too long +a time. Also a train of symptoms similar to those evoked by an +oversecretion of the thyroid may be mobilized by the taking of too +much iodine. Great sorrow, great joy, a sudden severe jolt to the +nervous equilibrium, sexual excitement, an overwhelming anger or grief +may leave in their wake a permanent hyperthyroidism. The symptoms are +the reverse of cretinism and myxedema. There is an over-excitability +of the nerves in place of sluggishness, and an over-reactivity of the +whole organism to its environment. The heart's action is too fast, and +under the slightest stimulus gets faster to the point of obtruding +itself into the conscious mind as a palpitation. Instead of the +lowered temperature and coldness of the cretin, there is a heightened +temperature, one or two degrees above the normal, and a feeling of +heat. The individual has a high warm color, does not sleep well, +becomes or remains thin no matter how much he or she eats, is +abnormally susceptible sexually, may suffer from a definite insomnia, +is emotional, and perspires freely. Alert, neurotic or high-strung, +magnetic, and imaginative are some of the descriptive adjectives +applicable. The eyes are bright and prominent, large and beautiful, +when they have not reached the stage entitled "pop-eyed." Or they may +even become so protuberant and bulging as to develop the expression of +one staring aghast at some ineffable horror. The latter is the feature +of only the severest types, when there is an associated goitre, the +combination designated as exopthalmic goitre. + +There are, too, individuals in whom hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism +are mixed, or rather alternate. At one time they present the phenomena +of the one, at another of the other. They are the people who complain +of the cyclic quality of their moods and purposes. Their mood will +be a heaven of exaltation and exhilaration, and then descend into a +slough of despond from which they feel themselves inextricable. They +are always talking about the ups and downs of their mental states. +Headache and languor and fatigability, dry skin and lack of appetite +for food or exertion on one day or for one week, give way on the next +day, or for the next week, to an energetic gayety, and sweaty, flushed +skin, a prominent appetite for food and every sort of activity. Driven +to be forever on the go, for one period, in the next they feel like +lying down most of the day, with no inclination for any life whatever. +The stage of depression may go as far as a melancholia, the stage of +stimulation as far as mania. They may simulate manic-depressive or +cyclic insanity. Something restrains them, and holds them bound as in +a vise in the one cycle. And then they are driven on beyond themselves +by some invisible whip in the next. + +THYROID AS DIFFERENTIATOR + +Besides the action of the thyroid as energizer, lubricator, and growth +catalyzer, it has a remarkable power as a differentiator of tissues. +It determines the embryonic etchings of the different organs which in +their totality comprise the unique individual. Every multicellular +animal must first have existed as a single cell, the impregnated ovum. +With the body and personality of the ovum, the creature is one and +continuous, literally something the single cell has made of itself by +sub-dividing and differentiating. In the process, the cell mass often +goes through stages which stand out as individualities in themselves, +that appear on the surface absolutely unrelated. So the caterpillar +and the butterfly, to the naive child, seem as far apart as worm and +bird. In the case of the frog, the tadpole as a first sketch seems +completely an impossible and wild absurdity. Yet we know that there is +an orderly progression of events, a propagation of cells, a forward +going arrangement of chemical reactions, that results in expansion and +intricate complication of the organism. Just what the forces at work +in this most mysterious of all natural processes are, has been an +intellectual mystery that the best minds of the race have attempted +to get rid of with words like pangenesis (Darwin). Words of Black +(Mediterranean or Greek and Latin) origin, as Allen Upward has named +them, always cover a multitude of ignorances. The glands of internal +secretion, here, as in so many other dark places, provide the open +sesame to certain long closed doors of biology. They offer themselves +to us as the first definitely tangible agents which are known to keep +the process of growth going, and undoubtedly initiate the marvelous +unfolding of tissues and functions, organs and faculties summed up as +development or differentiation. + +Thus by the direct feeding of thyroid at particular points in the +differentiating history most curious effects have been elicited. If +the gland is made part of the nutriment, the bathing environment, of +the tadpole, a hastening of its metamorphosis is attained. The tadpole +lives not out its day as a tadpole, but precociously turns into a +frog. But such a frog! It is a miniature frog, a dwarf frog, a frog +seen by looking through the wrong end of the telescope, a frog not +magnified, but micrified. Frogs have been so created the size of +flies. There has occurred a splitting of the two reactions which +ordinarily go hand in hand: the reaction of growth which is just brute +increase of total mass or weight and volume, and the reaction of +differentiation which is the finer process. The picture is a frog, but +a frog the size of a tadpole, a frog which has missed its childhood, +adolescence and youth, skipping over these transition stages into the +adult age, as a pigmy. + +It is all as if a baby were suddenly to grow a beard and moustache, +evolve and shed teeth, and acquire the manner of an earnest citizen, +and yet retain the height and weight of a baby. That the spectacle +of such a superbaby is not quite the most fantastic of all +improbabilities is shown by the condition of progeria, first recorded +by the Briton, Hastings Guilford. A queer spectacle in which a child +incontinently grows old without having lived--in the course of a few +weeks or months. You look upon him and see senility on a small scale, +but with all its peculiarities: wrinkled skin, apathy, gray hair and +all the rest of it. All we can say about it is that it is probably due +to a paralysis of all the glands of internal secretion, a removal +of their influence upon the cells. Contrariwise to the feeding of +thyroid, removal of the thyroid of tadpoles will prevent their +development into frogs. If iodine is then fed to them, say mixed with +flour, normal metamorphosis will occur. If Body is the tool chest +which we carry about with us, as Samuel Butler said, then to the +thyroid belongs the name of tool-maker. + +Another function of thyroid that must be taken into consideration is +what has been spoken of as its antitoxic function--in plainer English, +its power to prevent poisoning, or to increase resistance against +poisons, including the bacteria and other living agents which +cause the infectious diseases. Each molecule of food, ingested for +assimilation into our substance, accumulates a history of wanderings +and pilgrimages, attachments and transformations beside which the +gross trampings of a Marco Polo become the rambling steps of a +seven-league booted giant. In the course of its peregrinations, it +becomes a potential poison, potential because it is never allowed to +grow in concentration to the danger point. The thyroid plays its role +of protector like all the internal secretory machines. In an animal +deprived of a thyroid the feeding of meat shortens life--a single +sample of how it works to guard against intoxication from within. The +feeding of thyroid will also raise the ability of the cells to stand +poisons introduced from without--intoxications of all sorts. Alcohol +and morphine will affect in much smaller doses the subthyroid person +than the normal or the hyperthyroid. As regards the infections, which +directly or indirectly kill most of us, the injection of thyroid will +increase the content in the blood of the protective antibodies which +preserve us, temporarily at any rate, against malignant invaders. The +opsonins, for example, those substances which butter the bacteria so +that the appetite of the white cells for them is properly roused, are +mobilized by thyroid feeding or injection. Other substances in the +blood which destroy and dissolve bacteria are also increased. The +thyroid probably performs these functions by sending its secretion +to the cells directly responsible for the immunity reactions, and +stimulating them to activity. + +A sketch of the thyroid like the foregoing shows it as the wondrous +controller of vitality and growth, and indefatigable protector against +intoxicants and injuries. When it is sufficiently active, life is +worth while; when it is defective, life is a difficult threatening +blackness. That would make it out as the gland of glands. It is +tremendously important, without a doubt, in normal everyday life. But +no more so than the other members of the cast. The position of star it +may claim, but in vain. The other glands of internal secretion to +be sketched will each, when the marvels of its business in the +cell-corporation are considered, present itself as candidate for the +honors of the president. Justice should give fair credit to all +the organs which fabricate the reagents of individuality, and the +regulators of personality. + +THE PITUITARY + +In the human skull, the pituitary is a lump of tissue about the size +of a pea lying at the base of the brain, a short distance behind the +root of the nose. It is of a grayish-yellow color, unpretentious and +insignificant enough in appearance, and so long neglected by the +scientists who boast their immunity to the glamor of the spectacular. +Guesses at its nature date back to Aristotle. + +Like most of its colleagues among the glands of internal secretion, +it is really two glands in one, two glands with but a single name. At +least it consists of two different parts, distinct in their origin, +history, function and secretions, but juxtaposed and fused into what +is apparently a homogeneous entity. They are conveniently spoken of as +the anterior gland and the posterior gland. + +In the embryo, the anterior gland is derived by a proliferation of +cells from the mouth area. The posterior gland represents an outgrowth +of the oldest part of the nervous system. When it is traced back along +the tree of the vertebrate species, it is found to be present in all +of them. An ancient invention, its precursor has been identified in +worms and molluscs and even among the starfish. "The pituitary +is practically the same, from myxine to man." A trusted veteran, +therefore, among the internal secretory organs, its importance can be +surmised. + +To understand the story of the pituitary, variously acquired bits of +information concerning it have been assembled and fitted together like +the fragments of a picture puzzle, as Cushing has so well put it. Here +and there pieces stick out, obviously out of place. The relations of +some of them to one another or to the whole design are not at all +clear. Parts appear to have been irrevocably lost, or not yet to have +turned up. Chance bystanders will select odd figures and articulate +them into a new harmony. Yet out of the jumble of fragments, a fairly +respectable insight has been gained in less than a half century. + +The pituitary is cradled in a niche at the base of the skull which, +because of its form, is known as the Sella Turcica or Turkish saddle. +So situated, an operative approach to it is overwhelmingly difficult. +On the other hand, X-ray studies are favored. "Nature's darling +treasure" it might be called, since there has been provided a skull +within the skull to shelter it. + +Under the most highly magnifying lenses of the microscope, three kinds +of cells have been distinguished. The anterior gland is a collection +of solid columns of cells, surrounded by blood spaces into which their +secretion is undoubtedly directly poured. A gelatinous material, +presumed to be the internal secretion of the gland, has, in fact, been +observed emerging from the cells into the blood spaces. The posterior +lobe, or gland, consists of secreting cells producing a glassy +substance which finds its way into the spinal fluid that bathes the +nervous system. The spinal fluid itself is a secretion of another +gland at the base of the brain, the choroid. Nerves and internal +secretion are associated here with a closeness symbolic of their +general relations. + +From each portion of the gland (to stick to the accepted nomenclature +of speaking of the two glands as one) an active substance has been +isolated. Robertson, an American chemist, separated from the anterior +lobe a substance soluble in the fat solvents, like ether and gasoline, +which he christened tethelin. But P.E. Smith has shown that the active +material is soluble neither in boiling water nor in boiling alcohol, +the typical fat solvent. A number of facts favor the idea of the +anterior lobe cells as stimulants of growth of bone and connecting +and supporting tissues generally. From the posterior lobe, pituitrin, +believed its internal secretion, has been obtained in solution. + +Pituitrin is a substance of many marvelous functions. In general, it +controls the _tone_ of the tissues, of involuntary or smooth muscle +fibres of the blood vessels and the contractile organs of the body +like the intestines, the bladder and uterus. When injected, it will +slowly raise the blood pressure and keep it raised for some time, and +will increase the flow of urine from the kidneys and of milk from the +breasts. It will also cause an intense continued contraction of the +bladder and the uterus. It is also said to control the salt content of +the blood upon which its electrical conductivity and other properties +depend. Normally, there is a certain fixed ratio of the salts in the +blood, which keeps them like the ratio in sea-water. Again, we have +an example of the curious atavism of the internal secretions. The +thyroid, remember, keeps the iodine concentration of the blood like +that of the ocean, our original habitat. Pituitrin likewise does its +part to maintain our internal environment as near as possible to what +was once the surrounding medium. A substance somewhat similar has been +found in the skin glands of toads. + +The extraordinarily well protected position of the pituitary, its +persistence throughout life, and its abundant blood supply, emphasize +its vital importance. No other gland of internal secretion can +adequately substitute for it. Complete expiration means death, in two +or three days, with a peculiar lethargy, unsteadiness of gait and loss +of appetite, emaciation, and a fall of temperature, so that the +animal becomes cold-blooded, its temperature the same as that of the +atmosphere it occupies. If only part of the anterior lobe is taken +away, there occurs a remarkable degeneration of the individual. The +degeneration is not a mucinous infiltration of the skin and the +internal organs which occurs with thyroid deprivation, but a fatty +degeneration, with a tendency to inversion of sex. A singular +somnolence, a dry skin, loss of hair, a dull mentality, sometimes +epilepsy, and a noticeable craving for and tolerance of sweets appear. +These are but a few of the observations obtained in experimental +sub-pituitarism, that is, underaction or insufficient secretion of the +pituitary, produced by removing part of the anterior gland. + +If such an experimental sub-pituitarism is started in infancy, for +instance in puppies, there is a cessation, or marked hindering and +slowing of growth. That is, dwarfs are artificially created. Apropos, +pathologists have shown that in several true human dwarfs the gland +is rudimentary or inadequate. All of which goes hand in hand with the +evidence that the skeleton stands directly under the domination of the +pituitary. + +REGULATOR OF ORGANIC RHYTHMS + +There are certain other singular by-effects of the gland in its +relation to the periodic phenomena of the organism like hibernation, +sleep, and the critical sex epochs of both sexes. In hibernation, or +winter sleep, the animal in cold weather passes into a cataleptic +state in which it continues to breathe, more deeply but more slowly +than when awake, but shows no other signs of consciousness or life. +A lowered blood pressure and a marked insensitivity to painful and +emotional stimuli go with it. There is a preliminary storage of starch +in the liver, and of fat throughout the fat depots of the body. These +are so like what happens after part of the pituitary is removed, that +a comparison of the two becomes inevitable. Common to both conditions +is a drop in the rate of tissue combustion or metabolism, which can +be relieved by injection of an extract of the pituitary, a rise of +temperature occuring simultaneously. Moreover, examination of the +glands of internal secretion of hibernating species, like the +woodchuck, during the period of hibernation, shows changes in all of +them, but most marked in the pituitary, the shrunken cells staining +as if they too were asleep, or in a resting stage. The characteristic +alive qualities of these cells return, without relation to food +or climate, when the animal comes to in the spring, at the vernal +equinox. Hibernation may, perhaps, be put down to a seasonal wave of +inactivity of the pituitary gland. + +Now winter sleep may be looked upon as an exaggeration of ordinary +night sleep, the latter differing from the former only in its brevity. +In the natural sleep of non-hibernating species there occurs, too, +a fall in temperature. Moreover, they all, even man, have a certain +capacity for winter sleep, as the experiences of travellers and +explorers in the arctic regions indicate. In certain parts of Russia, +where there is a scarcity of food during the winter months, the +peasants pass weeks at a time in a somnolent state, arousing once a +day for a scant meal. Just as the sex glands influence the body and +mind profoundly with a certain cyclic periodicity of activity and +inactivity (rut, heat, menstrual period and so on), which has been +demonstrated to have a very close functional relationship with the +pituitary, so sleep and hibernation will bear interpretation as +products of a temporary dormancy of the same gland. We have, then, +to set up in the place of Morpheus and Apollo, the new gods of the +internal secretion of a chemical-making bit of the brain, as an +explanation of the rhythms of sleep and wakefulness. + +There are individuals who go about outside of hospital walls, +quasi-normally, who are semi-hibernators or partial hibernators, and +who are really in a state of subpituitarism. They are people who may +have something wrong or inferior with their pituitary, but not to the +extent of interference with their daily life. They go about with their +type stamped upon them for the seeing eye. The classical type is +obese, with fat distributed everywhere, but more so in the lower +abdomen and the lower extremities. They are slow and dull, and +sexually inactive, often impotent. They are sometimes tall, but most +often dwarfish, and may be subject to epileptic seizures. They recall +the picture of what happens to young dogs partially deprived of the +pituitary. Dickens delivered a perfect likeness of an extreme degree +of the condition in the Fat Boy of the "Pickwick Papers," whose +employment with Mr. Wardle consisted in alternate sleeping and eating. + +WHEN THE PITUITARY OVERACTS + +All grades of overaction of the pituitary exist. Then its peculiar +power to act as a stimulant to the growth of bone and the soft +supporting and connecting tissues like tendons and ligaments comes +into play. If the overaction or excess of secretion begins in +childhood or adolescence, that is, before puberty, there results a +great elongation of the bones, so that a giant is the consequence. Now +giants have always appealed to the imagination of the little man, and +have had all kinds of wonderful abilities ascribed to them by him. The +giants and ogres of folk-lore and fairy tales are favored with the +most extraordinary mental advantages. Direct and analytic acquaintance +with the giants of our own day, as well as a probing of their conduct +in the past, has shown that normal giants--persons of exceptional size +free from physical or mental deformities--are rare. There are people +with _hyper_-pituitarism who exhibit the highest mental powers. In +them is an increased activity of the posterior lobe in association +with enlargement and hyperfunction of the anterior, overgrowth is not +so marked, and the individual is lean and mentally acute. But the +ordinary giant is one in whom there is degeneration of the pituitary +after too much action of the anterior and too little of the posterior +glands. A tumor or disease process in the gland is most often +responsible. + +If the overaction of the anterior happens after puberty, when the +long bones have set, and can not grow longer, a peculiar diffuse +enlargement of the individual occurs, especially of his hands and feet +and head. The nose, ears, lips and eyes get larger and coarser. +As these people are rather big and tall to begin with, the effect +produced is that of a heavy-jawed, burly, bulking person, with bushy +overhanging eyebrows, and an aggressive manner. For there is, too, +something distinctive about their mentality which has been as often +portrayed as those of the pathologic giant. Rabelais' most famous +character, Gargantua, belongs to the group. We recruit more +drum-majors than prime ministers from among these people. They +often suffer much from torturing boring headaches, and a consequent +despondency and feeling of hopelessness which colors gray the entire +spiritual spectrum. Up to a certain point these sufferers have a +remarkable alertness and capacity. When conscious of the malady, they +often meet it with a doggedly courageous optimism, which is another +characteristic, although women occasionally commit suicide. + +In both the semi-hibernators who remind one of cattle, and in the +giant or acromegalic types who remind one of the anthropoid ape, there +develops a distinct diminution of sexual life. An abnormal process in +the anterior gland, whether of oversecretion or of undersecretion, +may interfere with the proper functioning of the posterior gland, the +secretion of which is tonic not only to the brain cells, but also to +the sex cells. Thus, young animals deprived of the pituitary will not, +if male, grow spermatozoa, nor ripe ova in the female. Moreover, the +feeding of pituitary increases sexual activity. In the case of hens, +this has been demonstrated to be about thirty per cent by a pretty +experiment. At a time of the year when eggs diminish, six hundred +and fifty-five hens laid two hundred and seventy-three eggs upon an +ordinary diet. When pituitary was added to their food for four days, +the number of eggs rose to three hundred and fifty-two, an increase of +seventy-nine. In addition, the fertility of the chicks born of these +eggs was augmented, especially if both parents had been fed on +pituitary. There are other aspects of the relation of the pituitary to +sex, which will be treated in another chapter. + +THE BONY CRADLE OF THE PITUITARY + +Always, in attempting to understand the pituitary, it is necessary to +remember that it is tightly packed in the bony cradle, the Turkish +Saddle or Sella Turcica. Should some stimulus, local, or in the blood, +arouse the gland to growth, a good deal will depend upon whether it +has room to grow in, or it will make room by eroding the bone. With +space for the formation of a large anterior and posterior pituitary +gland, there will be created the long, lean individual, with a +tendency to high blood pressure and sexual trends, great mental +activity, initiative, irritability and endurance. An outstanding trait +of these favorites of fortune is that they remain thin no matter how +much food they consume, and they have the best of appetites. They +often are subject to severe headaches because of intermittent swelling +of the gland against the bone of its container. + +If the bony container is or becomes too small for its contents, it +is interesting that along with the other signs of pituitary +insufficiency, such as undersize, obesity, and asymmetry, there +developes conspicuous moral and intellectual inferiority. The +unfortunates suffer from compulsions and obsessions and lack +inhibitions. They are the pathological liars with little or no +initiative or conscience--amoral, not merely theoretically, but +instinctively and unconsciously, with all the certitude and perfection +of the unconscious accomplishment. + +THYROID AND PITUITARY + +The thyroid and the pituitary have often been compared. The anterior +gland and the thyroid arise from almost the same spot in the embryonic +oesophagus, the thyroid being an outgrowth in front, the anterior +pituitary an outgrowth behind of the same soil. They both control +growth marvelously, also the differentiation, the mass and intricacy +of the tissues. But they differ in the site of their control. The +thyroid bears more directly upon the inner and outer coverings of the +body, the skin, the skin glands and the hair, the mucous membranes, +and the irritability and the preparedness for response of the nerves. +The pituitary acts more upon the framework of the body, the skeleton +and the mechanical supports and movers. Bone and ligament, muscle +and tendon seem to be within its immediate sway. The secretion or +secretions of the pituitary diffuse directly into the fluid bathing +the nervous system, supplying beneficent stimulants and aiding in the +abstraction of harmful waste. So while the thyroid raises the energy +level of the brain, and the whole nervous system, as a byproduct of +its general awakening effect upon all the cells of the body, the +pituitary probably stimulates the brain cells more directly, perhaps +in the manner of caffeine or cocaine. + +The difference between the thyroid and the pituitary might be put this +way: that while the thyroid increases energy evolution and so makes +available a greater supply of crude energy, by speeding up cellular +processes, the pituitary assists in energy transformation, in energy +expenditure and conversion, especially of the brain, and of the sexual +system. In short, the thyroid facilitates energy production, the +pituitary its consumption. The pituitary appears therefore as the +gland of continued effort. Hence fatigability, an inability to +maintain effort, is one of the prominent complaints when there is +destruction or an insufficiency of it for one reason or another. As +such, it contrasts with the glands of emergency effort, known as the +adrenals. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE ADRENAL GLANDS, THE GONADS, AND THYMUS + + +Like the pituitary, each adrenal gland is a double gland, that is, +consists of two distinct portions, united together, one might say, by +the accident of birth. It would be confusing, however, to speak of +each as two glands, because there are, as a matter of fact, two +separate adrenal glands, one in the right side of the abdomen, and the +other in the left. Each gland is composite, or duplex. How the two +parts came to be united is a long story, interesting but too long to +be recounted here. In fishes they are apart and independent. + +Each adrenal is a cocked hat shaped affair, astride the kidneys, +easily recognized because of its yellowish fatty color. Indeed, for +centuries the glands were not given a separate status as organs, but +were passed up as part of the fat ensheathing the kidney. In childhood +and youth, in common with the other glands, they are relatively larger +and more prominent than in the adult. Also, at every age, the amount +of blood passing through them is very large compared to their size. +Their tremendous importance in the body economy accounts for their +being so favored. + +The two parts of which each gland is composed, are known as the cortex +or outer portion (literally the bark) and the medulla or inner portion +(literally the core). No clean-cut boundary sharply delimits the two, +as strands and peninsulas of tissue of one portion penetrate the +other. In the history of their development in the species and the +individual, and in their chemistry and function, a sharp difference +contrasts them. + +In the embryo, the cortex is derived from the same patch that gives +rise to the sex organs, the ovaries in the female, and the testes in +the male, described as the germinal epithelium. How intimately the +two sets of glands are connected is neatly pointed by this fact of a +common ancestor. All vertebrates possess adrenal glands. In the lowest +of the vertebrates, Petromyzon, the two parts are distinct, the cells +of the cortex-to-be are situated in the walls of the kidney blood +vessels, projecting as peninsulas in the blood stream, the blood +sweeping over and past them. The medulla-to-be consists of cells +accompanying the vegetative nerves. Among reptiles, the two become +adjacent for the first time, and among birds one part occupies the +meshes of the other. The size of the cortex varies directly with the +sexuality and the pugnacity of the animal. The charging buffalo, for +example, owns a strikingly wide adrenal cortex. The fleeing rabbit, +on the other hand, is conspicuous for a narrow strip of cortex in its +adrenal. Human beings possess a cortex larger than that of any other +animal. + +No definite chemical substance has as yet been isolated from the +cortex. That remains a problem for the investigator of the future. But +certain observations, especially concerning the relation between +the development and behaviour of the so-called secondary sex +characteristics, those qualities of skin, hair and fat distribution, +physical configuration and mental attitudes, which distinguish the +sexes, and the condition of the gland, indicate clearly that an +internal secretion will be isolated, and that it will in its activity +furnish certain predictable features. + +Three different layers of cells, arranged in strings, that +interpenetrate to form a network directly bathed by blood, that breaks +in upon them from _open_ blood vessels, compose the cortex. Most +remarkable is this method of blood supply for it is exceedingly common +among the invertebrates and rare among the vertebrates. + +In certain disturbances of these glands, especially when there are +tumors, which supply a massive dose of the secretion to the blood +presumably, peculiar sex phenomena and general developmental anomalies +and irregularities are produced. If the disease be present in the +fetus, taking hold before birth, and so brought into the world with +the child, there evolves the condition of pseudo-hermaphroditism. The +individual, if a female, presents to a greater or less extent the +external habits and character of the other sex. So that she is +actually taken for a man, although the primary sex organs are ovaries, +often not discovered to be such except when examined after an +operation or death. How closely such an occurrence touches upon the +problems of sex inversion and perversion comes at once to mind. + +If the process involving the adrenal cortex attacks it after birth, +the symmetrical correspondence and harmony of the primary sex organs +and the secondary sex characters are not affected. But there follows +a curious hastening of the ripening of body and mind summed up in the +word puberty, a precocious puberty, with the most startling effects. +A little girl of 2, 3, or 4 years of age perhaps will come to exhibit +the growth and appearance of a girl of 14. She begins to menstruate, +her breasts swell, she shoots up in height and weight, sprouts the +hair distribution of the adult, and the mentality of the adolescent, +restless, acquiring, doubting, emerge. A tot bewitched into puberty! +A boy of six or seven may suddenly, in the course of a few weeks or +months, become a little man, robust, rather short and stocky, but +moustached, with the muscular strength and sexual powers of a man and +thinking as a man. It is all as if into some fermentable medium or +solution a little yeast were dropped that changed the quiet calm of +its surface into a bubbling, effervescing revolution. It suggests at +once that maturation, the transformation of the child into the man or +woman, must be due to the pouring into the blood and the body fluids +of some substance which acts like the yeast in the fermentable +solution. The adrenal cortex is one source of the maturity-producing +internal secretions. + +If trouble in the adrenal cortex starts after puberty, phenomena of +the same type, but of a different order, exhibit themselves. A woman, +say in the thirties, becomes thus afflicted. Slowly or quickly her +body will be covered by an abundant growth of hair, more or less of a +beard and moustache appear upon the face, her voice will become deep +and penetrating, her muscles will harden, and she will show a capacity +for hard physical labor. Sexually she appears to be made over, +masculinity now predominates in her make-up. Virilism is the name by +which the French in particular have popularized the knowledge of the +condition. Virilists have to shave or be shaved regularly and are not +bothered in the least by the cares, responsibilities, jealousies and +anxieties of personal beauty, for the change in their spirituality +makes them immune to the preoccupations of the feminine. The cause of +such a transformation in a previously entirely normal woman has been +found to be a tumor of the adrenal cortex. + +But not only is sexuality, and the conduct of the secondary sex +characters, connected with the adventures of the adrenal cortex. The +development of the master tissues of the body, the brain, the pride +and darling of evolution, is in some subtle way correlated with +it. The adrenal cortex contains more of the phosphorus-containing +substances of the general nature of those found in the central nervous +system than any other gland or non-nervous tissues in the body. During +human intrauterine life the adrenal glands are large and conspicuous, +in the first half of the second month being twice as large as the +kidneys. Most of this relatively huge size, which happens in the human +alone, and not in other animals, is due to enlargement of the cortex. +Should this preponderance of the cortex over the medullary portion not +occur in the human, that is, if the proportions remain like those of +other animals, the brain fails to develop properly, or an entirely +brainless monster is generated. The human brain, therefore, probably +owes its superiority over the animal brain, to the adrenal cortex, in +development anyhow. The growth of the brain cells, their number and +complexity is thus controlled by the adrenal cortex. + +Besides its action upon the sex cells and the brain cells, the +internal secretion of the adrenal cortex acts upon the pigment cells +of the skin, blunting their sensitiveness to light. In degeneration +of the interior of the gland, which destroys the medulla, but not the +cortex, the color of the skin is left unmodified. If, however, the +cortex is invaded, as happens most often in the classical tuberculosis +of the adrenals which drew the attention of the Englishman Addison +to them, then a darkening of the skin, which may go on to a negroid +bronzing, follows. That means an increased sensitiveness of the +pigment cells of the skin to light. Skin color control may therefore +be looked upon as an adrenal cortex function. + +So much is known about the adrenal cortex. Upon the medulla, the +interior gland of the gland, there has been lavished an amount of +attention beside which the cortex is to be classed as a neglected +wall-flower. Nearly everything that possibly could be determined +about an internal secretion has in its case been settled or plausibly +guessed at. The cells manufacturing the secretion, its exact chemistry +and function, its action upon the blood, the liver and spleen, the +heart and lungs, the brain and nervous system, have been minutely +investigated, studied and charted. Its source in the food, its fate in +the body, its place in the history of the individual and the species, +its importance as a weapon in the struggle for existence, and the +survival of the fittest have been made the subject of an astonishing +number of researches, considering the short period of scarce three +decades that intensive science has centered its barrage upon it. + +In the first place, the medulla contains numerous nerve cells, +belonging to the vegetative, also called the sympathetic nervous +system. But these nerve cells are merely minor notes of the symphony. +The motif is settled by a majority of large, granular cells, which +stain a distinctive yellowish-brown when the gland is fixed in a +solution of bichromate of potash. All chromium salts, in fact, stain +the therefore labelled chromaffin cells. The characteristic staining +power appears to be dependent upon, or correlated with, the presence +of the internal secretion of the medulla of the adrenal, adrenalin. +For the content of adrenalin, as calculated chemically, and the +depth of stain as seen under the microscope, rise and fall together. +Chromaffin reaction and adrenalin content go together. The poisonous +skin glands of the toad have been found to give a marked chromaffin +reaction, and to contain a large amount of adrenalin. Other masses +of cells in the human body, especially along the course of the +sympathetic nervous system, have been shown to give the reaction and +to contain adrenalin. + +The erratic Brown-Sequard pounded and hammered away for more than +thirty years on the importance to life of the adrenal glands, since +death occurred so quickly after their removal. But it was not until +Schaefer, the Scotch physiologist, (who has done more than any other +living man to stimulate study of the internal secretions) found that +an extract of them, when injected into a vein, produced a remarkable +though temporary rise of the blood pressure, that a real enthusiasm +for its investigation was generated. As the upshot, a number of other +significant properties besides the first of blood-pressure raising, +have been put down to its credit. Chemical tests demonstrated that +it originated in the medulla. The exact amount of it present in the +medulla, in the blood issuing from the adrenals and in the circulation +in general have been determined. The concentration in the blood is +about one part in twenty million, while there is about a hundred +thousand times as much stored in the gland as reserve. In infections +and intoxications, after muscular exertion, and with profound +emotions, there is a decrease of it in the gland and an increase in +the blood. Pain and excitement, especially fear and rage, will bring +about its discharge from the gland. With its entry into the blood, +there is a tremendous heightening of the tone, a _tensing_, of the +nervous system. The nerve cells become more sensitive to stimuli, +more sugar is poured into the blood from the liver, more red blood +corpuscles are squeezed into the circulation from the blood lakes of +the liver and spleen. There is a redistribution of the whole blood +mass, a good deal of it being withdrawn from the internal viscera, and +hurried to the skeleton muscles and the brain. The heart beats more +strongly, the eye sees more clearly, the ear hears more distinctly, +and the breathing is more rapid. The temperature rises, the hair of +the head and the body becomes erect, the skin gets moist and greasy. +It will help a fatigued muscle to regain its normal tone. In short, it +has a reinforcing action upon the nutritive properties of the blood, +the tone of the muscles, and the activity of the brain and the +vegetative nerves. + +Chemists set themselves the task of discovering just what was the +substance possessed of such extraordinary and hitherto unimagined +properties. The pure adrenalin was isolated, capable of evoking all +the reactions of the impure adrenal extract mixtures. The final +triumph was the preparation of it artificially in the laboratory, +its synthesis. When a substance can be synthesized in the chemist's +laboratory, it means that its composition has become thoroughly +understood. Here at last was an example of those mysterious internal +secretions, the existence of which had indeed been postulated and +proven, but which had never actually been inspected by the eye of +mortal man. To have it in a test-tube, indeed to possess it in large +quantities in bottles, to be able to manipulate and examine it without +fear of the co-action of admixed impurities, to see it with the eye, +and to taste it with the tongue, was truly a marvel. The miracle +aroused at once scores of researches. + +THE GLAND OF COMBAT AND FIGHT + +Considering its effects, one is reminded at once of the similarity +to the expression of a primitive emotion like anger or fear. So, by +turning a relation upside down, it was argued that if artificial +adrenalin could produce all these effects of an emotion like fear, the +emotion itself should produce an increase of the natural adrenalin in +the blood. This was found to be the case. Cannon of Harvard has built +up an entire theory of the adrenal as the gland of emergencies upon +the basis of these effects. In the facing of crises the adrenal +functions as the gland of combat. And indeed, as I have mentioned, +the more combative and pugnacious an animal, the more adrenal it has, +while the timid and meek and weak have less. + +The Glands of Combat, the glands of emergency energy, the glands +of preparedness,--such are the adrenal glands when viewed from the +adrenalin standpoint. A picture of its activity in the evolutionary +scheme of struggle and survival is something like the following: +meeting an enemy, the animal is put in danger. It must fight or flee +for its life. In either case, certain conditions must be fulfilled, if +the body of the animal endangered is to be saved. To prevent injury to +itself, and to do as much injury as possible to the foe--that becomes +its immediate urge and necessity. Of the two animals, if in one the +heart should begin to beat more strongly, the blood pressure to rise, +the blood to flow more rapidly through the attacking instruments, the +muscles, the teeth and claws, the brain and its eyes, while the other +animal experiences none of these, the former will be the victor in +fight or flight. Adrenalin may be looked upon as the invention for the +mobilization at a moment's notice, or as we say, after generations of +use, by instinct, of all these visceral and blood advantages in the +struggle of combat or flight. + +The nature of instinct, in its relation to the glands of internal +secretion, is a problem for another chapter. But we may note that the +James-Lange theory of an emotion regards it as a consciousness of the +very changes in the organism adrenalin causes. Since adrenalin is the +starter of the whole process, and since McDougal has defined emotion +as the feeling aspect of an instinct, just as an instinct may +be defined as the motor aspect of an emotion, the adrenals as +emotion-genetic, and instinct-genetic, play a part in the most +profound processes of the subconscious and unconscious. + +THE MECHANISM OF FEAR + +We may therefore visualize a mechanism of fear. An instant excess of +adrenalin occurs in the blood of, say, a cat when it is alarmed by the +sight of a dog. In that cat, at the image of its hereditary enemy, +certain brain cells vibrate. A nerve tract, in use as the line for +that particular message in a hundred thousand generations of cats, +whirrs its yell to the medulla of the adrenal gland. Through the tiny, +solitary veins of the glands, an infinitesimal quantity of the reserve +adrenalin responds. And with what an effect! The blood, that primary +medium of life, the precious fluid that is everything, must all, or +nearly all, be sent to the firing line, the battle trenches, the +brain and muscles, now or never. So the blood is drafted from the +non-essential industries--from the skin where it serves normally to +regulate the heat of the body--from the digestive organs, the stomach +and intestine, which must forsooth stop now, since if the organism +will die, their last effort of digestion has been done--from the liver +and spleen, great chemical factories in normal times, but now of no +moment. Besides, should they be wounded, it is better they should +be bloodless, and so run the least chance of bleeding to death, or +getting infected, for the more tissue there is around, the greater the +danger of infection. So, like the skin, the liver which usually holds +in its great lakes and vessels about a quarter of all the blood in +the body, is almost drained and blanched. At the same time, its great +storehouses of sugar open their sluices and pour into the blood, +increasing its sugar content by about a third because the combustion +of sugar is the easiest way of getting energy free in the cells, sugar +being the most quickly burned up of all the foods, and so the great +food of the muscles and the heart. The poisons of fatigue, acid +products of the contraction of muscles, are antagonized and +neutralized by substances formed in the course of the oxidation of the +sugar. Adrenalin, too, is directly fatigue antagonist. It causes the +blood to clot faster than under ordinary circumstances. It erects the +hair of the animal, and dilates the pupils of the eyes. There is an +increase of the apparent size, all of which are to intimidate the +enemy, like an Indian's painting of his face blue and green. It +also--but what else does it not do? + +The story of adrenalin would have delighted the heart of Samuel +Butler. His "Note Books," opulent as they are, would have been the +richer in pages and pages with his comments on it. Contending as he +did with the pompous, dogmatic mechanism worship of the new scientific +clique of his time on the one hand, and the superstitions of the old +theological caste on the other, he had to fight the hardest kind of +guerrilla warfare in defense of the Purpose of Life. Adrenalin, that +weapon of a gland tracing its ancestry back to the begetter of the +brain itself, for brain and adrenal gland both have evolved from the +small nerve ganglia of the invertebrates, would have backed up to the +hilt his argument, which he had to elaborate on the indirect grounds +of analogy and induction. Essential for defense, and for protection,-- +an organ in which everything necessary for the stratagems of retreat, +or the offensives of attack, are supplied ad libitum, while everything +non-essential or detrimental to the matter of the moment is inhibited, +arrested and suppressed--no more perfect sample of the design with +which Life is drenched could be imagined by the most closeted of +passionate idealists. + +FAILURE OF THE ADRENALS + +As the gland of acute stress and strain, the adrenals in modern life +are called upon to function more heavily and frequently than in the +past. As a matter of fact, the life of the beast of jungle and field, +as well as of savage and barbarian, is just as full of emergencies and +shocks as that of the average city man or woman. In the case of the +latter, however, inhibitions, education, and the conditions of modern +living, improper food, sedentary indoor confinement, and universal +rack and noise, have undoubtedly made greater and greater demands upon +the adrenal glands. Chemical quantitative studies have shown that by +repeated stimulation, the adrenal glands may be exhausted of their +reserve supply of secretion, which returns only insufficiently if not +enough time is given for recuperation. There results a condition of +temporary or chronic adrenal insufficiency, supposedly an insufficient +functioning of the gland as a whole. In persons so afflicted there +appears a fatigability, a sensitiveness to cold, cold hands and feet, +which are sometimes mottled bluish-red, a loss of appetite and zest in +life, and a mental instability characterized by an indecision, and a +tendency to worry, a weepishness upon the slightest provocation. + +A certain number of the temporary breakdowns or nervous prostrations, +which seem to be growing more common or fashionable, may be sometimes +traced to such a deficiency of normal response to the needs of +everyday conflict by the adrenal gland. In some, mental and physical +elasticity are totally lost, and even the slightest exertion in +either field often causes so much weariness and exhaustion as to be +prohibited. Depression and even melancholia are associated with the +fear of not being able to accomplish good work hitherto easy and +enjoyed. Sometimes they are obsessed with the thought that they have +lost their nerve completely, and so dread to commit themselves in even +the most trivial of situations. The vacillating frame of mind is so +distressing at times as to arouse thoughts of suicide. When these +symptoms concur in the type of personality whom I shall describe +as the unstable adrenal-centered individual, there is evidence for +explaining the process as the effect of an insufficiency of secretion +by the adrenal gland. + +Shock, collapse, heart failure and sudden death following abnormal +emotion, like an attack of rage, or the terrors of a railroad +accident, or bad news, or excessive exertion like running a long race +or climbing a high mountain when in poor general health, as the phrase +goes, or in the terminal stages of infections like epidemic influenza +or Asiatic cholera, have been put down to an acute insufficiency of +the adrenal gland. A lowered temperature, blood pressure, and blood +vessel tone, exhibited in tests of the response of the skin to +stroking, are present in all of these and point the same moral. + +In the second half of the 19th century, an American physician, Beard, +described Neurasthenia, a general disturbance of the body and mind, +not properly classifiable as a disease, but serious enough to +incapacitate or at least greatly limit the sufferer. The neurasthenic +is to be recognized by the fact that the most painstaking objective +examination of his organs reveals nothing the matter with them. Yet, +according to his complaint, everything is the matter with him. He +cannot sleep when he lies down, he cannot keep awake when he stands +up. He cannot concentrate, but still he is pitifully worried about his +life. The slightest irritant causes him to go off the handle. As +he works himself up into his hysterical state as a reaction to a +disagreeable person or problem, irregular blotches may appear on +his face and neck. Generally, his hands and feet are clammy and +perspiring, his face is abnormally flushed or pallid, the eyes are +worried or starey, unwonted wandering sensations involving now this +area of the body, or now that obsess him. As the blood pressure is +too low for the age, the circulation is nearly always inadequate and +palpitation of the heart is a frequent complaint. So frequent, that +attention is often centered upon the heart, a diagnosis of heart +disease is made, and the unfortunate is doomed for life--to brood +over horrible possibilities. The brooding over themselves and their +troubles is one of the distinctive features of the whole complex. +Neurasthenia may masquerade as any organic disease. An individual with +a soil for a neurasthenic reaction to life will become neurasthenic +when confronted by any stone wall, including a serious ailment within +himself. + +Beard's Neurasthenia leaped at once into the limelight. It was seized +upon and applauded in Europe as a good new name for an old condition, +observed particularly in Americans abroad to rest from the fatigues of +the get-rich-quick games of industrial speculators. In fact, the name +of the American Disease was given to it. Various theories about the +effects of climate, sunlight per square inch and unit of time, oxygen +content of the air, and so on, were offered up upon the altar of +scientific explanation. Sir Arbuthnot Lane, famous protagonist of +Lane's intestinal kink, said that all Americans were neurasthenic. +Neurasthenia became one of the most popular of diagnoses, and remains +so today. + +Neurasthenia, regarded as a reaction of people to the stress and +strain of life, has without a doubt increased. The most casual of +observers will tell you that the generation of the Great War is a +neurasthenic generation. It takes its pleasures too intensely, +its pains too seriously, its troubles too flippantly. But what is +neurasthenia? Beard himself regarded it as a chronic fatigue and loss +of tone of the nervous system, a literal interpretation of his term. +That the conception, as far as it goes, is valid is proved by the fact +that it is the neurasthenics who furnish the majority of the clientele +of the cults, the Christian Scientists, the osteopaths and the +chiropractors, and who are the subjects of the faith and miracle +cures, like those of Lourdes. That is because their particular +disease, or what appears to them to be their very own disease--and +they certainly cherish their ailments--is but an expression of, a +compensation for, indeed a consolation for, the underlying feelings of +insufficiency or inferiority. Were there no moral code, were there +no social system, nor the consequent inculcated conscience to be +responsible to, there would be no such disguising symptom as +the disease which preoccupies the consciousness. The feeling of +insufficiency would be there, and would be recognized as in itself +the disease. To the physiologist and the psychologist, the feeling of +insufficiency is the disease, no matter how spectacular the overlaying +phenomena--a cripple on crutches or a man blind and speechless. Shell +shock is now acknowledged to belong to this group. + +Now one of the outstanding effects of disease of the adrenal glands is +the feelings of muscular and mental inefficiency. And as a matter +of fact, a good number of observations conspire for the idea that a +certain number of neurasthenics are suffering from insufficiency of +the adrenal gland. The chronic state of the acute phenomenon, known as +the nervous breakdown, really represents in them a breakdown of the +reserves of the adrenals, and an elimination of their factor +of safety. In the light of that conception, the great American +disease--dementia americana--is seen to be adrenal disease--and the +American life to be the adrenal life, often making too great demands +upon that life, and so breaking down with it. + +ADRENAL EXCESS + +The converse of adrenal insufficiency, that of adrenal excess, also +exists. In certain types of the middle-aged, a high blood pressure, +accompanied by a great capacity for work, has been shown to be +associated with hypertrophy of the cortex. In women, there is a +degree of masculinity, as the adrenal in women makes for masculinity, +neutralising more or less the specifically feminine influences of +the internal secretions of the ovary. Such women possess a vigor and +energy above the normal, and command responsible positions in society, +not only among their own sex, but also among men. They are the ones +who, in the present overturn of the traditional sex relationships, +will become the professional politicians, bankers, captains of +industry, and directors of affairs in general. + +THE GONADS + +(_Sexual, Puberty or Interstitial Glands_) + +The gonads is the name applied to the generative or reproductive +glands considered collectively. In the male, they are the testes; in +the female, the ovaries. They are, therefore, sometimes called the +sexual glands. As they possess definite canals for the removal of +their gross secretion, the specific reproductive cells, ova or +spermatozoa, to a surface of the body, they are first of all glands of +external secretion. But they have been also found to hold secretory +cells not concerned with the making of the reproductive corpuscles, +but, as all the evidence indicates, with the manufacture of an +internal secretion. These interstitial cells form the interstitial +gland. A classic example of a gland of internal secretion lodged in +the interstices of a gland of external secretion is thus furnished by +the gonads. + +ORIGIN OF SEX TRAITS + +The history of sex goes back far in the scheme of life. The +immortality of the ameba was at one time one of the indisputables of +biology. Then some observations were made which threw doubt upon a +long accepted fact, now declared a dogma. Lately, opinion has veered +back to immortality. But in the case of a close relative of the ameba, +the one-celled animal known as the paramecium, union with another +paramecium, true conjugation, has been proved necessary to prevent +death sooner or later. Sex here appears in its most primitive form, on +the basis of exchange of necessary materials, between individuals to +prevent death, their own having been, so to speak, worn out, in the +course of metabolism. + +Specifically different sexes come later, when mortality is a universal +fate, as a means of rebirth and escape from death. Then the sexes +develop their latest function, most prominent among the younger +vertebrates, of acting as nature's most potent method of variation and +differentiation. In the pursuit of the different, nature has exalted +sex, and the intensity of the sex life. As far as the preservation of +a species is concerned, and the reproduction of the individual, the +asexual methods, budding, for example, would have done well enough. +But when it comes to enacting a different individual apart from the +effects of environment, sex stands out as the favored method of Life. + +The development of the sexes and the sexual life brought a new element +of conflict into the living world. Before the advent of the sexes the +conflict was essentially for the means of existence, food alone. But +with the sexual life came a conflict for sex pleasure, a competition +among members of the same species for the same individual as their sex +partners. The result was the introduction of a factor in evolution +which Darwin examined so closely in the "Descent of Man." + +The sex conflict has been the cause for the origin and the survival +of certain physical and mental traits, helpful in sex attraction, sex +combat, the growth of the embryo, and the nutrition and safety of the +young of a species,--in short, the whole process of sexual selection. +The proportions of the skeleton, the distribution of hair and fat, the +construction of organs of attack and defense, the color of the skin, +the cyclic processes of preparation for impregnation, the oestrus or +heat period in animals, the menstrual period in the human being, the +psychic reactions to danger and combat have all been thus determined. +That man is bearded while woman is not,--that woman has potentially +functional breasts while man has not,--the aggressive pugnacity of +man contrasted with the more passive timidity of woman, have all been +evolved in the sex struggle, surviving because most effective in that +struggle. These so-called secondary sexual characteristics are an +expression of the influence of the internal secretion of the gonads, +or the interstitial glands. Some call them puberty glands, because +their ripening initiates puberty. + +We know that these interstitial glands, to stick to that name, (rather +than to the name of the puberty glands, since they serve not only +to induce puberty but to maintain maturity) are the actual primary +dictators of the process by which male and female are distinguished, +if not created. Castration was probably the first surgical operation +carried out for experimental purposes, suggested no doubt by a +curiosity concerning its effects. Trepanning of the skull, the +geologic record indicates, was done even by the cave man. But as an +experimental operation, castration seems to hold the primary position +in the annals of surgery. + +Its effects noted, the satisfaction of one of the lower human +instincts, jealousy, popularised it. From the days of Semiramis, +eunuchs have been commonplace figures of the East, their function +definite: to guard the harems of the powerful. The age of Abdul Hamid +witnessed no diminution of the barbaric tortures by which children are +prepared for the profession. It is to the credit of England that in +its dominions in the Orient the practice has been abolished. But it +goes on even today. According to the best authorities, four out of +five of these victims at the auto-da-fe of a vicious human instinct +die immediately or soon after from exhaustion due to pain and +infection. Not all of the ancient nations countenanced the brutal +horror. The Hebrews placarded castration an unpardonable sin, making +it a sin to castrate even animals. Nor was any man so mutilated +permitted to worship in the house of the Lord (Deuteronomy xxiii, 11). +Yet we have evidence that the latter Jewish kings employed foreign +eunuchs in their harems, who often held the most important positions +as ministers of the court. + +Besides the eunuchs, another group of people have presented material +for the study of the interstitial glands. These are the Skoptzi of +Russia and the Lipowaner of Roumania. Among them castration is a +religious ritual. Mankind has always been most brutal to itself in the +name of the ideal. These sects were founded because in the eighteenth +century an antipode of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young discovered this +passage in Matthew xix, 12. + +"For there are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's +womb, and there are some eunuchs which were made eunuchs of men: and +there be eunuchs _which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom +of heaven's sake_. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." + +He decided that he was inspired to spread the gospel of castration. A +sect was founded who thought that surgery was the easiest way to enter +the gates of Paradise, and they multiplied and fructified. The sect +exists today, and some of the most interesting studies of the internal +secretion of the interstitial glands have been made among them. + +Related to acquired eunuchism is the condition of eunuchoidism, the +eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb. Baron Larey, the +great surgeon of Napoleon's armies, was their first painter. He was +the only altruist Bonaparte said he had ever met in his life. He +portrayed a group of soldiers with peculiarly high-pitched voices, +smooth and hairless skins, and atrophied generative organs. A somewhat +similar picture is evolved in certain types of insufficiency of +the pituitary gland. Features of the picture are exhibited with +disturbances of the other internal secretory glands also, like the +thymus. + +But a host of experiments and data prove the interstitial glands to be +the direct controllers of elementary sexuality and the specific sex +traits of male and female. Beginning with Berthold back in the first +half of the nineteenth century, who studied the fowl, a number of +observations have been made on the effects of excision, translocation +and transplantation of these glands. + +The results of the experiments and observations can be summed up as +follows: if the male individual is castrated before puberty, that is, +before the advent of the sexual life, secondary sex qualities do not +develop. In males, the generative organs do not grow, hair on the face +does not appear, hair elsewhere on the body remains generally scanty, +the voice continues as high-pitched as the child's, there is more +or less muscle weakness, obesity, and mental sluggishness. In other +words, we have an effeminate man, technically a eunuch. In the +castrated female, the pelvis does not grow to the normal feminine +size, the breasts do not swell as they should, more or less hair comes +out on the face, the voice is low-pitched, and tends to be rather +husky, the legs are longer, and again, the mentality is dulled. That +is, a masculine sort of woman is produced. + +In short, the castrated male takes on a feminine type, and the +castrated female, a male type. In either case there is also an +infantilism, a retention of the infantile mental traits, a lack of +development of the adult mental attitudes and reactions. Now, if +in the castrated male is transplanted an ovary, the positive +characteristics of the female are evoked, such as enlarged mammary +glands, and a tendency to secretion of milk. Experiments have also +been reported in which a uterus was also placed in such an animal, +with a means of entry, and pregnancy followed. If in the castrated +female a testicle is planted, the masculine traits become much more +marked and striking. A direct exchange of the male and female +roles can thus be achieved. Castration after puberty cannot modify +profoundly structures like the skeleton which are already completed. +Yet it may unquestionably bring about definite retrogressive changes +in the secondary sex characters: reduction or loss of virility, +diminution of facial and body hair, and a general presenility or +hastening of senility. + +How remarkably these interstitial cells influence the entire structure +and vitality of the organism is indicated by these facts. How much +they have to do with sexual impulses, sexual excitement, and sexual +desire, what the Freudians have popularized as the libido, and how +subtly they act upon the coming and duration of adolescence and +maturity, as well as sexual precocity and peversions, we shall +consider in a later chapter. But it is enough now to remember that +these interstitial glands are the primary dictators of the genital +sense and flair of the individual. In any attempt at measurement of +men and women, the quality and quantity of the internal secretion +of the interstitial cells must be respected as a fundamental +consideration. The womanly woman and the manly man, those ideals of +the Victorians, which crumbled before the attack of the Ibsenites, +Strindbergians and Shavians in the nineties, but which must be +recognized as quite valid biologically, are the masterpieces of these +interstitial cells when in their perfection. They are such solely +because of the right concentration in the blood of the substances +manufactured not only by these cells, but by all the glands of +internal secretion. For it cannot be repeated and emphasized too often +that the interstitial cells of the sex glands are most sensitive to +all kinds of other influences, and, in particular, the other internal +secretory organs. They may indeed be watched as an index scale or +barometer of the general tone of the whole internal secretion system. +Sex variations offer a variety of clues to variations, disturbances, +predominances and abnormalities in all the components of the ductless +gland association. + +To take a single instance, the development of the long bones is +dependent upon the handling of food lime by the body. Eunuchs and +eunuchoids, that is, individuals with insufficient internal secretion +of the interstitial cells, have longer bones and more fragile bones +than the normal. Vice versa, those with an excess of the secretion +have shorter and thicker bones. The earlier the onset of menstruation, +which means puberty, the shorter the extremities, as the action of the +internal secretion of the ovaries closes the story of the growth of +the long bones. + +The ovaries are a most important factor in the regulation of the power +of the organism to keep lime in the bones. If they over-secrete in an +excess which cannot be taken care of by the other glands of internal +secretion, the body loses lime, a softening and curving of the bones +occurs, and the most horrible deformities and tortures for the +sufferer. Taking out the ovaries has cured some of the afflicted. +Administration of the antagonizing gland extracts has helped others. +An Italian, Bossi, in 1907, used adrenal gland curatively. More +recently, a British student of the subject, Blair Bell, was given the +direction of the treatment, at long range, of a number of cases in +India, the land of chronic pregnancy with insufficient food, and +consequent oversecretion of the ovaries, with the typical softening of +the bones. At his suggestion pituitary was used successfully. + +Some of the glands of internal secretion act as accelerators to the +sex glands. Others act as retarding antagonists. Among the most +important of the latter is + +THE THYMUS + +The thymus is the gland which dominates childhood. It appears to do so +by inhibiting the activity of the testes or ovaries. Castration causes +a persistent growth and retarded atrophy of the thymus. Removal of the +thymus hastens the development of the gonads. + +Situated in the chest, astride the windpipe, it descends and covers +over the upper portion of the heart, overlapping the great vessels +at the base of the heart. It is a brownish red mass, which when cut +presents the spongy effect of a sweetbread. The more intimate view +of detail revealed by the higher powers of the microscope shows +conglomerations of the white cells of the blood known as lymphocytes. +But scattered through the substance of the gland, between these +lymphocytes, like the interstitial cells of the sex glands placed +between the sex cells, are peculiarly staining cells in whorls. +Of which there are many more in the thymus of embryonic and early +postnatal life, known after their discoverer as Hassal's Corpuscles. +They are believed by some to elaborate the specific internal secretion +of the thymus. Present in all vertebrates, there seems to be more of +it in the carnivora than in the herbivora, like the thyroid. + +Concerning the exact function of the thymus, we are a good deal at +sea. The latest opinion about the results of extirpation even in young +and growing animals is that they are nil. Yet there is a certain +justification for proclaiming the thymus the gland of childhood, the +gland which keeps children childish and sometimes makes children out +of grown-ups. There is a quantity of data for that proposition. In +the first place, the curve of rise of growth of the gland seems to +coincide with the period of childhood, the curve of its decline with +the period of adolescence and the rise of the sex glands. In the +past, it was accepted, that with puberty the thymus atrophied and +was replaced by some sort of fatty tissue. Nowadays, it is held that +secretion cells persist throughout life. When the extent of this +persistence is too great, the gland being from five to ten times as +large as the normal, a number of other features become prominent to +make the extraordinary individual, the status lymphaticus, who amid +the hazards of life will react in an extraordinary way. He will be +taken up in the consideration of internal secretion personalities. + +Then there are the varied and remarkable phenomena of thymus +enlargement and hyperactivity in childhood itself. When an enlarged +thymus is present in an infant, the initiation of breathing in the +new-born, the introduction of the newcomer to the oxygen of the air, +may be an exceedingly prolonged, difficult, matter. Such a baby is +said to be born blue, and the breathing may be stridorous for days, +becoming normal for a time, to be followed later by spells of trouble +in breathing, breathlessness or breathlessness with blueness, and +threatened extinction. Sometimes these spells come out of a clear +sky in an apparently healthy child. That some poison, probably an +oversecretion of the thymus, is responsible is shown by the relief +obtainable by X-ray shrinkage of the gland, or the surgical removal of +a part of it. + +Moreover, the gland is influenced by and influences the factors +of body weight and growth with an extreme readiness and lability. +Deficient general undernutrition leads to rapid decline in its weight. +Back in 1858, the pioneer student of the thymus, Friedleben, declared +that the size and condition of the thymus is an index to be the state +of nutrition of the body. Underfeeding for four weeks will reduce it +to one thirtieth the normal. It seems to act as a storage and reserve +organ, affording some protection against the limitation of growth by +lack of food material. In exhausting or wasting disease, the weight +of the gland sinks much more quickly than other glands. Scattered +instances have been reported of children growing, putting on inches in +height and expanding mentally, when thymus was fed to them, in whom +every other measure previously tried had failed. A French study of +over four hundred idiotic children with normal thyroids reported that +over three fourths had no thymus at all. Everything points to the most +direct and close relation between the gland and nutrition and growth, +but with nothing tangibly definite like our knowledge of the thyroid +and the pituitary. + +There is evidence that the thymus is involved in the health and +efficiency of muscle cells and muscularity. Certain tumors of the +thymus, presumably destructive of the gland substance proper, and +thus cutting off its secretion, are accompanied by a singular muscle +weakness and atrophy of the muscle cells, entirely out of proportion +to the general damage suffered by the other cells of the body when +affected by the poison of a malignant growth. Also, the thymus has +been discovered diseased in certain mysterious progressive muscular +wastings. A remarkable fatigability of muscles, which appears after +the slightest exertion, is a feature. The feeding of thymus has caused +muscle cramps which apparently depends upon an increased excitability +of the muscle nerve endings. + +Feeding of thymus to some of the lower creatures of the animal kingdom +will completely hold up differentiation. Take the unfolding of the +specialized tissues and organs which transform the tadpole into the +frog and the chrysalis into the butterfly. A tadpole kept supplied +with enough thymus in a nutrient medium will swell into an +extraordinary giant tadpole, but will not change into a frog. +Recently, this experiment has been contradicted. Yet this effect +corresponds to the conception of its importance in childhood as a +retardant of precocity, physical and mental. Clinical observations +emphasize that in childhood it is the chief brake upon the other +glands of internal secretion which would hasten development and +differentiation, checking them perhaps for a given time and so +profoundly influencing growth. + +THE PINEAL + +The pineal is another gland which has been credited with similar +abilities and a like holding-the-reins-tight-in-childhood function +among the cells. Like the thymus, it has been supposed one of the +distinctive organs of childhood and to die with it. Generations of +anatomists solemnly asserted, repeating each other's mistakes with the +aplomb of the historians who declare that history repeats itself, that +the pineal body was a useless, wastefully space consuming vestige of a +once important structure. That was the view in that century of grandly +inaccurate assertions, the nineteenth. Not that they relegated it with +that statement to the limbo of the dull and the uninteresting. Quite +the contrary. They conferred upon it a distinguished romance and +mystery by identifying it as the last heir and vestigial remnant of +a third eye, situated in the back of the head, which may still be +observed in certain reptiles. Imagine it! Somewhere, stuck away in a +cranny of the floor of your head and mine, is this descendant of an +organ that once sparkled and shone, wept and glared, took in the stars +and hawks and eagles, and now is condemned to eternal darkness and an +ineffectual sandiness. Today, we have not discarded that view of its +history, but we know a little more regarding its composition and +function. + +What and where is the romantic object? It is a cone-shaped bit of +tissue hidden away at the base of the brain in a tiny cave behind +and above its larger colleague, the pituitary. Microscopic scrutiny +reveals that it is made up in part of nerve cells containing a pigment +similar to that present in the cells of the retina, thus clinching the +argument for its ancient function as an eye. But the outstanding and +specifically glandular cells are large secreting affairs, which too +reach back to the tidewater days of our vertebrate ancestors, when +Eurypterus and other Crustaceans were engrossed with the fundamental +problems of brain versus belly. Besides these, there are the singular +masses upon which has been fastened the unnecessarily opprobious +epithet of brain sand. These, noted and commented upon from the +earliest times, consist of collections of crystals of lime salts, +sometimes small, lying about in discrete irregular masses, and +sometimes grouped into larger mulberry-like concretions, varying +much in size. These brain sand particles have become of practical +importance in the detection of pineal disease because they, like all +lime salts, will stop the X-rays, and so can be photographed. + +For a long time, indeed up to scarcely more than a few decades or so +ago, the pineal was believed to have no present function at all, or at +least no ascertainable or accessible duty in the body economy. That +it might perhaps be, in a sense, a gland of internal secretion was +a despised theory. Then a classic case, the most extraordinary and +curiosity-piquing sort of case, with symptoms involving the pineal +gland, in a boy, was reported by the German neurologist, Von Hochwart. +That boy provoked a little army of researches. He came to the clinic +complaining about his eyes and other troubles which pointed pretty +definitely to a brain tumor as the diagnosis to pigeon-hole him. +Nothing extraordinary about him in that respect. But the story told by +his parents was quite extraordinary, even to the jaded palate of the +clinic professor and his assistants. They said that he was a little +over five years old, a statement conclusively proved correct at his +death. Up to the time at which his illness began, he had been quite +normal in size, intelligence and interests. But with the onset of his +misfortune, he had begun to grow, and rapidly until now he looked +and corresponded in all measurements to a normal boy of twelve or +thirteen. Hair developed all over his skin, most prominently and +abundantly in the typically hairy places of adults. His voice became +low-pitched, and most remarkable of all, his sexuality and mentality +precocious. He became capable of true sexual life and is said to have +asked many questions about the fate and condition of the soul after +death. On one occasion he remarked reflectively: "It is odd how much +better I feel when I let other children play with my toys than when I +play with them myself." Other statements attributed to him imply the +most astounding maturity of thought and mental process. Headaches +finally came, and he died about four weeks later. The cause of the +whole bizarre tragedy was found to be a tumor of the pineal gland. + +As has happened before in medical history, no sooner was the one +prodigy reported, than a score of others of the same ilk sprang into +the limelight. Cases of precocious genital development, especially, +some of them occurring as early as the second year of life, were +linked with them. It is an interesting point to be noted that in +these, as in those started by an overaction of the adrenal cortex, it +is premature masculinity that is stimulated. The adrenal cortex must +be classed as a gland of masculinity. The pineal possibly acts as a +brake upon the adrenal cortex. + +Very soon after the report of Von Hochwart's prodigy appeared, an +experimental research on the pineal was begun in New York. The pineal +glands of a number of young bullocks were obtained and used for +feeding, to see whether an overaction of the internal secretion +could be produced. Guinea pigs, kittens and rabbits were used. The +experiments covered about two years in time. Of a dozen small +kittens, the subjects outgrew the controls rapidly in activity, size, +intelligence, and resistance to intercurrent disease. Of ten small +rabbits, the controls weighed about a third less than the subjects, +which were strikingly clean, active, fat and salacious. + +Feeding of the gland was then extended to a particular class of +defective children, children with well-shaped heads, normal eyes, +symmetrically functioning limbs, excellent digestion, strong muscles +and generally, normal, sometimes rapid growth. It is to them, +particularly when mental normality has progressed up to the eighth, +tenth or twelfth year and stopped, that the term "moron" has been +applied. They have been a hopeless lot, belonging to the limbo of the +incurables. Moreover, they, emphatically the physically normal ones, +differ from one another enormously in the extent to which mental +operations are possible. As all transitions and degrees exist, no +definite classification and subdivision of them has been made. Yet +ever since the cretin, once looked upon as an eternally damned +defective, was transformed by thyroid feeding into an apparently +normal being, there has been no dearth of effort to find the right +kind of internal secretion to fit their desperate situations, but in +vain. In defectives with definitely, organically damaged brains, +no result of course was to be expected. In those of any class over +fifteen, no response has been elicited by feeding pineal gland. In the +others the results have been contradictory. + +A set of observations have related the pineal to muscle function, +inviting comparison of it with the thymus. There is a singular muscle +shrinking and deforming disease, known as progressive muscular +dystrophy, hitherto a complete and unsolved mystery. Newer studies +of the pineal in this disease during life by means of the X-ray have +shown it calcified, that is, buried in lime salts, which signifies put +out of business. Recently thus another hint as to its function has +been ferreted out. + +The tadpole as a reagent to test out the growth effects of different +glands of internal secretion has also been employed for the pineal. +Ten-day-old tadpoles fed on pineal present a marked translucency of +the skin due to a retraction of the skin pigment cells. Now without a +doubt a number of as yet unknown growth and metabolic effects follow +exposure of the body to the complete gamut of light rays. The +interesting suggestion follows that the pineal influences the body by +varying the degree of light ray reaction. + +The pineal, the ghost of a once important third eye at the back of +our heads, still harks back in its function to a regulation of our +susceptibility to light, and its effect upon sex and brain. So it +becomes one of the significant regulators of development, with an +indirect hastening or retardation of puberty and maturity according +as it works in excess, or too indolently. It appears thus the blood +brother of the adrenal cortex which also influences the skin pigment +and so susceptibility of the organism to light, brain growth and sex +ripening. It is interesting that Descartes, in 1628, considered the +pineal the seat of the soul. + +THE PARATHYROIDS + +Sometimes imbedded within the substance of the thyroid in the neck, +sometimes placed directly behind it upon the windpipe, are four tiny +glands, each about the size of a wheat seed, the parathyroids. For +long they were swamped in the nearness of their great neighbor, and +considered merely a variable part of it. There are some who contend +that even today. But it has been proven that they are separate, +individual glands, with a structure and function of their own, and a +definite importance to the body economy. + +On the animal family tree they appear early, contemporaneously with +the thyroids. In the embryo they develop from about the same sites. +And very often they look very much alike under the microscope, +especially when the cells are in certain quiescent stage of secretion. +Yet they are wholly independent in nature, activity and business. + +First experimenters upon the effects of removal of the thyroid were +confused by contradictory findings with different animals because in +some they would take out the parathyroids at the same time without +knowing it, and in others they would not. That possibility suggested, +more careful dissectors accomplished the job of extirpating the +thyroid while leaving the parathyroids intact and vice versa. In +consequence some definite information about the parathyroids is +available, even though their internal secretion has never been +isolated, or its existence established as more than an inference. + +When the parathyroids are removed, an astounding increase in the +excitability of the nerves follow. It is as if the animal were +thoroughly poisoned with strychnine. The slightest stimulus will make +him jump, or throw him into a spasm. When the excitability of the +nerves is measured by an electrical instrument it is found augmented +by from five hundred to one thousand per cent. The reflexes, those +automatic responses of brain and spinal cord to certain stimuli and +situations, become enormously sensitive, so that merely letting the +light into a darkened room will make the subject of the experiment go +into a series of convulsions. + +On the chemical side, an explanation for these nervous phenomena has +been advanced. Lime in the blood and cells appears to be necessary in +a number of ways. In the making of bone and teeth, in the coagulation +of the blood, in the keeping of fluid within the blood vessels, and +in maintaining the tone of the nerves, it plays a major role. Now the +parathyroids, among all the glands of internal secretion, seem to act +as the prime regulators of the amount of lime held within the blood +and cells. For when the parathyroids have been completely and +aseptically excised, without injuring any other organ, immediately the +body begins to lose lime. Something has gone out of it that helped +it to bind lime, and without that essential something, the internal +secretion presumably of the parathyroids, the lime departs. As +a conspicuous consequence the teeth fail to develop properly, +particularly as to their enamel, for which lime is an essential +constituent. Hair is lost, there is a general wasting, the nails get +brittle, and the bones soften, and the animal dies. Supplying lime +directly, particularly by direct injection into the blood, will +relieve the symptoms. + +In man, a condition of nervous over-excitability has been described +as tetany. It occurs most often in the young, the pregnant, or in +vomiting after operations. All sorts of tests have related the malady +to the phenomena succeeding parathyroid deprivation, and they are now +looked upon as aspects of it. Individuals have been reported suffering +from an insufficiency of the internal secretion of parathyroids, +with a sudden extreme depression, nervousness and restlessness, an +inability to sleep or sit still, and a tremulous handwriting. Such +reports round out the evidence for the importance of the parathyroids +in an understanding of the factors which control growth, especially +as regards lime utilization, for without lime properly handled no +building of cells is possible. Also the parathyroids are necessary to +a steadiness of muscle and nerve. + +THE PANCREAS + +The business of the parathyroids concerns the keeping of lime in the +body. Another gland, the pancreas or sweetbreads, this time within the +abdomen, a close neighbor of the solar plexus, alias the abdominal +brain, is occupied with holding and hoarding sugar in the body, +particularly in the liver, the great sugar warehouse. This matter +of retaining sugar and controlling its output is one of the utmost +significance for growth and metabolism, the resistance to infections, +the response to emergency situations, and in general to the +mobilization of energy for physical and mental purposes. For without +sugar sufficiently at hand for the cells, no muscle work or nerve +work, the essentials of the struggle for existence, are possible. + +The pancreas is an organ with both an internal and external secretion. +The external secretion, long known, evolved by the major portion of +the gland, is poured into the small intestine to play the star in +digestion. Scattered here and there among the definitely glandular +cell groups creating the external secretion are smaller collections of +cells, called the islets of Langerhans, which have been demonstrated +to elaborate the internal secretion. There are about a million of +these islands in each gland. The hormone has been called insuline. +Unlike most of the glands with a double secretion in which the +internal is absolutely independent, and so to speak, unconscious of +the external, these two of the pancreas are often disturbed together, +perhaps because trouble easily hits them both together. + +Quite the most well-known disease due to disturbed internal secretory +function of the pancreas is diabetes. An enormous amount of work has +been spent upon the various aspects of it as a mystery. Hundreds of +papers in a dozen languages upon the subject are in existence. In a +nutshell, they have established pretty well that diabetes is a disease +in which there is an excess of sugar in the blood and urine because of +an insufficient amount of the secretion of the islands of Langerhans +in the pancreas. Removal of the pancreas makes the body, essentially +the liver, unable to retain sugar, as well as unable to burn up sugar +for energy. The situation is comparable to a locomotive with its coal +bins leaking, and the coal itself acting as if made of slate or some +equally uncombustible or only partially combustible material. + +The control of sugar mobilization from the liver, where it is stored +as glycogen or animal starch, is divided between the pancreas and +the adrenals, the pancreas acting as the brake, the adrenals as the +accelerator of the mechanism. Adrenal and pancreas are therefore +direct antagonists, the pans of the scale which represents sugar +equilibrium in the organism. Diabetes may be regarded as a disturbance +of the adrenal-pancreas balance, assisted by events which produce +adrenal overwork like great or prolonged emotion, or by strain of the +pancreas, effected by over-eating for example. + +There are other minor glands of internal secretions. But those +considered are by far the most important and the most recently +explored. In a summary, one would classify them as follows: + + _Name Secretion Function_ + 1. Thyroid Thyroxin Gland of energy production + Controller of growth + of specialized organs + and tissues--brain + and sex + + 2. Pituitary-- Gland of energy consumption + and utilization--continued + effort + anterior Unknown Growth of skeleton and + supporting tissues + posterior Pituitrin Nerve cell and involuntary + muscle cell, brain and sex tone + + 3. Adrenals The Gland of Combat + cortex Unknown a. Brain growth--tone + development of + sex glands + medulla Adrenalin b. Energy for emergency + situations + + 4. Pineal Unknown a. Brain and sex development + b. Adolescence and puberty + c. Light and maturity + + 5. Thymus Unknown Gland of Childhood + + 6. Interstitial Testes in male Glands of secondary + glands of Ovaries in female Sex traits + + 7. Parathyroids Unknown a. Controllers of lime + metabolism + b. Excitability of + muscle and nerve + + 8. Pancreas Insuline Controller of sugar + metabolism + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE GLANDS AS AN INTERLOCKING DIRECTORATE + + +Now in considering each gland of internal secretion as a separate +entity, and labelling it with certain properties and actions, we of +course commit the usual sin of the intellect: the sin of abstraction +and isolation of its material. This crime of analysis the intellect +commits every day in the search for truth. Before its dissection, it +seems to have to dip the elusive article in a fixative, and bottle it +in a vacuum. + +Yet nothing in reality is more of a changing flux than the body in all +of its parts and tissues and organs. And of all these, the glands of +internal secretion stand out as the most susceptible to change. Made +to react to stimuli of offense and defense, instantaneously responsive +to situations involving energy exchanges and protective reflexes, +they are never for any minute the same or alone. They never function +separately. Each influences the other in a communicating chain. Let +one be disturbed, and all the others will feel the impact of the +disturbance and vibrate with it. + +Any break in the somatic or psychic equilibrium, a blow or an +infection, or a startling thing seen, or a worrisome thought felt, +will start a process going. This will only wind up when every gland +has been somehow touched, and a final equilibrium reestablished. The +thyroid, maybe, was first excited, and then in turn the adrenals, with +a boomerang reinforcing effect upon the thyroid, and at the same time +a stimulating effect upon the pituitary. Each gland is thus influenced +and influencing, agent and reagent in the complex adjustments of the +organism. + +ENDOCRINE CO-OPERATIONS + +The body-mind is a perfect corporation. Not quite perfect, for +continually there arise little insurgencies, inadequacies and +frictions to which in time it will succumb. Yet, in the efficiency of +its co-operations, and in the co-ordination of the needs and supplies +of producer, middle man, and consumer, there is no one of the great +organizations of the captains of industry which can for a moment +approach it. + +Of this corporation the glands of internal secretion are the +directors. But the huge corporation, not to topple over with its own +unwieldy size, must be composed of smaller units, each within itself +a corporation, and governed by a directorate. There are, in the +corporation-organism, different departments and bureaus, subdivisions +of function, which constitute the smaller corporations within the +larger corporation. These subsidiary companies have their own glands +of internal secretion as their directors. + +Thus, the growth of the brain is presided over by the adrenal cortex, +the thyroid, the thymus and the pituitary. They determine the size of +the brain, the number of its cells, the complexity of its convolutions +and the speed of its chemistry, which means the speed of thought and +memory and imagination. As its directorate, therefore, they may be +entitled. The disturbance of one of them means the disturbance of all +of them, and a consequent deleterious effect upon the brain. Now take +the burning up of sugar in the organism, the great material source +of energy, which is controlled by the pancreas, the adrenals and +the liver, the thyroid and the pituitary. Together they form the +directorate of sugar metabolism. But, as is evident from a glance at +the membership of the growth directorate, and comparing it with the +directorate of sugar metabolism, there are some members who are +present on both boards. An infection, an illness, an ailment, an +exaltation or intoxication of such members will produce reverberations +in both directorates. A disturbance of sugar metabolism might then +cause a disturbance of growth. The advantages and disadvantages +are before us of having, in the glands of internal secretion, an +interlocking directorate, rulers over all the varied and manifold +activities of the organism. + +Behind the body, and behind the mind is this board of governors. +Indeed, from the administrative and legislative points of view, the +body-mind may be said to be governed by the House of Glands. It is the +invisible committee behind the throne. Upon the throne is what? Man, +the most baffling of complexities. Man who is not a mind, but owns a +mind--Man who is not a body, but possesses a body, just as he might +have a motor car, a fortune or a calamity. Back of all his daily +activities, behind the life of body-mind is the mysterious unique +individuality, the Ego, the Psyche or the Soul. Lately, a competitor +with these ancient and honorable terms has come upon the scene as the +Subconscious. In that darkened No Man's Land is determined a man's +destiny. The endocrine association stands out as at least the most +important physical determinant of the states and processes of the +subconscious. + +ANTAGONISMS AND CO-OPERATIONS + +As within a corporation there are factions and cliques, influences +that always work together, and forces that are always pulling in +opposite directions, so within the interlocking directorate of the +ductless glands there are antagonisms and inhibitions, co-operations +and compensations. One gland will assist the action of another's +secretion with its own, or will in turn be stimulated to secrete by +it. Another will throw out its secretion in order to neutralize the +effects produced. Or its own activity will be depressed or completely +inhibited by it. Thus the pituitary arouses the interstitial glands +and vice versa, whereas the pancreas and the thyroid are mutually +inhibitory. Indeed, whole systems of glands may work in unison, or be +pitted against each other in certain situations, especially when +the organism is subjected to conflicting impulses with the clash +of opposing instincts, like fear and anger. In general there is +reciprocity and team work among the internal secretions. + +A certain minimum amount of each must be present if life is to +continue along the normal lines. Whether there is to be an excess +of any one secretion above this minimum, or a deficiency below it, +decides the fate of the individual. If there is deficiency of one, the +other members of the directorate attempt to make up for what has been +lost, and to carry on its work by an extra effort, to substitute. Or, +released from the discipline of the deficient member, or the necessity +for antagonizing it, they may be released from its stimulus to +secrete, and produce less of their own specific secretion. A general +reaction all along the line will accompany overaction, oversecretion, +of one gland. Due to consequent stimulations and depressions of +other glands, some may be excited by the event to overwork--some to +assist--others, to act as antidote for--the excess secretion, while +still others, relieved of a burden, do not have to supply as much of +their quota under the circumstances and so shut down, or limit their +output. + +It is important to get clearly in mind these subtle inter-reactions of +the different ductless glands. They may be antagonistic in their end +effects because of the opposed functions of the nerves or organs +stimulated. There are inhibitions and restraints produced when a gland +will send out its secretions to stop another gland secreting. There +are compensations resulting when because of insufficiency of a gland, +others will endeavour, by manufacturing more of their own secretion, +to compensate for the loss. There are mutual co-operations, +partnerships, when a gland will oversecrete to assist another, or in +response to another which is also oversecreting. There are losses +of balance, so that when one gland ceases secreting, another will +simultaneously or soon after. Normal secretion, oversecretion or +undersecretion are thus adjusted, but leave a train of after effects. + +So with loss or insufficiency of the thyroid, there may be pituitary +overgrowth, because the pituitary may act as vicar for the thyroid. +The thyroid and thymus are antagonistic, for the thyroid hastens +differentiation, puberty and the coming of sexual maturity, while the +thymus delays and retards them and prolongs the period of childhood. +The thyroid and the pancreas are antagonists, for when the thyroid +has been excised, the pancreas appear no longer necessary to act as a +break upon the mechanism of sugar liberation into the blood from +the liver. The thyroid stimulates the interstitial glands, for +menstruation and pregnancy are impossible with no thyroid or an +insufficient thyroid. Removal of the pituitary makes the thymus shrink +because the restraining influence of the latter is no longer needed. +But there is an enlargement of the thyroid to compensate. In castrates +there is an increase in the size and number of the cells of the +anterior pituitary, again a compensation or substitution effect. The +pituitary and the adrenal cortex are mutually assistant, alike in +their influence upon the tone of the brain and sex cells. + +THE KINETIC SYSTEM + +So there are combinations of glands to assist or restrain others, or +to control a body function, or to determine the domination or abeyance +of an instinct. One such has been named the kinetic system because it +comes into play in situations which demand prompt adaptation without +hesitancy, and a consequent immediate transformation of static or +stored energy into kinetic or active energy. According to this +conception the brain, the adrenals, the liver, the thyroid and the +muscles together constitute a machine very much like an automobile. +The self-starter of the machine is the brain, with storage battery +(composed of stored past memories) and ignition combined. The thing +seen without, or the idea felt within, act as the initial sparks, +while the adrenals, as the carburetors, permit the freer flow of fuel, +sugar, from the liver. The thyroid works as the accelerator, the +original impulse finally landing upon muscles keyed up and supplied +with food to meet the situation, be it that of removing a poison, +removing an aggressor (attack) or removing the individual himself +(running away). When one is exhausted by exertion and emotion, injury, +intoxication or infection, it is these members of the kinetic system, +the brain, the adrenals, thyroid and liver, which are exhausted. +Exhaustion diminishes when the activity of the brain is diminished by +anesthetics, and cured when it is abolished by sleep. + +If the adrenal gland may be called the Gland of Emergency energy, the +Kinetic System is entitled to the name of Council of Emergency Defense +for the organism. The Kinetic Drive is the name that has been given to +the whole system at work. It is one of the best examples we have of +inter-glandular co-operations and reactions in reply to the threat of +danger or the hint of pleasure. + +THE CHECK AND DRIVE SYSTEM + +Another instance of the complexity of these inter-glandular reactions +is furnished by the thyroid and the adrenals. The thyroid and the +adrenals are mutually stimulating--when the thyroid oversecretes, the +adrenal dittos, and vice versa. Yet they have directly opposed effects +upon the economy--because they act upon antagonistic portions of +the involuntary or vegetative nervous system, the system which is +independent of the will. Before proceeding further, it is worth while +sketching this division of the nervous system. + +In the construction of a motor car from the point of view of absolute +control of it at every moment, the first thought of the mechanic is an +adequate _brake_ and an efficient _regulator_ of speed, instruments +antagonistic, but necessary to work simultaneously or alternately. +The involuntary or vegetative nervous system is built upon the same +principle. It supplies every organ in the body beyond the control of +the will (that is to say, the brain) with two sets of filaments which +have opposing functions. One group of filaments in general increases +or activates the function of the organ to which it is distributed. The +other group of filaments, when tingling, inhibits or prohibits that +function. They are like the two buttons on the wall which regulate +the supply of electricity to incandescent bulbs, one switching on the +current, the other switching it off. It has been agreed to call the +stimulative or activating portion the autonomic or drive system. To +its antagonist has been left the older name of the sympathetic or +check system. It is because they do not both act upon these two +components of the vegetative nervous system, but only upon one, that +the thyroid and adrenal though in themselves complementary, come to +exert opposite effects. For the internal secretion of the thyroid has +a selective affinity for the autonomic or activating system, while +that of the adrenals has a selective affinity for the sympathetic or +inhibiting system. + +In the stomach, for instance, extracts of the adrenal glands have been +proved to intensify the function of the sympathetic or check system +in different degrees, so that there is a lessening of the amount and +acidity of the gastric fluid. On the other hand, thyroid extracts will +intensify the action of the autonomic or drive system, so that the +amount and acidity of the digestive juice is increased. + +The stomach cell may, therefore, be regarded as a test-reagent for +the different internal secretions, as they affect the check and drive +systems. + +These constitute an automatic device for regulating the activities of +every organ. Three factors enter into the mechanism. One is the amount +of the circulating internal secretions. Another is the organic and +functional integrity of the nerve filaments comprising the check and +drive systems. The third consists of the number and vitality and +limitations of the terminal receiving cells acted upon by the nerve +filaments, which in their turn have been acted upon by the internal +secretions. Upon every organ, including the mind, through the brain, a +stimulus from without or within will act according to its ability to +influence one or others of these factors. + +Normally, the check and drive systems are properly balanced. But under +stress and strain the balance is upset. Indeed, the Kinetic Drive may +be defined as a mechanism contrived in the course of evolution as the +normal, healthy mode for meeting stress and strain. The Kinetic chain +of organs, brain, adrenals, liver, thyroid and muscles, began working +together in desperate situations for their possessor ages ago. +Successful in helping him to survive, they have survived as a +functional unit. + +It was probably evolved in the Post-Tertiary Era, about twenty million +years ago, when the coming of the carnivores introduced direct +body-to-body conflicts, and their concomitants, a quick and versatile +nervous system. During the Tertiary epoch the earth basked in the heat +of a tropical sun nearly everywhere on its surface. The luxuriant +vegetation of the torrid zone flourished and swarmed, for the +temperature all over was what it is today at the equator. Gigantic +vegetarians were the animals, creatures like the dinosaurs, enormous, +gargoylean monsters, of an incredible size and strength, but clumsy +and grotesque, with small brains and little intelligence. For what +need was there for brain and intelligence when food lay about so +abundantly at hand for them to gorge themselves. As there was no +competition for food, there were no enemies. + +Then as the earth evolved and grew cooler, vegetation failed, the +ancestors of the present carnivora appeared, the fathers of the +wolf and tiger, light, lithe and pugnacious, with senses acute and +ferocious weapons of attack, who set out to destroy everybody. They +destroyed pretty nearly all of the huge leaf-eating species, and only +the more plastic and smaller ones, who were more keen-sensed and +swift-footed (of whom the deer and antelope, horse and ox are the +descendants), escaped. The smallest either took to the air to become +the bat, or, like the forerunners of the squirrel and ape, took to the +trees. + +It was the coming of the carnivores, therefore, that accelerated the +development of brain matter, and started the process which created +man. But in the millions and millions of years of conflicts, instincts +grew into being that sank deep into bone and marrow. The most +fundamental reflexes, those immediate responses to irritation or +danger, were laid down, and among them the drive and check system. +When the animal had decided to fight its enemy or was forced to fight, +or determined to prey, then was the time for the drive system to do +its utmost to speed up everything that would help in the fight, while +the check system came into play to hinder whatever would interfere or +burden in the fray. First the drive mechanism must have been hit upon, +and then the value of the check devices must have been found in fear +and flight, and especially in hiding and simulation of death, when +even breathing had to be inhibited. Until finally there developed, for +everyday use, a complete check and drive nerve machinery for every +organ, to be used according to the exigencies of the moment, with the +thyroid as the primary stimulant and controller of the drive system +and the adrenal as the primary dictator over the check system. + +THE HARMONY OF THE HORMONES + +All the glands, in fact, work in unison, with a distribution of the +balance of power that diplomatists might envy. In the co-ordinating +synchronism, the vegetative nervous system plays the part of an agent +that acts as well as is acted upon. The chemical interaction of the +internal secretions is not the only way in which they influence each +other. For, as the case of the thyroid and the adrenal so well shows, +secretions which, when directly interacting, are mutually reinforcing, +when affecting nerves, may become clashing opponents. + +The Kinetic Chain is about as good a case as there is of the glands of +internal secretion co-operating. The Check and Drive systems, with the +adrenals and thyroid opposed, are one of the best instances of their +antagonisms. Besides, there are a number of other relationships +between them that might be cited. They all bear with more or less +pressure, positive or negative, upon the sex glands which will be +considered in its place. If one wished to consider all the glands in +their pro and anti relations, a separate volume would be required. + +THE VEGETATIVE APPARATUS + +The combination of the internal secretions and the vegetative system +has been spoken of as the vegetative or autonomic apparatus. The +vegetative apparatus is the oldest part of the nervous system. +And some acquaintance with its constitution is necessary to any +understanding of the possibilities of control of human nature. + +For modern thought does not regard the brain as the organ of mind at +all, but as one unit of a complex synthesis, of which mind is the +product, and the vegetative apparatus is the major component. That +involves the blasting of the last current superstition of the +traditional psychology, the dogma that the brain is the exclusive seat +of mind. + +That an animal is a vast concourse of cells is one of the accepted +fundamentals of biology. What is not so generally taken into +consideration is that the assemblage is formed by the agglutinations +of millions of years, and that it is hence composed of parts of +different ages and pedigrees, some exceedingly ancient and hoary, some +middle-aged, and some relatively new and recent. In the invertebrates, +who date further back in the history of the planet than any +vertebrate, the nervous system consists of discrete patches of nerve +cells, the ganglions composing the ganglionic system of which the +vegetative or autonomic nervous system of man is the direct descendant +and representative. The brain and central nervous system are +definitely later acquisitions, imposed upon the original stratum of +the check and drive machine. + +The primitive chassis of the mechanism, so to speak, is the so-called +vegetative nervous system. Grouped with that system are the primeval +breathing, feeding and reproducing inventions, the viscera boxed up +in the chest and abdomen. The third partner is the glands of internal +secretion, which act upon the viscera both directly and indirectly +through the check and drive effect upon the vegetative nerves. +The glands are like tuning keys, by which certain strings in the +instrument may be tightened, so that its vibratory activity is +increased, or they may be loosened, the vibrations decreased, the +activity lessened. Tuning up the motors is a constant process in the +organism. Finally, there are the large nerve masses at the base of the +brain known as the basal ganglia, which contain the nerve centers for +the co-ordination of the other three. All these together constitute +the oldest family of the corporate organism. Beside them, the brain +and the face and the prehensile organs are mere parvenus. + +THE OLDEST PART OF THE MIND + +Granted, then, that this vegetative apparatus is the most deeply +rooted core of our being. What warrant is there for the grandiloquence +of the phrase: the Oldest part of the Mind? There is, indeed, room for +rhetoric, even poetry, here. For all the evidence points to it as the +rightful occupant of the throne upon which Shelley placed his Brownie +as the Soul of the Soul. Or to put it in another way, we think and +feel primarily with the vegetative apparatus, with our muscles, +especially the involuntary, with our viscera, and particularly with +our internal secretions. Whenever there is thought and feeling, there +is movement, commotion, precedent and concomitant, among these. They +are the oldest seats of feeling, thought and will and continue to +function as such. + +Just what evidence is there for this conception? In the first place, +there is the fascinating story of the origin of vertebrates from +invertebrates of the sea scorpion or spider type. Then there is a +whole group of data which demonstrate that the primitive wishes which +make up the content of a baby consciousness are determined, settled by +states of relaxation or tension in different segments or areas of the +vegetative apparatus. According to this, the brain enters as only one +of the characters in the play of consciousness. It is just the organ +of awareness by the organism of itself as an integer which must adjust +itself to the specific condition within the disturbed vegetative +apparatus. Consequently the brain emerges not as the master tissue, +but as merely the servant of the vegetative apparatus. + +Consciousness is a circuit. Swinging around in it are the +wish-feelings generated by the vegetative dynamo. From each viscus, +from the stomach and intestine, from the kidneys and bladder, from +the liver and spleen, from the blood-vessels, from all the glands +of external and internal secretion, there flow along the vegetative +nerves, to and from the brain, energies of various qualities and +intensities. All the members of the vegetative apparatus are more or +less active, and so all our wishes are all more or less active. All +our working hours we are aware of hunger, satiety or indifference, of +a desire to empty the intestine or bladder, or of a lack of necessity +of doing so, of a state of tranquillity of the blood-vessels and sweat +glands, or of a perturbation of them, of a varying tensity of even the +muscles that are, as we say, under the control of the will, of the +state, in fact, of all the elements of the vegetative complex. The +stream of feeling which constitutes the undertow of consciousness +originates outside of the brain altogether, and is composed of +currents arising from viscera, muscles, blood-vessels and glands. + +Now the component currents are of different sizes and positions and +variable degrees of warmth. That is another way of saying that whether +or not a current is to become the center of the stream, or to approach +it, or whether it is to be hot, cold, or tepid, depends upon the +degree of activity of the various parts of the vegetative apparatus. +A convenient name for this is _tonus_. Tonus can be experimentally +watched and measured. Thus hunger, the most primitive of the +wish-feelings, has been found to be simultaneous with certain +characteristic contractions of the stomach. Stop those contractions, +and you stop the hunger. The contractions begin slowly and weakly, +and no awareness of them occurs in the mind. As they grow stronger, +consciousness becomes a sensation rather like an itch somewhere in +the upper abdomen, and accompanied sometimes by a sense of general +weakness. The vegetative activity going on as a current almost on the +outside of the stream of feeling has swelled and warmed, and so forced +itself, in a manner of speaking, into the center of the stream. Or if +you will, the rest of the stream has to arrange itself around it as +the center. A similar mechanism for the tonus of the other members +of the vegetative system, and how they determine consciousness and +behaviour is understandable. It has been shown that when the bladder +tone and the intestinal tone are of a definitely measurable size, one +has the desire to empty them. The same applies to the sex glands. +The pressure within a viscus is dependent upon the ratio between the +amount of contraction of the involuntary muscle in its walls, the +external pressure, and the quantity of its distending contents, the +internal pressure. The resultant quotient, the internal pressure +divided by the external pressure, measures the intravisceral pressure. +The primitive wish-feelings are the direct expressions of the various +intravisceral pressures, or tones. The primitive soul is an awareness +of the fused primitive wish-feelings of themselves as a whole, and of +the struggle between them for recognition, isolation, and, as we say, +satisfaction. This satisfaction consists in a degradation of the +highest intravisceral pressure to a point at which some other +intravisceral pressure becomes higher and therefore predominant. + +PHYSICS OF THE WISH + +Mind, consciousness, may then be portrayed as an ocean comprised of +mobile current layers, complexes built up around the awareness of +different intravisceral pressures. A shifting hierarchy of such +pressures form the points of focusing of consciousness that result in +conduct. Behaviour may be defined as the resultant of the organism's +pressure against the environment's counter pressure until there is +a sufficient reduction of the specifically exciting intravisceral +pressure. Just as water flows to its own level, so will conduct flow +to reduce intravisceral pressure to its own level. A physics of the +soul comes into prospect, in which a mathematical analysis will state +the process quantitatively in terms of some common unit of pressure. + +Not only conduct, but also character, because it is past conduct +repeated, associated, and fixed, will be so statable. For +intravisceral tonus or pressure is not simply or only an acute or +passing affair. There is for it a persistent or average figure, +the so-called normal for it, below which or above which the acute +situation will bring it. _Character_ is a _matter then of standards +in the vegetative system_. Character, indeed, is an alloy of the +different standard intravisceral pressures of the organism, a fusion +created by the resistance or counter pressure of the obstacles in the +environment. Character, in short, is the grand intravisceral barometer +of a personality. + +Thus the comfortable, healthy, happy, well-balanced, progressive, +constructive, virile personality is one in whom there is a +continuously harmonious reduction of the intravisceral pressures in +the environment called society. For in a gregarious creature, like +man, fellow beings are the most powerful determinants of negative and +positive vegetative pressures. Not so well rounded are other types +existing because of inferiorities or excesses of the standard visceral +tone. There is, for instance, the sexually cold type, comfortable by +creating for itself an anaphrodisiac environment composed of pressures +that can be fitted into its own. Or there may be an insufficiency of +standard pressure in the alimentary tract, and we have the ascetic, +mal-nourished, striving, uplifting type. Different types will be made +by the permutations and combinations of factors that determine the +intravisceral pressure and the environmental, i.e., social resistances +or counter pressures. + +INTERNAL SECRETIONS DETERMINANTS OF VEGETATIVE PRESSURES + +Now of all the different factors which determine the tones, that is to +say, the internal pressures, of the various parts of the vegetative +apparatus (including all structures not controlled by the will in +the term), the internal secretions or hormones are by far the most +important. This significance is conferred upon them because it is +by their activities primarily that these pressures are produced, +regulated, lowered and heightened; in short, controlled. We have seen +how the thyroid and adrenal hold the reins of the drive or check +systems in the vegetative apparatus. Together with the other ductless +glands, they decide the advance or halt, forward or retreat, tension +or relaxation, charge and discharge, of the visceral--involuntary +muscle--blood vessel combination which is at the core of life. Here +again they emerge as the directorate. + +Carlson, the Chicago physiologist, who probably knows more about being +hungry than any other man on the planet, once demonstrated that the +injection of an ounce or two of the blood, which means the internal +secretion mixture, of a starving animal, into one not starving +increased the signs of hunger and the accompanying hunger contractions +of the stomach. There can be no doubt that hunger is the expression of +a certain specific concentration of internal secretion or secretions +in the blood. When the quantity, in the cycles of metabolism, becomes +sufficiently great, it stimulates the stomach to contract in a way +which augments the pressure within it to a point at which the feeling +of hungriness, and the wish to satisfy it, or to get rid of it, +becomes imperative, and the dominant of consciousness. + +Without doubt the sexual cravings are likewise so determined. Sex +libido is an expression of a certain concentration, a definite amount +peculiar to the individual, of the substance manufactured by the +interstitial cells, circulating in the blood. It arouses its effects +probably by (1) increasing the amount of reproductive material in +the sex glands in a direct chemically stimulating effect upon the +germinative cells, and so raising the internal pressure within them, +(2) stimulating the involuntary muscles within the walls and the +canals of the sex glands, and so, by augmenting the tenseness of the +muscles, elevating the total intravisceral pressure, (3) by a direct +chemical and indirect nervous effect upon the brain, the muscles, the +heart, as well as the other glands of internal secretion stimulating +the organism as a whole. Though the isolation in pure form of the +substance or substances involved has never been scientifically +achieved, their inference is entirely justified. It is indeed the only +comprehensible mechanism conceivable that will fit all the known facts +about the matter. And even though the assertions of Brown-Sequard were +only the exaggerations of a semi-charlatan, it is certain that some +day in the near future the particular substance, that he claimed he +had discovered, will be handed about in bottles for the inspection of +the curious. + +Besides thyroxin, adrenalin, and the libido-producing secretion of the +interstitial cells, the substance produced by the paired glandlets, +situated behind the thyroid, the parathyroids, have a profound +influence upon the vegetative apparatus and the vegetative nervous +system. These direct the lime exchanges within the cells of the +organisms, including the nerve cells. It has been shown that lime is, +relatively, a sedative to cells. It raises the threshold or strength +of stimulus necessary to evoke a reaction. Removing the parathyroids +means removing the lime barrier, for with their deficiency there is a +change in, and then an escape, from the blood, of the lime, by way +of the kidneys. The result is sometimes an enormous increase in the +excitability of all the cells, and especially of the vegetative +apparatus. What that means for the individual whose comfort depends +upon a stability of the intravisceral tones and pressures may be +readily imagined. + +The pancreas likewise acts as a sedative to the vegetative apparatus. +In particular, this applies to the sugar mechanism in the liver under +the discipline of the check and drive organization. The adrenal and +the pancreas are the direct antagonists in the struggle for control of +sugar. Removal of the adrenals will cause a decrease in the amount +of sugar in the blood, while removal of the pancreas will produce an +increase. Excess of sugar in the blood may thus be concomitant with +changes of character considered incorrigible. + +In different locales of the vegetative apparatus, as indeed of +the body in general, the directorate seems to be handed over to a +committee of control, generally made up of two members working +in opposing directions. Such a division of power in the general +directorate is analogous to the small holding corporations which +divide functions in, for example, the United States Steel Corporation. +The relative ratios of tonus in these smaller internal secretion +balances are of the utmost significance as causes of differences +in the vegetative apparatus, which are the basis of differences in +structure, power, and character between individuals. + +THE GENERAL LAWS OF THE DIRECTORATE + +Our knowledge of the glands of internal secretions as an interlocking +directorate presiding over all the functions of the organism is still +exceedingly meagre. As yet, we seem to be knocking at the portals +of the chemistry of the imponderable. There are holes in the bronze +doors, and we glimpse the unfathomable distances of unexplored +regions. But we do see something, and we do glimpse a beginning. +Already the outlines of a differential anatomy, and a different +physiology and a differential psychology, which will explain to us +the unique in the constitution, the temperament and character of +an individual, emerge. It is worth while, before proceeding to the +details, so valuable to a society which would become rational, to +summarize the general principles emerging, expressing the directing +powers of the ductless glands over the individual. _They may be +regarded as the present postulates of a new science of the whys and +wherefores separating and setting apart, as so recognizably distinct, +those peregrinating chemical mixtures: men and women_. + +1. The life of every individual, in every stage, is dominated largely +by his glands of internal secretion. That is, they, as a complex +internal messenger and director system, control organ and function, +conduct and character. The orderliness of human life, in the +sequential march of its episodes, crises, successes and failures, +depends, to a large extent, upon their interactions with each other +and with the environment. + +2. One or several of the glands possesses a controlling or superior +influence above that of the others in the physiology of the individual +and so becomes the central gland of his life, its dominant, indeed, so +far as it casts a deciding vote or veto, in its everyday existence and +incidents as well as in its high points, the climaxes and emergencies. + +3. These glandular preponderances are at the basis of personality, +creating genius and dullard, weakling and giant, Cavalier and Puritan. +All human traits may be analyzed in terms of them because they are +expressions of them. + +4. Specific types of personality may be directly associated with +particular glandular prominences, so that we have the thyroid-centered +types, the pituitary-centered types, the adrenal-centered types, etc. +These are the classic Three, the prototypes in their purity most +easily described and recognized. + +5. Combinations of these, as well as of other glands--with joint +predominance--occur and indeed form the majority of populations. The +phenomena of varieties in species are thus explained. + +6. Internal secretion traits are inherited, and variations in heredity +are essentially the structural representation of the resultant of a +parallelogram of forces exerted by each of the parental prepotent +glands. If they are of the same type, they may reinforce each other: +if not, inhibitions and compensations will come into play. Mendelian +laws may apply. + +7. The process of evolution, as the play of natural selection upon +these variations, becomes comprehensible from a new standpoint. + +8. Certain diseases, and disease tendencies, both acute and +constitutional, as well as traits of temperament and character, and +predetermined reactions to certain recurring situations in life, +are rooted in the glandular soils that compose the stuff of the +individual. + +9. The subconscious, of which the vegetative apparatus is the physical +basis, leads back to the internal secretions for the profoundest +springs of its secrets. We shall see how and why. + +10. Given the internal secretory composition, so to speak, of an +individual--his endocrine formula--and so his intravisceral pressures, +one may predict, within limits, his physical and psychic make-up, +the general lines of his life, diseases, tastes, idiosyncrasies and +habits. + +11. Within limits, if the previous history of an individual is known, +his physical appearance may be approximately described, and his future +outlined. + +12. Conversely, given the physical and psychic composition of an +individual, and his past history, one may deduce the internal +secretion type to which he belongs. + +Examples: + + A. One Thyroid-centered Type has + Bright eyes + Good clean teeth + Symmetrical features + Moist flushed skin + Temperamental attitude toward life + Tendency to heart, intestinal and nervous disease + + B. One Pituitary-centered Type + Abnormally large or small size + Musical--acute sense of rhythm + Asymmetrical features + Tendency to cyclic or periodic diseases + + C. One Adrenal-centered Type + Hairy + Dark + Masculinity marked + Tendency to diphtheria and hernia + +These are some of the master types. They have their variants depending +upon the influences of the other glands, especially the interstitial +cells of the sex glands. + +ANTE-NATAL DEVELOPMENT + +In their ensemble, the glands of internal secretion wield a +determining influence upon the development of the individual from +his very inception. If his various powers may be conceived of as an +orchestra, they may be said to conduct it from the very beginning of +its movements, and to cease only with its termination. From the moment +when the spermatozoon penetrates and fecundates the ovum, the fate +of the future being is settled by their disposition. The seal of his +destiny is soaked with their substance. + +POST-NATAL DEVELOPMENT + +Every particle of protoplasm, every granule of the impregnated ovum +carries the representatives of the parental ductless glands. As a +consequence, they transmit chemically, with no figure of speech +involved, the peculiar familial, racial and national characters from +progenitors to offspring. They confer upon the child a number of the +properties commonly recognized as inherited. All those features which +distinguish Caucasian from Mongolian, Scandinavian from Italian, +Italian from Jew are determined by them. + +In short, at every step of his life, in every relation and +association, in every expression of the inner forces that control his +being, the normal individual is influenced by his internal secretions. +Let us now see how. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +HOW THE GLANDS INFLUENCE THE NORMAL BODY + + +The origin of the remarkable differences between individuals that +distinguish species, varieties and families, has long been one of the +chief puzzles of biology. It may indeed be called the leading puzzle, +which led Darwin on to the collection of the data that culminated in +the "Origin of Species." The why of the Unique is the fundamental +problem of those who would understand life. + +An explanation is an attempt at a consistent and persistent, sometimes +an obstinate clarity of mind. A vast number of observations gathered +by laboratory experimentalists as well as by those naturalists of the +abnormal, physicians in active practice, prove that the construction +of the individual both during development before maturity, and +maintenance during maturity, his constitution, in short, is directed +by the endocrine glands. It is possible now to present an explanation +of the individuality of the individual. + +To assert that variation is responsible for the individual, that it +is the mechanism which isolates him as a being like none other of his +fellows, not even his parents, brothers, and sisters, is merely to beg +the question. What is variation? The internal secretion theory of the +process offers, for the first time, an explanation that is coherent +and comprehensive, based upon concrete and detailed observations. +It provides an adequate interpretation of the numberless hereditary +gradations and transitions, blendings and mixtures. It suggests a +control of heredity in the future. + +THE PURE TYPES + +In the pure types, only one gland, either by being present in great +excess above the average, or by being pretty well below the average, +comes to exercise the dominating influence upon the traits of the +organism. As the strongest link in the chain, or as the weakest, it +rules. The others must accommodate themselves to it. Among them as +commanders of growth, development and normal function, it holds the +balance of power. In every emergency it stands out by its strength or +by its weakness. It thus creates its own type of man or woman, with +attributes and characteristics peculiar to itself. These pure types, +as we have seen, are mainly the thyroid, the pituitary, and the +adrenal-centered. + +Each with the signs peculiar to it can be identified among the faces +that pass one in the street. And they differ so markedly among +themselves that they provide a new and accurate means of classifying +varieties among the races of the species: man. The thyroid type +differs as much from the adrenal type as does a greyhound from a +bull-dog. The greyhound has a certain size, form, character and +capacity. The bull-dog has similar qualities which are yet quite +different. Each is built for a particular career. Among human beings, +the pure thyroid type is easily distinguished from the pure adrenal +type, and both of these from the pure pituitary type. Each is stamped +with a significant figure, height, skin, hair, temperament, ambition, +social reactions and predisposition to certain diseases. + +THE MIXED TYPES + +Among the mixed types, the lines of distinction are less clear, and so +they are more difficult to classify. The mixed types may be said to +be hyphenated. In them, two or even three of the internal secretory +glands conflict for predominance. The combined action makes for a +resultant modification in the primary glandular markings and effects. +A hyphenated classification thus becomes inevitable. Especially is +this so if the two glands are mutually antagonistic and inhibitory. +A compromise effect is then necessitated. Or an individual may be +dominated by one gland at one period of his life and by another at a +later period. One of the glands, the thyroid, for example, will show, +by the traces it has left upon the earliest developing features, that +it was in control at the very earliest dates of his history, while +other signs will disclose the more recent influence of the adrenal +or of the pituitary. The combination becomes classifiable as the +thyroid-pituitary type, or as the thyroid-adrenal type. + +That the external features as well as the chronic diseases of human +beings are controlled by some common factor has long been suspected. +Inquiries into morbid phenomena with a hereditary trend yielded +information that has paved the way for the internal secretion theory. +It has long been known that certain diseases effect only certain +individuals of a definite constitution. Apoplexy, diabetes, +arteriosclerosis, Bright's disease, are met with almost exclusively in +what the older clinicians talked about as the apopleptic type. On the +other hand, they said, anemias, tuberculosis, hemophilias, scrofulas +occurred more among the lymphatic type. But they had no idea whatever +of the true functional basis of the two different types. The truth +as we of today view it is that these two types represent different +textures of human beings, fabricated of different internal secretions. +They are really two different breeds of the species Homo Sapiens. The +materials being different, the color and feel of them is different, +and the resistance to wear and tear is different. + +ENDOCRINE ANALYSIS + +The modes of classification glimpsed at are certainly exceedingly +broad and sweeping. It is well enough to establish types and classes. +But beneath them are sheltered the infinite possibilities of +permutations and combinations, which explain the countless variety +and complexity of form and function. Every individual born among the +vertebrates, for example, must have a certain definite amount and +percentage of pituitary gland, anterior and posterior, pineal, +thyroid, parathyroid, thymus, adrenal, pancreas, interstitial and +so on. Now if, to state it in terms of percentages, for the sake of +argument, the pituitary is 25, the pineal 10, the thyroid 36, the +parathyroids 15, the thymus 29, the adrenals 60, the pancreas 49, the +interstitials 72 (the gland when acting maximally to be graded as +100), we see at once how different such an individual must be from one +who has, say, pituitary 84, pineal 39, thyroid 26, parathyroid 42, +adrenals 96, pancreas 22 and interstitials 89. One obtains at once +from the contrasts of such figures some idea of the possibilities. As +each point plus or minus must count to produce some difference in the +individual, the results are manifest. Varying within the numerical +limits imposed by genus, species, variety and family (which limits +are probably responsible for the persistence of the particular genus, +species, variety, or family) the individual becomes an individual +because of the relative values of the percentages in his blood and +tissues of these different internal secretions. We thus begin to gain +an insight into the patterns according to which men, women and animals +are woven. + +We are, as yet, far from an exact endocrine analysis of the +individual. But we know that the endocrines rule over growth and +nutrition, a vast dominion which incorporates every organ and every +tissue. By enhancing or retarding the nutritional changes, the growth +of the organ or tissue is favored or restricted. The size and shape of +an individual, as a whole, as well as of the specialized cell masses +composing him, as hands and feet, the nose and ears, and so on, are +therefore controlled by them. Whether an organism is to be tall or +short, lean or corpulent, graceful or awkward, is decided by their +interactions. These, like human covenants, vary with the different +reactions of the parties to the contract. And so a great deal depends +upon whether they work harmoniously or discordantly, and upon which +does the most work and which the least. + +Undersecretion and Oversecretion + +It is when a gland, either in the course of development, or because of +the influence of starvation, shock, injury, poisoning or infection, +begins to undersecrete or oversecrete that its effects upon growth and +nutrition become grossly manifest. A veritable transfiguration of the +individual may occur, the black magic of which may perplex him for +a lifetime. A man, made eunuchoid by an accident or by mumps, will +observe in himself astonishing changes in his constitutional make-up, +mentality and sexuality. He would be more astounded to learn that +beneath the appearances, the changes, so alarming him, there are +profound alterations in the rate at which he is taking in oxygen, +burning up sugar, accumulating carbon dioxide and excreting waste +byproducts through the kidneys, which are responsible for them. + +The differences between the normal and abnormal are only a matter of +degree. And so, to be sure, are differences between types. But it is +hard to realize that the striking distinctions between the thyroid +type and the pituitary, comparable, as said, to the differences +between a greyhound and a bull-dog, are dependent solely upon +quantitative variations in the general and local speeds of metabolism, +among the cells. + +DIVISION OF LABOR + +Besides the antagonisms and co-operations between them, there are +certain lines along which the glands, in their effects, specialize. +The thyroid, for instance, is concerned specially with the regulation +of the shape, form and finish of an organ. The pituitary shines at the +periods of developmental crises, determining them and modifying them. +It exerts the greatest influence upon the time of eruption of the +teeth, both the temporary and the permanent, the onset of puberty, the +recurrence of menstruation in women, and the time of occurrence of +labor. The interstitial glands distribute the basis of the powers and +limitations of masculinity and femininity. Abnormalities of these +glands also affect the individual all along the line, in all of his +aspects. So affected he may apparently change into a wholly different +being. He may change in size, in the shape of his head, feet and +hands, as well as in his habits, aptitudes and dispositions. So he may +find it necessary to purchase an entirely different size of hat, more +commodious clothes, and newly fitting gloves and shoes. At the same +time, his family, relatives and friends, discover that the erstwhile +generous, frank, neat and punctual and liked, has become stingy and +suspicious and slovenly and hated. And all because a gland has begun +to undersecrete or to oversecrete. The transformation will be slight +or marked, depending entirely upon the extent of impairment, positive +or negative, of the gland involved. + +But it is not only in the shaping of the normal individual's +architecture that the internal secretions dominate. Over that subtle +something known in all languages as vitality, expressive of the +intensity of feeling, thought and reactions in cells, they rule +supreme. Gay vivacity and grim determination, the temperament of a +Louis XIV, and the soul of a Cromwell, are the crystallizations of +these chemical substances acting upon the brain. + +INTERNAL SECRETION VARIETIES + +There is no better way of illustrating the influence of the internal +secretions upon the normal than the analysis of the variation of +traits with variations in glandular predominances. The general build +of an individual, his skeletal type, the proportion between the size +of his arms and that of his legs, as well as that between his trunk +and his lower extremities, whether he is to be tall, lanky and +loutish, or short, squat and dumpy, are to be considered. Different +facial types are the expressions of underlying endocrine differences. +The head and skull offer a number of clues to the controlling +secretions in the blood and tissues. Whether the forehead is to be +broad or narrow, the distance between the eyes, the character of the +eyebrows, the shape and size and appearance of the eyes themselves, +the mould of the nose and jaws and the peculiarities of the teeth, are +all so determined. The skin, in its color, texture, the quantity +and distribution of its fatty and other constituents, eruptions and +weather reactions, is influenced. Also the mucous membranes, the +color and lustre and structure of the hair, as well as its general +distribution and development, are hieroglyphics of the endocrine +processes below the surface. Whether the muscles are massive or +sparse, atrophied or hypertrophied, soft or hard, easily fatigable +or not, bespeak conditions in the glandular chain. In short, we must +regard the individual as an immensely complicated pattern of designs +traced by the hormones as the primary etchers of his development. +Though it must be admitted that the number of unknown and unsolved +relations in the pattern are still enormously great, enough has +been established to make possible a rough working analysis of the +particular, unique organism placed before us for examination as Mr. +Smith, Mrs. Jones, or Miss Smith-Jones. + +WHAT IS THE NORMAL? + +Anthropologists, from the beginning of anthropology, have battled +in vain for a satisfactory inclusive definition, or, at least, +description of the normal. With the introduction of the biometric +method, the goal at last appeared within sight. A cocked hat curve +expressing the distribution and range of the normal looks formidable. +The attainable turned out a mirage, for the curves constructable by +the measurement of traits of a population only proved the truth of the +old axiom that all transitions and variations between extremes exist. +The Problem of the Normal seemed more elusive than ever. And the best +that could be done for the elucidation of its mystery, was to apply +and observe the law of averages. + +From the endocrine standpoint, the reason for this becomes clear. The +biometric method concerned itself with externals, with, as it were, +symptoms. Since these external signs are but manifestations of the +inner chemical reactions, of which the internal secretions are the +determining reagents, or factors, with permutations and combinations +possible in all directions, the diversity and variability of each +individual and his traits stands explained and understandable. The +normal, as the perfect or nearly perfect balance of forces in the +organism, at any given moment, emerges as a more definite and real +concept than that which would abstract it from a curve of variations. +Moreover, since the directive forces within the organism are +pre-eminently the internal secretions, the normal becomes definable as +their harmonious balancing or equilibrium, a state which tends not to +undo (as the abnormal does) but to prolong itself. + +The potential combinations and compensations, antagonisms and +counteractions, attainable within the endocrine glands as an +interlocking directorate, point the cause for the elusive quality of +the normal. Tall men and short men, blonde women and dumpy women, +lanky hatchet-faced people, stout moon-faced people, Falstaff and +Queen Elizabeth, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, Disraeli and +Walt Whitman, Caesar and Alexander, as well as Mr. Smith and Miss +Jones come within the range of the normal. There are all kinds and +conditions and sorts of men and women, and all kinds and sorts and +conditions of the normal, because an incalculable number of harmonious +relations and interactions between the endocrines are possible, and +do actually occur. The standard of the normal must obviously not be +a single standard, but a series of standards, depending upon which +glands predominate, and how the others adapt themselves to its +predominance. Adrenal-centered types, thyroid-centered types, +pituitary-centered types, thymus-centered types, as well as hyphenated +compounds of these, such as the pituitary-adrenal types, exist as +normals. They can be conceived of as normal types because they exist +as normal types. + +THE SKELETAL TYPES + +Now men, for as long as we have any knowledge of their thoughts and +classifications and attitudes, have been accustomed to first think +of one another, to classify and size one another as tall or short, +slender or broad, thin or corpulent. The biological necessity, indeed, +instinct of the one animal to relate the other animal to aggressive or +harmless agencies in his surroundings, accounts for this. Relatively, +of course, for all these modes of description imply offensive or +defensive possibilities of the stimulus for the recorder in relation +to himself. The interest in stature is fundamental, and has persisted +in the most civilized, nations. The relationship of height and weight, +as well as of length and breadth, to other physical traits, have +formed the subject of scientific study. There is, for instance, the +classification of Bean, who divided mankind generally into two types, +those of a medium size, stocky long legs and arms, large hands and +feet, short trunk, and face large in comparison to the head (the +meso-onto-morphs) and those who were either tall and slender, or small +and delicate, with the smaller face, eyes close together, long, high, +narrow nose, and trunk longer as compared with the extremities (the +hyper-onto-morphs). Bean showed, too, that the hypers (to use a short +word to contrast with the mesos) were present to the extent of almost +a hundred per cent in a series of tuberculosis, and about ninety per +cent in a series of central nervous system disease. All of which is +exceedingly interesting and suggestive, but throws no light upon the +underlying mechanisms of statures. + +STATURE AND GROWTH + +Stature is essentially determined by the growth of the long bones. +They are the pace-makers, and the muscles and soft tissues follow the +pace they set. Now the primary determinant, catalyst or sensitizer of +the growth of the long bones is the anterior pituitary. All statures +should therefore be first scrutinized from the point of view of the +pituitary. Individuals over six feet tall or under five feet five +inches should be looked upon as having a pituitary trend. This +pituitary trend may be primary, due to its own undergrowth or +overgrowth, or it may be due to lack of inhibition from the sex glands +such as occurs in eunuchs and eunuchoids, or excessive or premature +inhibition from them as happens in certain salacious dwarfs. + +The long bones grow at a point of junction between the bone proper +and an overlying layer of gristle or cartilage, known as the zone of +ossification. It is upon this zone of ossification that the various +growth influences appear to focus and concentrate their efforts, among +them the internal secretions. After growth has been finished, that is, +after adolescence, these zones of ossification close, so that growth +is no longer possible unless they become reactivated. Upon the zone of +ossification must act the pituitary, and indirectly the thyroid, the +interstitial cells, the thymus and the adrenals. Individuals oversized +or undersized either belong to the pituitary type, or if hyphenated, +have the pituitary as one of the dominants in their composition. The +necessities of child-bearing determine a greater angle between trunk +and lower extremities in the female. Underactivity of the pituitary, +for instance, will prevent the development of the normal angle. The +ratio in length of the upper limbs to the lower is a fairly constant +relationship for each sex normally Deviations occur with a break +somewhere in the chain of cooperation of the internal secretions +controlling the growth of bone. + +HANDS, FINGERS AND TOES + +The size and shape and general configuration of the hands, fingers +and toes are details that tell an endocrine tale. Students of hands +naturally have grouped them as the long slender and the short, broad, +the bony and the well-filled out, the tapering fingers and the stumpy. +The character of a hand is determined anatomically by the length and +breadth of the bones, the amount and distribution of fat, and the +thickness and elasticity of the skin. Over these, the essential +control lies in the pituitary and the thyroid. So we find that +pituitary types have, when there is oversecretion, large bony, gross +hands, spade-shaped, or when there is undersecretion, hands that are +plump, with peculiarly tapering fleshy fingers. The hyperthyroid has +long slender fingers, the subthyroid pudgy, coarse, ugly foreshortened +hands, often cold, and bluish. + +FACIAL TYPES + +An artist will see in a face the past history of generations, a +narrative of the adventures of the blood, a record of tears and +smiles, wrinkles and dimples, the victories and defeats of buried +drudgery and romance. These signatures which the Faculty of Life have +scribbled or engraved over it as upon a diploma, bespeak for him +spiritual moments. To the student of the internal secretions the +lines, expressions, attitudes are important for they tell of the state +of tensions and strains in the vegetative apparatus with which they +are inseparably connected. It is when one comes to the consideration +of the face as a complex of brows, eyes, nose, lips and jaws that he +becomes most interested. For in the modeling and tone of every one of +the features each of the endocrine glands has something to say. In +consequence there has been described the hyperpituitary face, and the +hyperthyroid face, the subthyroid face and the subpituitary face, the +adrenal face, the eunuchoid face and the ovarian face and also the +thymic. + +To bring to mind an immediate complete image of the hyperthyroid face, +one should think of Shelley. The oval shape of it, with the delicate +modeling of all the features, the wide, high brow, the large, +vivacious, prominent eyes with the glint of a divine fire in them and +the sensitive lips all belong to the classical picture. Generally +flushed over the cheek-bones, there is undoubtedly a certain +effeminate effect associated with it. At least, it is the least animal +and brutish of the faces of man. + +On the other hand, the subthyroid face is that of the cretin and +cretinoid idiot, in a mild degree. So characteristic that we recognize +the portrait in the descriptions of Pliny in early Roman tunes and of +Marco Polo in his Asiatic travels. Coarseness, dullness, pudginess are +its keynotes. Irregular features, tendency to wide separation of the +eyes and pug nose, sallow, puffy complexion, waxy thickened nose and +eyelids, deep-set, listless, lacklustre eyebrows, and thick prominent +lips comprise the catalogue of the physiognomy. On the whole, the sort +of face one passes in the street as stupid and common. But there are +a number of fascinating and marvelous varieties of the stupid and +common. + +The adrenal face is most often dark or freckled. It tends to be +irregularly broadish. It is hairy, one is struck forcibly. There is a +low hair line, which makes the brow appear rather low, and there is +a good deal of hair over the cheek bones. The adrenal type is round +headed. + +The face of the hyperpituitary is striking and pretty sharply defined. +It is long and narrow, with a tendency to prominence of the bony +parts. Square, protruding jaw, high, thin, straight nose, emphasized +eyebrows, and marked cheek-bones, comprise the leading points in its +composition. On the other hand, the subpituitary is more rounded and +trends toward the full moon effect, the chin recedes, the cheek-bones +are buried under fat, the nose spreads more and is flatter. In its +general expression, there is a complacence and tranquillity which is +often mistaken for sleepiness, and often actually is dullness. + +The eunuchoid face is usually fat with puffy eyelids. The skin is +smooth and cool, marble-like often, poor in pigment and color. +Sometimes it is sallow, wrinkled and senile in a man in his early +twenties. At others, it is distinctly feminine in its hairlessness, +and the delicate texture of the skin, as well as in the clean-cut +patterning of the features. Every gradient between premature senility +and sex inversion is encountered. + +The thymic face frequently stamps its possessor at sight. Its owner +has a smooth, soft skin, with little or no hair, and a dead white or +"peaches-and-cream" complexion. One wonders, when unacquainted with +the type, who the man's barber is, or where he learned to shave +himself so well. It may be curiously velvety to the touch and swept by +a faint sheen. Among children occur the most exquisite samples of the +kind designated as the angelic child. The face is finely moulded and +beautifully proportioned, features artistically chiselled, eyes blue +or brown with long lashes, cheeks transparent with rapid, fleeting +variations in coloring, thin lips, and oval chin. In the adult, the +chin is receding, and the mouth seems underdeveloped in one variety. + +THE TEETH + +As closely connected with the internal secretions as are the bones of +the face and the skull are the teeth. Tooth formation is essentially a +modified bone formation. And as the bones of the face are influenced, +so are the teeth influenced. But as each tooth is a miniature organ, +inspectable by the eye as a unit, the action of the ductless glands +is more obviously reflected for the observer to read. By their teeth +shall ye know them. Upon the whole history of the evolution of each +tooth, in the growth of the dental follicle and its walls, the +fruition of the dentinal germ, the making of the enamel organ, the +dental pulp, the cementum and the peridental membrane, the endocrines +leave their mark. + +There are certain general statements about the teeth and the internal +secretions that can be made. The teeth of the thyroid types are +pearly, glistening, small and regular; in other words, the teeth to +which poets have devoted sonnets. The pituitary types have teeth that +are large and square and irregular, with prominence of the middle +incisors, and a marked separation or crowding of them. The +interstitial types have small irregular upper teeth, with turned, +stumpy or missing lateral incisors. The thymus types have youthful, +milky white teeth that are thin and translucent, and scalloped or +crescentic at the grinding edge. The teeth of the adrenal type are all +well-developed, tend to have a yellowish color, with a reddish tinge +to the grinding surfaces. + +The degree and regularity of development of the middle upper cutting, +biting teeth, as distinguished from the grinding molars, the middle +and lateral incisors, and the canines offer further guides to the +endocrine constitution analysis. The size of the central incisors +seems to be directly proportional to the degree of pituitary +predominance. On the other hand, the size and regularity of +the lateral incisors seem proportional to the influence of the +interstitial cells. When these are inferior in the make-up of an +individual, the lateral incisors are nearly always distorted. The +size of the canines appears to be a measure of adrenal activity. Long +sharply pointed canines mean well-functioning adrenal gland equipment +to start in with, inherited from a bellicose progenitor. + +No individual peculiarities of the teeth are accidental. Just as the +absence of hair on the face in a man or a moustache effect in a +woman stand for some definite stress or strain in the mechanics of +interaction of the internal secretions, so likewise do variations in +dentition, as to the time of eruption of the teeth, their position and +quality, and their resistance to decay. + +Proper balance between the thymus and pituitary will permit the +eruption of the teeth within the normal time limits, both the milk +teeth and the permanent teeth. When there is equilibrium between the +pituitary and the gonads, the teeth will be regular in shape and +position. Carious teeth, in children and adults, sometimes indicate +endocrine imbalance. Thyroid and adrenal balance determines the +resistance to decay of the molars. Early decay of the molars in +children is significant of insufficiency of the thyroid. When the +first permanent molar, which should appear in the upper arch in its +usual position between the sixth or eighth years, does not, there has +been a prenatal disturbance of the pituitary, according to Chayes +and others. Rapid decay of the teeth in childhood should always call +attention to the parathyroids. + +In pregnancy, the teeth suffer particularly because of disturbances of +the endocrines. The saying, "A tooth for every child," is said to have +its equivalent in every language. The bicuspids and second permanent +molars erupt around puberty, when profound readjustments are going on +among the glands of internal secretion. They consequently suffer with +their abnormalities or divergences from type. The teeth thus furnish a +good deal of information concerning the distribution of the balance of +power among the hormones. + +THE SKIN + +The skin is influenced in its color, moisture, hairiness, texture, fat +content and disease vulnerability by the endocrines. The question of +color is very interesting, for it is probably the expression of the +blending action of the different internal secretions. Davenport, the +American student of heredity and eugenics, has shown that neither +white nor black skins are either perfectly white or perfectly black, +but are mixtures in various proportions of black, yellow, red and +white. The exact percentages of the pigments in each particular skin, +can be determined by means of a rotating disc. Thus a white person's +skin may have the following composition: + +Black 8% Red 50% + +Yellow 9% White 33% + +The composition of the skin of a very black negro may be: + +Black 68% Red 26% + +Yellow 2% White 7% + +Now the fact that in Addison's disease in which the adrenals are +destroyed there occurs a coincident increase in the black in the +skin, and other evidence pointing to adrenal implication in dark +complexioned white people, as well as in those possessing pigmented +spots, seems to indicate the adrenals as controllers of the black +and white factors. Davenport has concluded that there are two double +factors for black pigmentation in the full-blooded negro which are +separately inheritable. The determinants of the red and yellow have +still to be worked out. + +The moistness of the skin, as perspiration, depends upon the number +and activity of the sweat glands. It varies with the water content of +the body, the state of the vegetative nervous system, and the body +temperature. Thus the skin of the hyperthyroid and the subadrenal +is soft and moist, because of their antagonistic effects upon the +sympathetic system. The subthyroid and the hyperadrenal have dry +and harsh skins for the same reason, if no other glands intervene. +However, in both of the latter, if there is a persistent thymus, the +skin will retain the bland quality of adolescence. + +There is a curious variation among the different internal secretion +types in the reaction of the skin to stroking. When the skin, +especially the skin over the shoulders, the breasts and the abdomen, +is stroked with some blunt object, the blood vessels react either by a +greater filling up or emptying of themselves. The latter occurs most +regularly in the subadrenal types, the former in the hyperthyroid. +Both forms of reaction run parallel to the different check or drive +effects of the vegetative apparatus. With too much drive, that is, too +much thyroid, there is the flushing reaction; with too little check, +that is, with too little adrenal, there is the whitening. These +differences probably explain the emotional reactions of the face. In +anger, for example, some people become a dead white, others a fiery +red. Whether one will do one or the other may depend upon the relative +predominance of the thyroid or of adrenal in the individual. + +In the distribution of fat beneath and throughout the skin all of the +endocrine glands appear to have a voice. The typically hyperthyroid +and hyperpituitary individuals tend to be thin, as well also as those +who have well-functioning or excessively functional interstitial +cells. In all of these the administration of the respective internal +secretions increases the burning up of material in the body, and all +of them have a higher rate of tissue combustion than their confreres, +with a subthyroid or subpituitary keynote in their cell chemistry, or +with insufficient interstitial cell action. Generally the latter have +a very dry skin, the former a moist skin. With delayed involution of +the pineal, obesity results. + +The elasticity of the skin is another quality that varies with the +concentration in the blood of the internal secretions. Elasticity of +the skin, its recoil upon being stretched like a rubber band, may be +taken as a measure of the activity of all the endocrine glands. For, +as can be noticed especially upon the back of the hand, the older a +man grows, the less elastic becomes the skin. In older people, raising +the skin upon the back of the hand will cause it to stand up as a +ridge for a few seconds and then slowly to return to the level of the +surrounding skin. Whereas in a youthful person it will quickly snap +back into place. This quality of elasticity of the skin is due to the +presence in it of the so-called yellow elastic fibres, cell products, +with a resilience greater than anything devised by man. The +preservation of the resilience is a function of the internal +secretions. Thus, after loss of the thyroid, the ridging effect +characteristic of senility can be produced in one young as measured by +his years. It has been said that a man is as old as his arteries, and +also that as he is as old as his skin. It might better be said that he +is as old as his elastic tissue, young when he is rich in it, old when +poor and losing it. And as elastic tissue and internal secretions +stand in the relation of created and creators, or at least preserved +and preservers, a man may be said to be as old, that is as young, +fresh and active as his ductless glands. + +THE HAIR + +There is no characteristic of the human body, except perhaps +the teeth, more influenced in its quality, texture, amount and +distribution than the hair. And again, each of the glands of internal +secretion plays a part, but most importantly the thyroid, the +suprarenal cortex and the interstitial sex glands. All contribute +their specific effect, and the blend, the sum of the additions and +subtractions constituting their influences, appears as a specific +trait of the individual, a trait so significant as to be used by the +professionals absorbed in the study of man, the anthropologists, as a +criterion of racial classifications. + +Some acquaintance with the history of the normal growth of hair is +necessary to its understanding. There develops during the life of the +fetus within the womb a curious sort of wooly hair everywhere over +the entire body (excepting the palms and soles which remain hairless +throughout life), remarkably soft and fluttery--the lanugo. At about +the eighth month of intra-uterine existence, a good deal of this +lanugo is lost, to be replaced on the head and eyebrows by a crop of +thick, coarse, pigmented real hair. So it happens that at birth the +infant's hair is a queerly irregular growth, a mixture of what is left +of the general lanugo development, and the localized patches of the +more human hair. Until puberty this children's hair remains the same, +although at times, particularly after dentition, and after infectious +diseases which undoubtedly alter the relations of the internal +secretions, changes of color and texture occur. Then, with sexual +ripening, there appear in males the so-called terminal hairs, over the +cheeks and lips and chin, and, in both sexes, in the folds under +the shoulders and over the lower abdomen, the hair which might be +distinguished as the sex hair in contradistinction to the juvenile +hair of the head, the extremities and the back. + +Now the smoothness of the face in children is connected with the +activity of the thymus and pineal glands. Among individuals in whom +the juvenile thymus persists after puberty, no growth of hair occurs +on the face, and in precocious involution or destruction of the +pineal, hair appears on the face and in other terminal regions in +children of six or less, a symptom classical in the child who suffered +from a tumor of the pineal, and discussed immortality with his +physicians. It is probable that these thymus and pineal effects are +indirect through their action upon the sex glands. For in the types +with persistent juvenile thymus there occurs a maldevelopment of the +sex glands, while in those with early pineal recession the sex glands +bloom simultanously with the appearance of adolescent hair and mental +traits. The hastening of sexual hair by tumors of the adrenal gland +may also be put down to a release from restraint of the interstitial +sex cells. + +There are certain spheres in the hair geography of the body, over +which particular glands may be said to rule or to possess a mandate. +The hair of the head seems to be primarily under the control of +the thyroid. Thus in cretins reconstructed by thyroid feeding, the +straight, rather animal hair becomes lustrous and fine, silken and +curly. In the thyroid deficiency of adults, a prominent phenomenon +often is the falling out of the hair in handfuls. Baldness is +frequently associated with a progressive decrease of the concentration +of thyroid in the blood. At the same time, there tends to be a +thinning of the eyebrows, especially of the outer third. + +The hair of the face in males, and the other terminal hairs in both +males and females, is regulated by the sex glands primarily. In the +female, the ovary, that is to say, the interstitial cells of the +ovary, inhibit the growth of hair upon the face. In destructive +disease of the ovaries, as well as in other affections of it, hair in +the form of moustache, beard and whiskers may appear in female. That +is why in women after the grand sex change of life, the menopause, +hair often grows in the typically male regions because of loss of the +inhibiting influence of the ovarian internal secretion upon them. +After castration of the ovaries, the same may result. Removal of the +male sex glands, or disturbances of them, will interfere with the +proper development of the normal facial hair. Of the hair of the +chest, the abdomen and the back, the adrenals seem to be the +controllers. Adrenal types have hairy chests in males, and hair on the +back in females. They have also a good deal of hair upon the abdomen. +The hair on the extremities varies a good deal with the pituitary. +People with hair upon hands, arms and legs, alone, are generally +pituitary, or have a striking pituitary streak in their make-up. + +When the adrenals increase in size in childhood, a remarkable triad +follows--general hairiness, adiposity and sexual precocity. One fact +should be noted. When the adrenals evoke precocity, and an early +awakening of the secondary sex characteristics, it is a masculine +precocity, and an approximation to the masculine even in females. +There is a definite trend toward an increase of the male in the +individual's composition at the expense of the female. We shall have +to consider this in greater detail when we analyze the internal +secretion basis of masculinity and femininity. In general, the degree +of general hairiness is an index to the amount of adrenal influence +upon the organism. All the endocrines which affect the hair growth +also act upon the sebaceous glands which oil the skin. + +THE EYES + +Eyes present clues to internal secretion constitutions dependent upon +influences of architecture and function. The thyroid eye is typical. +It is large, brilliant and protruding. The individual is "pop-eyed." +On the other hand, subthyroidized eyes tend to be sunken and +lustreless. The eyes of a pituitary type are either set markedly +apart, or close together, with the hair at the root of the nose so +prominent as to constitute a separate bridge known as the nasal brow. +The size of the pupil, and its humidity, which have so much to do with +the expression of the eye, vary directly with the activities of the +driving and checking divisions of the vegetative system, and are +a pretty good index as to which, at the time of observation, is +predominant. When the check system is in control, the pupils are large +and dilated. When its antagonist and rival, the drive system, is on +top, the pupils are small and contracted. The reactions of the pupils +when charged by strong emotion, like fear or anger, likewise turn upon +the status of check or drive internal secretions in the economy of the +organism at the time the exciting agent presents itself. + +MUSCLES + +It would seem, at first sight, that organs like muscles, mechanical +instruments for the manipulation of the organism in space, would +be more or less independent of the subtler processes of internal +chemistry of the blood and tissues. But no assumption would be more +beside the mark. Just as much as the bones and viscera, the teeth and +the hair, they show grossly how they are being influenced by all the +endocrine glands. So thyroid types generally have a skeleton +sparsely covered with a muscular mantle. Pituitary types have large +well-developed muscles. The pineal gland has some definite relation to +muscle chemistry not yet probed. Thus, it has been shown that when the +pineal has been completely destroyed prematurely by lime deposits in +it, there is concomitant a wasting of muscles in places. This waste is +sometimes replaced by fat. Pictures and images in wood and stone +of these muscle freaks dating from the fifteenth, sixteenth, and +seventeenth century are in existence. Then there is the extraordinary +fatigability of the muscles which occurs in the thymus types, +who nevertheless have large well-rounded muscles, a paradox of +contradiction between anatomy and physiology. Such a type, for +instance, may be picked out by a football coach for an important +position in a line-up, simply on the tremendous impressiveness of +the muscle make-up, only to see him bowled over and out in the first +scrimmage. The tone of muscles, the quality of resisting firmness or +yielding softness, is essentially determined by the adrenal glands, +especially in time of stress and strain. + +Brown-Sequard was the first to show that extracts of sex glands could +increase the capacity for muscular work. Whether this was a direct +effect upon the muscles, or indirect through the nerves or other +endocrines, no one can say. Certainly the carriage of an individual, +outer symptom of the inner tonus among his muscles and tendons, may be +said to be as distinctively an endocrine affair as the color of his +skin. And like its variations, variations of their tone, development, +reactivity, fatigability, and endurance may be traced to corresponding +states of overaction, or underaction, and odd combinations of the +different hormones. Much remains to be learned about them and the +manner of their control. Such an affliction as flatfoot, dependent +upon a laxity of the ligaments in one who seems perfectly healthy and +strong, may lead the analyst back to a thymus-centered personality. +That is but one example. + +Since, too, muscle attitudes, muscle tensions and muscle relaxations +play so large a part in the production of fundamental mental states: +the attitudes, moods, memories and will reactions, the vegetative +apparatus enters, to play its part as a determinant. + +SEX + +Over no domain of the body have the endocrines a more absolute +mandatory than over that of the whole complex of sex. Both as regards +the primary reproductive organs, their size and shape, and the +character of their implantation, malformations and anomalies, as well +as the physical and mental traits lumped as the secondary sexual, +puberty, maturity, and senility, voice changes and erotic trends, +virility and femininity, the internal secretions are dictators at +every step. So significant are these, that even a rough summary of the +discoveries and the outlook in the field involves some consideration +of the details. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE MECHANICS OF THE MASCULINE AND THE FEMININE + + +It needs a poet to chant the epic of sex. The mystery of it puzzled +the minds of the earliest Sumerian thinkers. As a source of deepest +excitement, it generated the most revolting ceremonies, bizarre +customs, astounding cruelties and incomprehensible stupidities of +the race. Men and women, as soon as they have done with their usual +business of keeping themselves free of disagreeable sensations, +hunger, cold, fear of enemies, betake themselves to it as a primary +interest all over the world. The most advanced psychologists of the +day link the sex impulse with the windings and twistings of all human +activity. + +Yet the Homer of sex through the ages is still to come. But at all +times the mystery evoked speculation and attempt at explanation. +Acting upon their theories as to the nature and function of sex, men +have, ever since the passing of the primeval matriarchates, segregated +women, equalized them, worshipped them, or enslaved them. Opinions +have varied from ancient national aphorisms to the effect that +women have no souls to the most ultramodern utterances of +biologist-publicists that the differences between men and women are +the differences between two species. There are other epigrams, vast +sweeping generalities, extant concerning the nature of sex, and women +particularly. All partake of the complexity of truth and therefore own +a certain validity. Still, since as a matter of fact, these items have +been based upon superficial observations colored by the tradition and +verbiage of the milieu, they are valuable more as human documents, as +material for the psychologist, than as scientifically obtained data, +able to stand unblinking before the rays of the critical searchlights. + +SCIENCE VS. ART + +Not that all the vast accumulation needs to be thrown pell-mell, +higgledy-piggledy into the discard. The love lyrics of the poet, the +magic of the emotions of Shelley and Poe, for instance, with their +marvelous music and exquisite intonings of feeling, furnish us with +important information. They are the facts of the sex life, as much as +the song of the nightingale, or the mocking laughter of the cuckoo +pursued by its mate. So Sappho and Elizabeth Browning, to take only +two samples, have contributed some of the feminine reaction. The +erotic motive in literature has but paralleled the erotic motive in +life, with all of its vagaries, delusions, confusions, ecstasies and +suffering. + +We have had concerning sex not knowledge, but a series of attitudes, +the attitude of virtue, the attitude of pruriency, the attitude of +good taste, the attitude of the theoretic libertine, the attitude of +the satyr's vulgarity. All these poses, of course, have supplied not +an iota to an understanding of the foundations of the problems of sex, +biologically considered. Thus, a masculine master has coined that +immortal phrase, the Eternal Feminine. And in a matriarchate we +should undoubtedly hear of the Eternal Masculine. Each leaves one as +unenlightened as the other. A rough and ready code of life attributes +certain grossly characteristic qualities of mind and body to each +sex. This is supposed to be enough for common sense. Beyond that the +mystery has been wrapped in cotton wool. That perhaps explains the +enormous popularity of contemporary pornographic and so-called sex +literature. + +There are bound up with sex feeling and sex knowledge many customs, +beliefs and habits, many legal statutes and social institutions, in +the complex that is called sentiment, to which science looms as the +sacrilegious ogre who devours romance. Without spending space upon the +ravages of the sentimental idealist, certainly responsible for as much +human disaster as the brutal realist, it is manifest that a revolution +in sex standards and relations is inevitable as soon as the new +doctrines filter down as matters of fact to the levels of the common +intelligence. And surely, nothing else could be wished for in the +world desired by all of us, the world ruled by intelligence, and +intelligent good will. + +SEX CHEMISTRY + +A few general statements may be put down outright as material to go +upon before we proceed to details. + +1. Femininity and masculinity have a definite chemical basis in the +reactions of the internal secretions of which they are the expression. +That is to say, that just as a precipitate of chalk is formed when one +throws some carbonate of soda into lime water, so the masculine +and the feminine are to be looked upon as precipitates and +crystallizations of a long series of linked chemical reactions in +the fluids of the body, in which the internal secretions play a +determining part. + +2. Femininity and masculinity are expressions of the interplay of all +the internal secretions. It used to be said by smart cats and accepted +by the tabby cats, that a woman was a woman because of her ovaries +alone. It is being said by some great discoverers of the day that man +is a man because of his testes alone. Neither of these dogmas is true. +There are individuals with ovaries who show every deviation from the +feminine and there are individuals with testes who exhibit every +variation from the masculine. The other endocrine glands are of equal +importance. + +3. There is no absolute masculine or absolute feminine. The ideals +of the Manly Man and the Womanly Woman were erected by the blind +ignorance of the nineteenth century illusionists, and a line drawn to +cleave them. But indeed biologically there exists every transition +between the masculine and the feminine. The explanation of these +different sex types consists in the different admixtures of the +internal secretions possible and actual. When we speak of the feminine +we really mean the predominantly feminine. And when we speak of +the masculine, we mean the mainly masculine. Between, all sorts of +transitions are possible and occur. + +Man in relation to the internal secretions we have considered in +reviewing the interstitial cells. To him, we shall return later. Let +us turn now to that fascinating subject of the ages, Woman. What +produces and maintains the Feminine? + +THE CAUSE OF SEX + +To all appearances, that inscrutable simplest of living things, the +fertilized ovum, beginning of the human, starts bisexual, double +sexed, both masculine and feminine, or perhaps neither masculine nor +feminine. Then a form develops. Then within that form a patch of cells +arise which the microscopist recognizes as the forerunners of the male +or the female reproductive cells. Then some more development. And at +birth, sex is definitely settled, as far as the reproductive organs +are concerned. + +Our knowledge here, as everywhere, is still fragmentary. Statistical +reviews seem to show that in times of stress, war, famine, pestilence, +more boys are born than girls. But that is neither here nor there. It +sheds no further light on the subject. Monosexuality is a distinction +of the human species: the sexes are pretty clearly differentiated. +In some animals, such as some worms, there is a bisexuality of the +individual. There are present the reproductive organs of both sexes, +capable of impregnating other individuals as well as of being +impregnated. In some of these, even self-impregnation may occur. This +is the condition of hermaphroditism. + +But the higher up one goes in the scale of evolution, the greater +becomes the distinction between the sexes. Anatomic hermaphroditism +becomes a rare anomaly. Life appears to have perfected this trick of +separate sexes, sex specialization, in short, for the sake of the +efficiency which goes with specialization. + +When a germ cell divides, its nuclear material breaks up into segments +known as chromosomes. Now it has been found, for example in the case +of the common squash bug, anasa tristis, that there are 22 chromosomes +in the female, and 21 in the male. In the female two of these are +visibly different from the rest, while in the male there is one odd +one, the remaining 20 being like the corresponding 20 of the female. +Before the germ cell becomes fit to mix with a germ cell of opposite +sex, in the process of fertilization, it must lose one half of these. +So the number of chromosomes for the species is kept the same or +constant. This is the process of maturation. In the process, when the +chromosome number is halved among the females, 11 go into each mature +egg. But among the males, the odd chromosome, also known as the +X-chromosome, can perforce go only into half of the sperm cells, +leaving the others without it. So the sperm are formed in equal +numbers of 10 and 11 chromosomes respectively. + +When fertilization occurs, and the sperm cell fuses with the egg, the +following may take place: (1) a ten chromosome sperm may unite with +the eleven chromosome egg, and produce a twenty-one chromosome +individual or (2) an eleven chromosome sperm may unite with an eleven +chromosome egg producing a twenty-two chromosome individual. It has +been found that the twenty-two chromosome individual invariably +develops into a female, and the twenty-one into a male. Therefore, +femaleness is a positive quality, dependent upon the action of the +X-chromosome, and maleness an absence of femaleness, due to lack +of the extra, odd chromosome. In man, two X-chromosomes have been +discovered, half the sperm containing 12, and the other half +containing only 10 chromosomes. The number of chromosomes in human +cells consequently is 22 in the male and 24 in the female. + +The X-chromosome is the bearer of sex destiny. There still remains the +work to be done on the actual control of sex by man, apart from its +natural determination. For the time being, let the feminists glory in +the fact that they have two more chromosomes to each cell than +their opponents. Certainly there can be no talk here of a natural +inferiority of women. + +THE SECONDARY OR ENDOCRINE SEX TRAITS + +Yet the matter is after all not so simple as this would make it out +to be. All that can be safely laid down is that the character of the +reproductive organs is determined by the extra chromosomes. And though +these reproductive organs have a good deal to do with the masculine or +feminine quality of the organism as a whole, through their internal +secretions, they are not alone. All the other internal secretions have +their say in the final outcome, determining what may be called the +dominant sex quality, but leaving inherent the latent soil of the +other sex. This may become active and dominant in its turn, under +certain conditions of stimulation, abnormality, or disease, dependent +upon a rearrangement of status and influence among the ductless +glands. Bisexuality preceded monosexuality in the animal pedigree, and +co-exists with it even at the highest points of the genealogical tree. + +While from the standpoint of the species, the criterion of the sex +classification of its members will depend upon their capacity to +fertilize or to be fertilized, a quality that may, therefore, be +spoken of as the primary sex character, a number of other traits have +been evolved by sexual selection, the secondary sex traits. They have +come to be just as important, to the individual, as far as his or her +consciousness of sex attitudes and reactions to it are concerned. The +terms primary and secondary sex characteristics, though inapt, must be +allowed to stand. + +These accessory sex-serving traits undoubtedly survived because of +their usefulness in external adornment for attracting attention in +courtship, in the metabolic requirements of sex combat and the sex +act, and in the necessities of caring for the young, until well-grown. +The rooster's comb and spurs, the male frog's claspers, the stag's +antlers, and so on, are familiarly and obviously so useful. Besides +there are fundamental differences in inner physiology. The human male +consumes more oxygen than the female per minute, since he has more red +corpuscles in his blood. In some caterpillars the blood is yellow in +the males and green in the females. W.I. Thomas has devoted an essay +of some fifty pages to a review of the organic differences between man +and woman. The ordinary criteria, employed every day by the man in the +street to distinguish man from woman may be arranged as follows: + + _Man_ _Woman_ + + Hair on face Hairless face + Skin coarse and lean Skin fine and plump + Muscles powerful Relatively weak + Bones heavy Bones light + Aggressive--bass voice Reserved--treble voice + +THE ROLE OF THE OVARIES + +While the primary sex characters, as such, are present and +distinguishable from birth, quite the opposite holds for the secondary +sex traits. During childhood they are in abeyance or at least pretty +sharply suppressed. Girls and boys who are permitted to dress alike, +to play the same games and among whom no consciousness of sex is +encouraged are often difficult to tell apart. The boys will be boys, +and most of the girls tom-boys. + +With puberty comes a marked change of attitude toward the other sex. +Puberty is the time of ripening of the specific germ cells. It is +then the ovaries begin to secrete ova ripe for fertilization, and the +testes begin to secrete sperm ready to fertilize. Before this can +happen an event announced in the female by the onset of menstruation, +two conditions must be fulfilled in the endocrine history of the +individual. There must be a certain atrophy and retrogression of +the thymus gland, and there must likewise be a similar atrophy and +retirement of the pineal gland. Both of these involutions of the +glands of childhood must occur before the normal hypertrophy and +development of the sex glands and their secretions can start. Besides, +there must be a minimum activity of the thyroid, adrenal and pituitary +glands. Without them, below a certain minimum, the reproductive organs +and their secretions will remain infantile, causing a persistent +infantilism or delay of puberty. + +Formerly there was ascribed to the ovaries, in a lump and without +qualification, an absolute despotism over the specifically feminine +functions of menstruation, gestation, parturition, and lactation. +Nowadays, we see its domain as a limited monarchy, if not indeed as +one sovereign state of a republic, a member equal but not superior to +the others of a board of directors. Its true business comes down to +two particular roles: first, the production of ova, and, second, the +secretion of a hormone or hormones. Over the other functions once +supposed its monopoly, all the ductless glands rule. + +What concerns us now is its internal secretion or secretions. One of +them is known as lutein and it has never been chemically isolated +in its pure form. The existence of lutein, like the existence of +electricity, is an inference, something we are sure is there because +of its effects. It originates in a remarkable part of the ovary, the +corpus luteum. Besides, there are the products of the interstitial +cells, the creations of a special layer of cells around the ovum, the +membrana granulosa. They produce a substance tonic to the uterus. + +When the ovaries are removed, there occurs an atrophy of the womb +muscle, due to loss of this tonic substance. This atrophy, accompanied +by an abolition of the normal periodic uterine contraction, makes +conditions unfavorable to pregnancy. It has been claimed that the +secretion of the corpus luteum is necessary for the complete progress +of a pregnancy. Cases are on record, however, of ovaries taken out +soon after the onset of pregnancy, without interference with the +gestation. + +Castration is comparable in every way with the menopause or the +time of cessation of sexual life, a process that might be called +self-castration. It produces certain general constitutional effects. +Adiposity often develops, undoubtedly associated with underfunction of +the thyroid and pituitary glands. The woman breathes less oxygen per +minute and burns up less food and tissue. There is some disturbance +of the lime balance with an increased excitability of the vegetative +nervous system. Concomitant is the release of some brake upon the +blood pressure mechanisms, so that a family tendency to high blood +pressure will flare up. Some women are rendered unstable by the +process, others are completely transformed, and still others adapt +themselves, with little or no discomfort, to the new situation. The +response to the revolution in the cell-republic of the castrate by +the other endocrines, the thyroid, the pituitary, and the adrenals, +determines which it is to be. + +For normally, with feminine puberty, there is an increased activity of +the thyroid, the posterior pituitary and the adrenal medulla. These +changes indeed constitute the formula of normal feminization. In the +male, the ripening of the testes is accompanied or perhaps preceded by +augmented function of the adrenal cortex and the anterior pituitary. +This difference in biochemistry accounts for the contrast between the +sexes in the skin, hair, fat, cartilage (voice) and bone changes. +Ovary and adrenal medulla and posterior pituitary and thyroid +predominance constitute the feminine formula. Testis and adrenal +cortex and anterior pituitary predominance comprise the masculine +endocrine directorate. + +THE REACTIONS OF THE OTHER GLANDS + +As in so many other aspects, the facts about the various influences +exerted by the endocrine glands upon the reproductive system are +complicated and disjointed. A chink of light has been let in upon a +dark cave, and slowly the chink will widen. But the gross effects are +clear. + +Around the ovary and the uterus, the endocrines gyrate as the planets +around the sun. The ovary is the organ for the preservation and +maturation of the germ plasm, that treasure which the body is built +but to cherish and hand on as a sacred heirloom. The ova, the female +egg cells, are the fundamental concern of the ovary. Secondarily, it +secretes its messengers to keep the rest of the body, and particularly +the other endocrines, in touch with the necessities of the adventures +of these ova. It is thus enabled to bend every force and power at its +command to the service of the reproductive instinct. + +In learning their role so well in the course of evolution, the +thyroid, the pituitary and the suprarenal have become indispensable +stimulants (in various degrees peculiar to the individual), to the +primary function of the ovary. As a consequence, to hold the sex +stimulating glands in check, there had to appear others, restraining +them and so preventing sex precocity. These are the thymus and pineal. +So closely are they all related that insufficient action of the +thyroid, pituitary or adrenals may cause atrophy of the ovaries +and uterus, with abolition of genital function. If the sex glands +themselves fail, as occurs usually in most women sometime in the +forties, the thyroid-pituitary-adrenal association must readjust +itself to the new development. The adaptation evokes the phenomena of +the transition to a new life, the climacteric. + +THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PUBERTY + +Tracing the development of sex life there is a certain order of events +in a normal history. Before puberty, the ova have lain asleep, as it +were, in a cocoon state. Now with puberty they awaken. And with them +all those profound mechanisms and inventions that have to do with +their nutrition up to ripening. Then revolve the cycles that are +translated as menstruation, the propulsion, fertilization and +implantation of the ova in the uterus,--the full development of the +fetus,--its birth, and feeding after birth--all of which are ductless +gland controlled. + +Samuel Butler once noted that: + +"All our limbs and sensual organs, in fact, our whole body and life, +are but an accretion round and a fostering of the spermatozoa. They +are the real "He." A man's eyes, ears, tongue, nose, legs and arms +are but so many organs and tools that minister to the protection, +education, increased intelligence and multiplication of the +spermatozoa, so that our whole life is in reality a series of complex +efforts in respect of these, conscious or unconscious according +to their comparative commonness. They are the central fact in our +existence, the point towards which all effort is directed." + +Nothing could be said more truly of Woman, and the ova she carries. +All that transpires during pubescence is symptomatic of the underlying +tidal stir in the cells. The uterus becomes gorged with blood +periodically, to provide an enriched soil for the perhaps to be +fertilized ovum to plant itself. The breasts grow, and fat is +deposited in particular places as reserve material for the making of +milk. The qualities which are to appeal to the eye and ear and even +nostrils of the male appear. Instincts dawn, an independence of spirit +germinates, emulsified with a curious shyness and coyness and a +desperate loneliness and secrecy. And all because there have been let +loose in the blood from the glands of internal secretion the chemical +substances that set going the clockwork of sequential incidents +elaborated and repeated through countless aeons of time. + +FEMININE PRECOCITY + +Ordinarily, in the north temperate climate, puberty begins about +the fourteenth year, but may begin anywhere from the tenth to the +sixteenth. Feeding and environment indirectly, the state of the +internal secretions as a whole directly, determine this. In girls, +those definite signs, menstruation and the growth of the breasts, +before the age of ten, mean premature awakening of the ovaries and a +concomitant co-reaction of the other endocrines, creating the ensemble +of maturity. + +In females, the primary stimulus, the initial spark of femininity, +must originate in the ovary. There are other forms of precocity in the +female, dependent upon stimulations of other glands, but these forms +are masculinisms, a masculinization of the personality, and not a +true awakening of the feminine constitution. So one must distinguish +sharply between a precocity by masculinization and precocity of +premature feminization. The latter always implies the touch of the +fairy's wand upon the sleeping ovaries. Sexual precocity in boys may +be produced by a premature overactivity not only of the specific +reproductive organs: the testes, but also by an early excess of +secretion on the part of the cortex of the adrenal gland or the +pituitary gland, or by a too early involution of the pineal or thymus. +When such abnormalities of adrenal, pituitary, thymus or pineal occur +in girls, it is the masculine streak in the hastening of growth that +is made manifest. All this emphasizes the relative bisexuality of +every normal, no matter how pronounced, when superficially viewed, his +or her form of predominating sex may be. Under the right conditions +recession of the most marked virility or femininity becomes +conceivable, and occurs. + +THE SECRET OF THE MASCULINE + +Masculinization having entered upon the scene, one may well ask: what +truly (which means chemically) lies behind all these differences +and divergences between male and female? What is the secret of the +variable internal secretion admixtures? You can tell us that the +recipes are different, the ingredients different, the results +different as a Nesselrode pudding is from, say, a rice pudding. But +what is the inner mechanism of the process? Since the masculine and +the feminine are but expressions of certain relative capacities and +potentialities, some single principle must run through the making of +both. + +Recognizing of course the qualifications inherent in so broad a +statement the answer is: the handling of the lime salts. Life +originated, or at least lived and worked for long ages in sea water. +During these eras the salts of the sea have come to play a dominant +role in its being. The lime salts, because of their peculiar +properties of dissolving or precipitating themselves according to +electrical conditions in their medium, have come to occupy a +central position in all the processes of growth, metabolism and sex +differentiation. So it is that masculinity may be described as a +stable, constant state in the organism of lime salts, and the feminine +as an unstable, variable state of lime salts. The male skeleton +contrasts with the female as the stronger, larger, heavier and +straighter because it is an expression of a greater capacity to +utilize, store and keep lime in the system. Women throughout their +reproductive period are liable to rapid and pendulum-like fluctuations +of their lime content. + +Menstruation, pregnancy, lactation, all draw upon the stores of lime, +sometimes depleting them to the point of softening of the bones and +wrecking the whole skeleton. The endocrines control the transport, +and course, combinations and permutations in the history of lime's +progress among the cells, and are in turn themselves affected by it. +Man is relatively free of these liabilities, and so remains man by +his freedom from the recurrent crises involving the lime salt reserve +which constitute the essence of the life story of woman. + +THE SEX INDEX + +It follows from these considerations that when it becomes necessary +to size the sex composition of a man or woman, a measurement becomes +establishable which may be spoken of as the sex index. To be able to +say of Mr. Llewylln Jones that he is sixty per cent masculine and +forty per cent feminine, or of Mrs. Worthington that she is seventy +per cent feminine and thirty per cent masculine would be of the utmost +value under all kinds of circumstances. Unfortunately, lacking as we +do the exact figures of an advanced blood chemistry (yet in its most +infantile infancy) a direct indexing of the sort is impossible. But it +is certainly conceivable, along the lines of measurement suggested +by the Binet tests and others, that a scale of evaluation of the +secondary sex traits may be elaborated, which would turn out as +valuable in understanding the frictions of the individual, and more +concretely, that aspect of it to which pathologists of the mind are +tracing so much needless misery and suffering: maladjusted sexuality, +expressed and suppressed. Nothing will contribute more to harmonious +adjustment for these sufferers than recognition of the fact that we +are all, more or less, partial hermaphrodites. + +THE FUNCTIONAL HERMAPHRODITE + +The complete or total hermaphrodite we define as the individual who +possesses the reproductive organs of the male and the female, both +testes and ovaries. So rare is such a combination in man that for a +long time its occurrence was doubted, descriptions of it regarded as +myth. However, undoubted cases are on record, examined by the most +careful of observers, of ovo-testis or mixed reproductive organs. +Strangely enough, the history of these cases, shows that at one time +the masculine set, and at another the feminine set, will hold sway +over the sex traits and functions. Blending does not happen. + +Rare though the true hermaphrodite may be, the partial hermaphrodite +is relatively frequent. The mixed ensemble of the directly contrasting +type, such as the concomitance of testes with feminine secondary sex +traits, or of ovaries with masculine sex traits, have been described +from time immemorial as freaks. Occurring even more frequently is the +mixed sex ensemble, in which the type of reproductive organs and of +secondary sex traits run roughly parallel, emulsified with certain +traits of the opposite sex. Physical features of one sex, instincts +and mental attitudes of the other co-exist in the same individual by +reason of an excess in one direction or a deficiency in another of the +internal secretions. The degree of masculine trend in a woman is a +crude measure of adrenal domination, the degree of feminine deviation +in a man is roughly proportional to the amount of pituitary influences +in his make-up. + +Whether one or the other sex tendency will dominate depends upon the +quantity of sex hormone divergence from the ideal normal. But also +determinant are the environment stimuli provoking excessive or +deficient secretory reactions from the other endocrines involved, +through the vegetative nervous system. Such especially are the +associates of the mixed sex individual. Ordinarily the combative male +and the submissive female are differentiated by contrasts of skin +and hair, fat and bone structure. The combative male is built as a +fighting machine, the submissive female as an organism of attractive +grace and beauty for impregnation and parturition. When one sees the +fragile woman aggressive, the masculinoid woman submissive, one +may infer an education of experience that has brought the usually +recessive glands into the foreground, and by their hyperactivity +imposed a bisexuality of function upon a unisexual anatomic structure. +A man apparently as formidable as a tyrannosaurus, may be ruled by +his wife for the same reason. These combinations of a single organic +sexuality with a functional bisexuality, based upon internal secretion +disturbances, are frequent, and merit the name of functional +hermaphrodites or mixed sex types. + +MIXED SEX AND THE FAMILY + +The psychology of the family in its relation to the endocrine traits +of its members is something that still remains to be thoroughly worked +out as a problem of tremendous importance. Particularly are the +reactions of the mixed sex types to be carefully considered. For, +since the family is fundamentally a sex institution, devised to +satisfy the sex needs, all the way from companionship to parenthood, +it is apparent that the mixed sex types will be tried the hardest by +its inexorable conditions. It is in relation to the mother (or nurse) +first, the father next, and other associates in proportion to their +proximity, that the primary endocrine-vegetative mechanisms, the germs +of the growing soul, become established. These are superimposed upon +the hereditary instinct apparatus. + +Fear, rage and love reactions develop first in association with the +suckling reflex, and the accompaniments, the mother's smile and voice, +the color of her hair, eyes and skin, her breasts and odors. Each time +the babe reacts to a pleasant or unpleasant stimulus, there is an +outpouring of certain internal secretions, a cessation of others, a +tingling of certain vegetative nerves and organs, a hushing of others. +The ensemble of reactions tends to be repeated around the same +stimulus, until the whole becomes automatic. One may observe the same +process in the lower animals. Offer a piece of meat to a dog and his +mouth waters. Ring a bell before offering the meat. Repeat this a +number of times, and after a while the mere ringing of the bell, +without the presence of the meat, will cause his mouth to water. This +associated vegetative secretion reflex is the most fundamental to +grasp in an understanding of the deepest strata of personality. + +Now there are, besides the associated vegetative-endocrine reactions, +certain inborn automatic processes in the vegetative system and in +the internal secretion system, which work automatically to produce +increased intravisceral pressures. The reduction of these pressures +below the point of their intrusion upon consciousness, their relief, +as we say, also form the centers of constellations around feelings +of satisfaction or love. Such, for example, are the voiding of +excretions. Sooner or later, these automatic reactions, and the +associated reflexes formed around the mother, father and other +associates, come into conflict. Inhibitions or prohibitions of the +automatic act at certain times or moments are imposed by somebody. +And so there occurs a pitting of the automatic mechanism against the +associated reflex. Conflict with adjustment by suppression must occur. +Thus a sense of self as active wisher (for the automatically pleasant +experience), and punishable suppressor (of the same in favor of the +acquired associated reflex) develops. + +So far, so good. Compromise by regulation from above, from the +brain, of the automatic reactions follows, as training. No absolute +repression is forced, no absolute encouragement is indorsed. +Harmonious equilibrium, or normality, continues. But now there come +upon the scene the unconscious fears. + +In the paleontology of character, these fears are the deepest strata, +the eocene era, so to speak, of the soul. They are the hardest to get +at and the most silent, as well as the most dominant of the influences +which guide conduct. In Sir Walter Raleigh's words: + + "Passions are best likened to streams and floods. + The shallows murmur, the deeps are dumb." + +During the first period of childhood, up to five or six, the primary +fears group themselves around the taboos and secrets of its life. + +Though we have every reason for believing that the sex glands are +acting in some way upon the organism during this time, nothing +definite is known. Yet, as the numerous studies of the subconscious +recently made prove, sex curiosity like the other curiosities, +flowers. More than about the automatic visceral reactions, these +curiosities evoke the repressive imperatives of the associates, the +mother and father especially. These repressive influences may be +and often are the effects of ignorance, prudishness, vulgarity, or +homosexuality, or the sex perversions that are known as sadism and +masochism. But by the necessities of the case, the sex wishes become +overlayed by reflexes associated with the mother and father and close +associates as love. This might be termed the oligocene. As the circle +of acquaintance widens, other loved objects usher in the miocene +phases of the development. With these become interspersed various +hates and detestations, deliberately cultivated and accepted by the +consciousness. So we have a cross-slice of the personality in the +first five or six years of childhood. + +But now, with the onset of the second dentition, a subtle change +begins in the endocrine equations of the body. The second dentition +itself is an expression of a certain internal secretion wave passing +through the cells, an increase of action of some hormones, a decrease +of others. And a consciousness of physical sexuality appears, while +the outlines of character, hitherto mere tracings, become firmer, +heavier, quasi-indelible lines. That there is some activity on the +part of the internal secretions of the sex glands, the ovaries and +testes, can be demonstrated by accurately charting the behaviour of a +boy or girl after this time. It will be found that there is a cyclic +variation of health and conduct, more or less marked of course in each +case. A cold may appear periodically at the end of each month, an +increase of irritability and waywardness may be observed, or, on the +contrary, a decrease of the regular restless playfulness. The ghost of +sex begins to haunt the scene. + +Now all kinds of possibilities of conflict emerge. The child is still +a bisexual, growing into a mixed sex type, depending upon the nature +and amount of its internal secretions. The influencing adult of the +family, the most important of the external factors encouraging or +depressing the tendencies of the child, possesses a fairly fixed ideal +of monosexuality which he or she, generally quite unconsciously, seeks +to impose upon it. A doting feminine mother will make her son as much +as possible like her husband: if she dislikes her husband, as much as +possible like her father or grandfather. A masculinized mother will +tend to make a sex object out of the son, however, which means his +feminization. But, on the internal secretion side, the boy may be +definitely masculine. That is, after adolescence he would be strongly +masculine, _if the vegetative-endocrine mechanisms created by the +mother's personality had not slipped into the inside track_, so to +speak. As a consequence, continual subconscious conflict between the +two sets of sex reaction will, sooner or later, disturb, perhaps +disrupt and ruin his life. + +So an infant may start life with a fairly balanced endocrine +equipment, with its wake of a normal life (barring accidents and +infections), and yet he may end as an inferior, insane, criminal, or +failure directly because of establishment of conflict between himself +as one sort of sex type, and his obligatory associates of another +sort of mixed sex type. This applies also to the mother-daughter, the +father-son, and the father-daughter relationship. + +Male and female created He them, is a bald misstatement of the facts. +Male and female emerge as final by-products of endocrine heredity, +environmental treatment and adaptation. Often the male-female, +the female-male, persist anatomically, or are forced to persist +functionally. Society, constructed upon the Biblical dogmas of man as +a fallen angel, and absolute sex, is responsible for much misery and +suffering meted out to the functional hermaphrodite, as we shall see +later in an analysis of the endocrine character of Oscar Wilde. The +privileges and powers of sex relationship, marriage and parenthood, +should be safeguarded for the mixed sex type, the man or woman with +the variable sex index. For there are no tragedies in life more +pitiful than those in which an aggressive masculinely built type is +forced to assume a submissive, receptive, passive, feminine role and +vice versa, the tragedy of compelled homosexuality, because of wrong +associates. + +MASOCHISM AND SADISM + +The functional hermaphrodite enables us, too, to understand the +phenomena of masochism and sadism, to a certain extent, on the +chemical side. The masculine personality, the combination of +masculine, e.g., adrenal cortex and gonad internal secretion +predominance, is built for aggression. The feminine personality, +the union of feminine, e.g. thyroid and ovarian superiority, is +constructed for submission. Reverse the possibilities, or confuse +them, as occurs in the functional hermaphrodite, and the attitudes +become reversed or perverted. So a masculinoid personality in woman +will make for sadism, a feminoid personality in a man for masochism. +Variants and refinements of these perversions will often be found +in the functional hermaphrodite who must satisfy two doubly flowing +streams of visceral pressure within himself. Persistence of the thymus +or pineal gland tends to a prolongation of the infantile and child +types, that will be taken advantage of. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE RHYTHMS OF SEX + + +If one permits a drop of ink to fall into a glass of water, amazing +figures and shapes, bizarre and chameleon, are born as the blue swirls +and whirls through the resisting medium. Unseen forces and currents, +tides and pressures, set up a seething and flowing, pulling and +twisting of the drop of ink until it becomes a strange wraith created +out of the molecules. A temporary individuality lives in the water. + +So likewise the forces of sex, essentially the forces of the internal +secretions, mould and sculpt and mould again the woman out of +the flesh and blood. Adolescence--puberty--menstruation: the +maid,--pregnancy--labor--lactation: the matron, thirty years of ups +and downs of these processes around the idea of love or suppressed +love, against an aesthetic background of some sort--and finally the +loss of the stress and strain of sex, the menopause. All the landmarks +of the life of woman, in their entirety, are erected and dominated by +the tides and currents, the phases of concentration and dilution, of +the different internal secretions in the endocrine mixture which is +the blood. + +Marvelous are all the manifestations of the reproductive necessity. +Considering that reproduction was at first merely a form of growth, a +discontinuous kind of growth, that seized upon sex as a splendid means +to escape death, the chemical methods evolved arouse a sense of awe. +A baby is born with her or his glands practically as fixed for her or +him as the color of the eyes. Thymus and pineal keep him a child, keep +him unsexed. Then at puberty, a new current is added to the calmly +flowing river, and behold! a turmoil. Ovaries or testes actively +functioning erupt upon the calm spectacle, and the girl is +transfigured into the maid, the boy into the youth. After the ovaries, +the corpus luteum: after the corpus luteum, the placenta: after the +placenta, the mammary glands: after that the cycle begins again until +the ovaries are exhausted and the chain is broken. Besides, all the +other glands of internal secretion beat in rhythm, fluctuate in their +activities, may divide prematurely the tides or dam them completely. + +Innumerable varieties and combinations of interglandular action supply +us with the limitless types of adolescent girls. Some endocrine +cooperatives that make one girl stable and settled, will make others +unstable and unsettled. Alicia may be hyperthyroid, and so excitable, +nervous, restless, and subject to palpitation of heart and +sleeplessness. Bettina may have too much post-pituitary, and so will +menstruate early, tend to be short, blush easily, be sentimentally +suggestive and sexually accessible. Christina may be adrenal cortex +centred and so masculinoid: courageous, sporty, mannish in her tastes, +aggressive toward her companions. Dorothea may have a balanced thyroid +and pituitary and so lead the class as good-looking, studious, bright, +serene and mature. Florence, who has rather more thyroid than her +pituitary can balance, will be bright but flighty, gay but moody, +energetic, but not as persevering. And so on and so on. + +Environment, habit-formation, training, education serve only to bring +out the internal secretion make-up of the girl, or to suppress +and distort and so spoil her. Adolescence will be peaceful, calm, +semi-conscious, or disturbing, revolutionary and obsessive according +to the reaction of the other endocrines to the rise of the ovaries. +Harmony, and so continued happiness of the mind and body, means +that they have been welcomed into the fold. Disharmony, ailments, +unhappiness, difficulties, mean that they are being treated as +intruders, or are acting as marauders. The after life, sexually the +period of maturity, barring accidents, diseases, and shocks, will bear +the same character. The kind of adolescence provides the clue to the +kind of maturity, for both are effects of the same endocrine factors. + +THE SEX GLAND CHAIN + +Furthermore, the activities of a normal woman involve a series of sex +glands. Since there function, in addition to the ovaries, the glands +of the uterus, the breasts or mammary glands, and the placental +gland (the secreting cells of the tissue which comes out as the +after-birth). Each of these contributes directly to the reproductive +life of the individual. To call the ova the sex glands is to confer +upon them a name which really belongs to a chain of glands. + +All of the members of the sex chain, including those of the thyroid, +the adrenal and the pituitary, are necessary to the functions of +menstruation, impregnation, settlement of fertilized ovum in the wall +of the uterus, labor and lactation. A disturbance of one of them will +set up disturbances all along the line, and a resonance of distress +or compensation upon the part of all of them. As an interlocking +directorate over the sexual functions of the female, they are members +one of the other. So what helps or hurts one, helps or hurts all. + +THE CYCLE OF MENSTRUATION + +Essentially, the ovary is a collection of follicles, nests of +cells, acting as safe deposit vaults for the ova that are to become +candidates for fertilization. At birth, there are some 30,000 to +200,000 of these, of which a good many atrophy during childhood so +that there are no more than about 30,000 left at puberty. Of the +30,000, only an elite 400 actually mature between the ages of fifteen +and forty-five. About every twenty-eight days, one of the follicles +swells, becomes filled with liquid, pushes or is pushed to the surface +of the ovary, there to rupture and expel into the abdominal cavity the +tiny ripe ovum. The rest of the torn follicle makes itself over into +a peculiar yellowish body, the true corpus luteum, should pregnancy +occur. If pregnancy and the consequent placenta do not occur, it +shrinks and turns into a scar, the false corpus luteum. The true +corpus luteum resembles closely the adrenal cortex in make-up and +staining reactions. It seems as if, once successful impregnation has +been achieved, the feminine organism adrenalizes itself, makes itself +more masculine and less feminine, inhibiting the posterior pituitary +and the adrenal medulla, as well as the ovaries. Besides, the corpus +luteum stimulates the thyroid to prepare for the heavy demands to be +made upon it during pregnancy. + +Before menstruation, there is a stage of preparation, a stir and +twittering of the endocrines, the premenstrual state. Currents of +communication flow between the different glands, messages and replies +pass to and fro. When these are properly balanced, so that all goes +well, the consciousness of the woman will be disturbed by no knowledge +of them. In some women abnormal sensations appear, a sense of fullness +in the breasts, or of weight in the back or pelvis, or pain in the +head. The last is probably due to swelling of the pituitary beyond +the capacity of its bony container. In a good many women, nervous +and mental phenomena herald the expected menstruation because of a +complete upset of the balance between the internal secretions, with +resulting disturbance of the nervous system. Irritability, depression, +excitability, melancholia, exaltations, restlessness, hysteria, loss +of self-control, or even more marked mental aberrations may appear. +Following them, and roughly paralleling them, may come various +abnormalities of menstruation itself. The character, extent and +duration of these furnish us the best clues to the endocrine stability +or instability of the particular feminine organism. + +Menstruation is simply the uterus saying: well, not this time. As the +destined ovum within its nest, the follicle, grows, its fluid affects +the interstitial cells to send their specific stuff into the blood. +There it circulates, hits this gland and that, makes some more active, +others less, transforms the chemistry of the cells, and engorges the +mucous membranes, most of all those of the nose and of the uterus. It +is all to welcome the mature ovum and its possible impregnation, to +prepare a site for its landing and settlement, blood and food for its +nutrition, safety for its development. But it is not to be. No sperm +at hand, or effective enough to penetrate that wandering ovum. Love's +labour's lost. All must return to the so-called normal, really the +intermenstrual state. The womb must surrender some of that blood, +the glands return to their routine, and a sex diastole of the whole +organism succeeds. Until again, another follicle swells, another ovum +matures, and the premenstrual state of sex high tide cycles back. + +Seven to ten days before menstruation we know that sex high tide is +beginning for that is when the blood pressure goes up. As this rise of +blood pressure is probably controlled by the posterior pituitary, we +have a clue to the reason for the rhythmic variations in the rate of +production of its secretion by the ovary. For, since menstruation is +so closely connected with the phases of the moon and the tides, the +rhythmicity of the posterior pituitary may be traced to the days when +the pineal was an eye at the top of the head, and in direct relation +with the pituitary. + +Menstruation has been said to be a miniature labor. It is not that +as much as it is a miniature abortion. It is an effort of nature +still-born. But nature is quite used to its disappointments and +returns placidly to the daily grind. The four phases of a woman's +twenty-eight day cycle succeed each other as the premenstrual, +the menstrual, the postmenstrual and the intermenstrual, with the +precision of pistons moving in a motor, when no interfering factor +as disease, profound emotion or climate disturbances are present, +affecting the endocrines. + +The sequence of events appears to be about as follows: The amount of +post-pituitary secretion reaches a certain concentration. This in turn +stimulates the thyroid and adrenal medulla. They in turn activate the +ovarian cells, which congest the uterine glands and lining membrane. +The follicle bursts, the ovum is discharged and wanders, the uterus +waits and wonders. Nothing happens, the curtain is lowered, the +scenery is removed, the actors revert to civilian clothes. That is the +story of menstruation, the central phenomenon of woman's pre-pregnancy +life. One sees it clearly as a play of an internal secretion +syndicate. + +THE PREMENSTRUAL MOLIMINA + +The premenstrual molimina is the traditional title accorded symptoms, +sensations, feelings, observations of women in the premenstrual phase. +In the light of endocrine analysis, they become exceedingly important +indicators of the underlying constitution of the individual concerned. +Indeed, the premenstrual period furnishes a direct clue to the +dominating internal secretion in a woman. Moreover, these premenstrual +phenomena are the shadows cast by coming events. For they mimic and +prophesy the events of the last crisis of feminine sex life, +the cessation of ovulation which goes by the name of menopause, +gonadopause, or change of sex life. The premenstrual phenomena provide +a positive film, so to speak, of the latent negative picture of the +endocrine system of the girl or woman. + +Thus, there is the sub-pituitary or pituitary insufficient type, in +whom the excessive swelling of the gland causes headache, and a dull, +heavy, tired feeling, a definite depression. Drowsiness, sleepishness, +indifference to surroundings, general sluggishness of thought, feeling +and reaction, a phlegmatic frilosity, all go with it. It is due to +an overweighing of the pituitary, controller of good brain tone, and +alive wakefulness, by the demands of the organism. + +On the other hand, the hyperthyroid type of woman reacts with an +exaggeration of her tendency. When the posterior pituitary begins to +secrete more in her its stimulation of the thyroid is enough to tip it +over the normal line. Such a woman in the premenstrual phase becomes +irritable and restless, does not know what to do with herself, cannot +concentrate on conversation, occupation or any single activity, may +become excited to the point of mania. Hot, tremulous, sleepless, or +sleeping badly, she has a much harder time of it than her pituitary +sister. + +These samples of premenstrual internal secretion reaction are the +extremes of a vast number and variety of types. There are women in an +unstable quasi-premenstrual state for the greater part of their lives. +Sometimes an infectious disease or a psychic blow will put a woman +into this class. The significance of these cyclic changes has been +tremendously increased by the recent formal admission of women to +participation in public activities on a plane of equality with men. + +Evidence exists that in man, too, there is some cyclic rhythmicity of +his endocrines, which sets up a fluctuation in his physical and mental +efficiency. The curves of these variations have still to be plotted, +and will doubtless contribute no little to our knowledge of the +control of human nature. One unexpurgated fact stands out: the +reproductive mechanism of woman has rendered her whole internal +secretion system, and so her nervous system, all her organs, her mind, +definitely and sharply more tidal in their currents, more zigzag in +their phases, more angular in their ups and downs of function, and so +less predictable, reliable and dependable. + +THE MASCULINOID WOMAN + +The masculinoid woman, as a functional hermaphrodite, exists first +as a congenital entity, with an inborn distribution of endocrine +predominances that make for masculinity. There are also numerous +acquired forms. The infections of childhood, measles, scarlet fever, +diphtheria, and above all mumps, may so damage the hormone system +that an inversion of sex type follows. However, the stimulative and +depressive effects of environment are even more significant. The +effects of environment in producing changes in an organism, the +changes the biologist sums up as adaptation, can be tracked in many +instances to responsive reactions of the glands of internal secretion +to demands made upon them by changed external conditions. So a cold +climate, which necessitates a more voluminous hair covering for an +animal, will evoke a hypertrophy of the adrenal cortex. Secondarily +other effects appear as by-products of the adaptation. The adrenal +cortex makes for pugnacity, temper, animal courage, irritability and +anger reactions. So a hairy animal will, in general (unless other +endocrines come in to defeat the primary effect), be more pugnacious, +courageous, irritable and combative. The same applies to woman. An +environment which tends to encourage the masculine traits in her, to +arouse repeatedly her pugnacity and combative decisions in the more +rapid give and take of the masculine world, will rouse the adrenal +cortex to greater activity, and so make her face hirsute, her +attitudes aggressive, and perhaps render her sterile. Concomitantly +there may be a disturbance of menstruation. + +The presence or absence of sterility, natural or enforced, always +present, or say appearing after the birth of one child, must all be +donated a prominent place in studying the endocrine make-up of a +woman. When there is not enough ovarian secretion, the ovum may not be +able to burst through the ovary, a necessity before it may begin its +travels to the uterus. Next, the propulsive action of the genital +ducts may be insufficient because of defective corpus luteum. Or the +uterus may not have received enough posterior pituitary or thyroid to +make it fit soil for the ovum to plant itself in. Or there may be +too much of these, which cause the uterus to massage itself daily by +gentle contractions and so keep it well-toned. Excessive massage will +throw the ovum out. All these are factors in the sterility problem, +with its psychic resonances affecting the maternal instinct. + +THE MATERNAL INSTINCT + +There have been created high odes to an unknown god, sensuous lyrics +of love, apostrophes and addresses to every human passion. But no +poet, to my knowledge, has risen to the heights of the maternal +instinct. Some contemporary clap-trap about sentimentalism will +perhaps decry and ridicule the demand for an apotheosis of it. There +are some who deny its existence, and assert that maternity is forced +upon every woman. Reduced to its elements, such nonsense turns out the +absurd pose of the theorist desperate to epater le bourgeois or to +cover up hidden defects in his or her make-up. + +Without the maternal instinct, without the hope of immortality through +somatic or spiritual posterity, we should all, who were sane enough, +have to condemn ourselves to the futilities of hedonism. So that the +criminal who was condemned to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to +see it roll down again, would have to thank his lucky stars for his +lighter punishment. The future, tomorrow, the Kingdom of Heaven on +Earth, or if you will, the Republic of Supermen, means to all of us +what the child means to the madonna. The cynical epicurean careerists +and careeristinas, and the depraved degenerates of a comfort-lusting +civilization may have suffered an absolute atrophy and castration of +that instinct. But they are pathologic specimens, and we are not for +the moment concerned with them. + +The Freudians have set up a great hullaballoo about creative +activities as sublimations of the sex instinct, or as they would have +it, the libido. That is their obsession, the confusion of the sex +instinct, the instinct for sex life and satisfaction in the relation +of the male to the female, with the maternal instinct. The paternal +instinct bears the same relation to the maternal, as the breasts of +the male do to those of the female, i.e., a functional hermaphrodite +trait. The maternal instinct is the instinct to create, provide and +care for offspring. + +The mother expresses the deep craving of protoplasm for immortality. +What drives her is the instinct of Life to preserve itself unto +eternity in infinite space and time. That separates it sharply from +the temporary needs of the sex instinct. The artist, the man of +science or letters, the statesman, craftsman and maker of every +sort is instigated by the maternal instinct. He creates for his own +pleasure, to be sure. But it is in its essence the pleasure of the +bird making its nest. + +It is necessary, therefore, to distinguish between the sex instinct +and the maternal instinct. For different glands of internal secretion +have been found responsible for them. A distinct difference in the +quality and amount of the two instincts may be observed in the same +person. A strong maternal instinct may be seen again and again to +dominate a woman with but little or no sex urge or passion. Numerous +physiologically frigid women have lived successful and happy married +lives because of contented maternity. Other women, with normal or +exaggerated sex instinct who welcome and stimulate the sex life, may +have no wish for children, no functioning maternal instinct at all, +and if sterile, will accept their fate with indifference or even +exultation. These variations occur because of a difference in chemical +source and determination of the two instincts. While the ovary, +stimulated by the thyroid and the adrenal medulla, is the chief +determinant of the sex instinct, to the posterior pituitary must be +credited the chief hormone of the maternal instinct. The interactions +of the two glands, the ovary and the posterior pituitary, modified +by accessory influences, determine the relative intensity of the two +instincts. In a sense, the two glands may be said to be antagonistic +and yet one stimulates and complements the other. + +THE TRANSFIGURATIONS OF CHILD-BEARING + +Though what happens at puberty, what happens all through life through +the agencies of the endocrines is amazing enough, what occurs during +the period of child-bearing is perhaps the most amazing of all. As +emphasized, pregnancy is the time, among the internal secretions, of a +great uprooting and stirring, of fundamental and cataclysmic changes +in the most intimate chemistry of the cells. It is as if a dictator, +inspired by his country's danger, its enemies at the gates of its +capitol, were to draft and mobilize everyone, man woman and child from +everyday activities to the necessities of defense. Or rather it is +as if there appeared within the heart of our civilization a common +purpose and intelligence, now so palpably lacking, which magnetized +and drew to itself all the streams of individual self-aggrandizing +effort. Imagine that possibility and how it would change the face of +the earth and the entire basic constitution of human life and society. +So do the profound tides of the hormones, centering around the new +creature being made in the womb, transfigure the face and constitution +of the child-bearing woman. + +During pregnancy, in consequence, the integrity of every structure +of the body is tested. A stern, relentless accountant goes over the +cells, counts up their reserves, establishes a balance, credits and +debits according to the demands of the growing parasite within them. +Follow changes in the skin, the bones, the nervous system and the +mind. That is, all the glands, subtle recorders, transmitters, +producers of the vibrations of change are influenced. But the most +influential are the most affected, as the most dominant personalities +in a community are most disturbed by a revolution. + +In Sinclair Lewis' "Main Street," the best novel ever made about +America as a nation of villagers, the heroine, Carol Kennicott, has +this to say to someone sentimentalizing about maternity. + +"I do not look lovely, Mrs. Bogar. My complexion is rotten, and my +hair is coming out, and I look like a potato bag, and I think my +arches are falling,... and the whole business is a confounded nuisance +of a biological process." + +The exploration of the internal secretions has brought us an +explanation and an understanding of why child-bearing is a nuisance. +We know now that if Carol Kennicott's complexion became rotten and +her hair fell out, it was because her thyroid was not adequate to the +demands of pregnancy, and that if her arches were falling, and her +figure acquiring a potato bag dumpiness, it was because her pituitary +was insufficient. In all probability she was a thymus-centered type, +which accounts for much of the material that goes to make up the +novel. + +Different endocrine types react characteristically toward the +situations of pregnancy. The adrenal type may not be able to respond +with the necessary enlargement of its cortex which is normal for the +needs of gestation. So pigmentations, darkenings and discolorations of +the skin, especially of the face, the traditional chloasma develops. +The hyperthyroid type may become sharply exaggerated, almost to the +point of mania and psychosis. The subthyroid will suffer an emphasis +of her defect, and pass on, because of pregnancy, to the truly +diseased state of myxedema, the state of dull, slow, stupid, +semi-animal semi-idiocy. The pituitary type becomes more masculinized. +The face becomes more triangular and coarser, the chin and cheek-bones +more pronounced, and there is a growth of all the bones, so that she +is seen to grow visibly in height and breadth, and in the size of the +hands and feet. Concomitantly, there is a changed, a more matured and +steadier outlook upon life, all due to stimulation of the anterior +pituitary, controller of growth, physical and mental. + +In general, the major endocrines, the pituitary, the adrenals, and the +thyroid should hypertrophy and hyperfunction during pregnancy. +Should they not, should adverse mechanical circumstances or chemical +malfunction prevent, dire effects may follow. A woman with the +closed-in type of pituitary, shut up in a small non-expansile sella +turcica, will suffer the most violent headaches, will become fat, will +frequently abort. One whose thyroid cannot rise to the demands of +gestation, because of previous disease (like typhoid or measles) which +injured her thyroid excessively, may be poisoned by the new elements +introduced into the blood by the growing fetus, as it is the job +par excellence of the thyroid to render innocuous these poisons. +Of adrenal insufficiency, failure of the adrenals to hypertrophy +sufficiently in pregnancy, little is known. Possibly the corpus +luteum, the endocrine formed of the torn egg nest in the ovary, makes +up for any deficiency in this respect. For there is the most curious +resemblance imaginable between the cells of the adrenal cortex and +those of the corpus luteum, some day to be completely explained. + +THE PLACENTAL GLAND + +The placenta, an organ and gland of internal secretion newly formed in +the uterus, when the fertilized ovum successfully imbeds itself within +it, must be considered in any analysis of the transfigurations of +child-bearing. Born with the pregnancy, its life is terminated with +the pregnancy, for it is expelled in labor as the after-birth. Its +importance and function as a gland of internal secretion has become +known only recently. Many still doubt and question the accordance of +that rank to it. But feeding experiments with it, in various endocrine +disturbances in human beings, have proved its right to the title. + +The placenta is created by the fusion of the topmost enlarged cells +of the uterine surface and the most advanced cells constituting +the vanguard of the growing and multiplying ovum. These front line +invaders interact with the cells in contact with them to make a new +organ which serves as lung, stomach and kidney for the embryo, since +it is the medium of exchange of oxygen, foodstuffs and waste products +between the blood of the mother and the blood of the embryo. +Ultimately it acts, too, as a gland of internal secretion, influencing +the internal secretions of the mother, and also those of the embryo. + +Settlement of the fertilized ovum in the womb introduces into the +system new secretions, new substances which are partly male in origin, +since the ovum contains within it the substance of the male sperm +which has penetrated it. This masculine element causes a rearrangement +of the balance of power between the endocrines towards the side of +masculinity. They push down the pan of the scale to inhibit the +post-pituitary. So menstruation, the menstrual wave which follows the +increasing tide of post-pituitary secretion, is postponed. For ten +lunar months, not another ovum breaks through the covering of the +ovary, and the uterus is left undisturbed. The placental secretion +plays a most important role as brake upon the post-pituitary, the most +active of the feminizing uterus-disturbing endocrines. Until at last +something happens that puts the placenta out of commission in this +function of restraint, and the long bottled up post-pituitary +secretion explodes the crisis apparent as the process of labor. + +A condition of self-poisoning often occurs in pregnancy, with symptoms +orchestrating from mild notes like nausea and vomiting to the high +keys of convulsions and insanities. They represent what happens when +an unbalanced endocrine system is attacked by the placenta. Depending +upon where in the internal secretion chain the weak point, the +Achilles' heel spot, will be found, the nature of the reaction will +vary. And even after labor, after the explosive crisis, so much of the +reserve endocrine materials may be consumed, that an actual mania or a +chronic weakness may come in its wake. + +Yet the placental secretion must not be looked upon as something +wholly evil in its potentialities. Without enough of it to hold the +uterus stimulating endocrines, particularly the post-pituitary, in +check, still-birth results. If there is enough, and not too much of +it, the woman will not feel ill at all, or perhaps only transiently, +but will be possessed of a curious feeling of drowsy content and +passive, relaxed happiness. Let there be relatively too much of it, +too little of the other glands, and the grosser transfigurations and +ailments of the child-bearing period follow. + +THE MAMMARY GLANDS + +Once pregnancy is terminated by labor, the placenta is expelled from +the body as the after-birth. The placenta removed, a new arrangement +of the balance of power among the endocrines becomes necessary. But a +new-comer appears upon the scene to take up the function left vacant +by the absent placenta. This new-comer is the secretion of the +activated breasts, the mammary glands. They make for a persistence +of the state of equilibrium among the endocrines attained during +pregnancy. + +The mammary glands are typical glands of external secretion. They make +the milk and pour it out of the breasts through little canals into the +mouth of the suckling. Yet evidence forces us to conclude that they +are also glands of internal secretion, that their internal secretion +substitutes to a certain extent for the loss of that of the placenta +but not quite. + +What seems to happen in fact, is this: the corpus luteum secretion +stimulates the dormant cells of the mammary glands, formed during +puberty, but latent until the advent of pregnancy. We know that +injection of corpus luteum will cause an hypertrophy of the breasts. +The same effect is produced regularly during the menstrual period, +with a consciousness of swelling of the breasts. Their atrophy at the +menopause coincides with the shrinkage of the ovaries that takes place +at that period. Activity of the breasts parallels indeed more or less +the activity of the corpus luteum. + +With the prolonged activity of the corpus luteum during pregnancy, +prolonged stimulation of the breasts occurs. The secretion of the +post-pituitary would now cause the change from the internal cell +secretion to milk. But it is inhibited from so doing by the placenta. +When the placenta is removed, after labor, the post-pituitary can act, +and a free flow of milk is established. However, to counterbalance +this, and to prevent the post-pituitary from overacting, the breasts +secrete a hormone with an action like that of placenta, but not so +strong, which tends to inhibit the ovary. So is put off the imposition +of a pregnancy upon a period of lactation, obviously bad for mother, +infant, and embryo. We have here an exquisite sample of the checks and +compensations which make for a self-balancing of the whole endocrine +system. + +CRITICAL AGES + +The Dangerous Age is a phrase coined by a Scandinavian writer as a +more dramatic euphemism for the time of life when sex function ceases, +the climacteric. As a matter of fact, the age of adolescence is just +as much of a dangerous age as the age of deliquescence. The only +difference between them is that the dangers of the one have been +hushed up, the dangers of the other well boomed and advertised. +Both are dangerous to the individual, because both are periods of +instability and readjustment of the cells, particularly the brain +cells, to a deranged endocrine system and blood chemistry. + +Moral attitudes differ at the two ages, not so much as an effect of +experience, as expressions of different visceral pressures produced +by newly dominant internal secretions. So in Eugene O'Neil's play, +"Diff'rent," we see the woman Emma Crosby as she is in her youth, when +her ovaries have budded and bloomed for only a few years, and her +other endocrine influences are still dormant. She breaks off her +engagement to Captain Caleb Williams on the eve of her wedding because +she is informed of the episodes of a sex affair he was involved in on +his last voyage, under circumstances not discreditable to him. The +next act shows her thirty years later when, as an elderly spinster, +she is passing through the climacteric, and is in the state of sexual +hyperesthesia some women are afflicted with before the menopause. It +is as if the ovaries and the accessory sex internal secretions erupt +into a sort of final geyser before they are exhausted. So the captain, +ever faithful, finds her, and discovers to his horror that she is a +thousand times more like other women than he has ever been like other +men. Because of his ignorance of the underlying chemical basis for +the transfiguration, tragedy follows. Critics may cackle about a sex +starved woman, who has repressed her natural desires, and hail the +play as a contribution to the Freudian clinics. As a matter of fact, +it is a study of libido variation, with endocrine variation, at two +stages of the inner chemical life of a woman. + +The chain of events at the menopause, the acme and then ebb of the sex +tide, may be summed up something like this: + +The ovaries cease producing their eggs and so shrivel as a storage +battery atrophies when it dries up. An important member of the +endocrine board of directors thus drops out, and so a rearrangement +of gland activities, a new regime, becomes necessary. If a balance +of power is established quickly and equitably, very little happens. +Quickly the woman passes on to the next plane of her existence. But +if some endocrine proves recalcitrant, and takes advantage of the +situation to make itself dominant, trouble and maladjustment, and +their psychic echoes, come. Anterior pituitary control will mean +a relative masculinization, with hair on the face and aggressive +attitudes. Post-pituitary most often refuses to settle down, and +expressing its ambition as headaches, flushes, obesity and hysteria, +may cause extreme misery and unhappiness to its possessor. Sooner +or later, if the harmonious equilibrium of the normal life is to be +revived, all the glands must regress, thyroid, pituitary and adrenals. + +With the waning of the ovarian function, the thyroid type will also +exhibit its particular flare. If there is thyroid excess the woman +will be excitable and irritable, the thyroid deficient will be +depressed and dull, the thyroid unstable (that is swinging between +excess and deficiency) will have a cyclic up and down alternation of +mood and temperament. The adrenal centered will have a high blood +pressure and masculinoid traits, the adrenal inferior will have a low +blood pressure and suffer from a constant weakness and fatigability. +So each form of reaction to the critical ages is individualized +according to the predominating glandular influence in the constitution +of the woman. When the womb has atrophied, and the breasts have +shrunk, the typical tan complexion, and the angular masculinoid +figure, face and psyche follow, and the transfiguration has been +completed. + +Man has his critical age of sex cell deterioration as well as woman. +The age period swings between forty-five and fifty-five. Here enters +upon the scene that organ of external and internal secretion, the +prostate, the most important of the accessory sex glands in the male. +Experiments with its extract upon growing tadpoles have demonstrated +it to have the same differentiating effects as thyroid, but without +the poisoning effects. Furthermore, the microscope reveals cyclic +changes in its cells comparable to the menstrual phenomena of the +uterus. Indeed it is accepted as the homologue or male representative +of the uterus. Small and undeveloped during childhood, its growth at +puberty parallels that of the other reproductive organs. Its secretion +has been shown to be necessary to the vitality of the sperm cells. +The regression of the prostate, its retirement from the field of +sex competition, is the central episode of the male climacteric. +Accompanying its shrinking are prominent an irritable weakness, +despondency, and melancholia, which may emerge at any time if there is +disease or disturbance of it. The influence of the prostate upon man's +mental condition, and its contribution to the sex index, still remains +to be investigated in detail. + +SEX CRISES + +At the periods of interstitial cell hyperactivity, when a wave +of radicalism in the blood sweeps through the tissues, the other +endocrines are tested, and their latent stability or instability is +made manifest. Even before puberty, cyclic variations of health and +conduct may be observed in boys and girls which undoubtedly depend +upon currents among the internal secretions. Children, who, in the +best of circumstances, habitually are attacked by a wanderlust and run +away from home, or suffer from fits of naughtiness, are samples of +such endocrine lability. Children specialists have found that at about +the end of the second year their charges begin to individuate. In a +certain percentage, sex traits appear pretty early. But the fact +of the matter is that it is rather the minority of girls who +spontaneously exhibit the traditional stigmata of the natural girl. +The doll-cherishing, housekeeping imitator of mother is another story. + +At puberty arise the most exquisite cases of life crisis dependent +upon hormonic crisis. The boy becomes restless, irritable and +quick-tempered when his thyroid and adrenals respond to the call of +the interstitial cells. If they do not, he will become dull, heavy, +lazy and listless. The girl correspondingly is transformed into a +vivacious, gay, nervous and apprehensive butterfly, or a sedate, +dreamy, bashful, or even morose moth. It is interesting to note that +poise, mental equilibrium, is not established until physical growth +ceases, marked by a cessation of growth of the long bones known as +ossification of the epiphyses. Poise seems to be controlled by the +ante-pituitary. The growth of the long bones is also dominated by the +ante-pituitary. It would seem as if, its secretion dedicated to the +one function, could not be available for the other. So it happens that +those in whom growth ceases early (probably because of an earlier +and more vigorous invasion of the internal secretion system by the +interstitial cell product), develop mental maturity more rapidly and +possess more of it than those in whom growth continues. The acumen and +salacity of certain dwarfs is proverbial. The puberty phenomena +teach that sex crises of every sort are dependent fundamentally upon +fluctuations, periodic or aperiodic, of the sex index, as we have +defined it. + +THE DETERMINING FACTORS OF SEX LIFE + +The material summarized in the preceding paragraphs furnish some +slight inkling of the vast dominion of Sex, in all its relations, +somatic and spiritual, over which the glands of internal secretions +rule. The founder of modern pathology, Virchow, said that woman is +woman because of her ovaries. He meant that woman is a woman, the sort +of woman she specifically is, because of her internal secretions. But +no divine decree has laid down a line of cleavage between man and +woman. There are fundamental constitutional differences between man +and woman. But it is just as true that man is man because of _his_ +internal secretions. + +We have seen that the concepts of Man and Woman are the end-points of +a curve including variations of every possible combination that are +embraced in the construction of a sex index. This sex index is not an +absolute constant, although its range of fluctuation is pretty well +fixed at birth. It varies from day to day, year to year, depending +upon the influences that have been brought to bear upon it. But it +determines the character of the three planes of sex: the endocrine, +the vegetative, and the psychic. The endocrine is concerned with the +fundamental chemistry of sex, the internal secretions, which determine +the chemical reactions that provide the free energy for the sex +process. Upon the vegetative plane occur those transformations, +tensions, and relaxations, in the viscera, which are controlled +in part by the endocrines and in part by the experiences of the +individual as registered in his subconscious. Upon the psychic, +conscious planes appear the echoes and reflections of the occurrences +upon the other two planes, as well as reactions arising in the brain +from the necessity of the organism reacting as a whole to isolated +episodes. Accompanying is a self-awareness of the organism as a unit. +The three planes are not like separate plates of glass one raised +above the other, the usual idea picture of planes. They are +nebulae, swirling into each other, influencing and being influenced +continually. The reactions among these three complexes of sex create +the milieu for the variations and aberrations of tendency, character +and conduct which stamp his unique quality upon the individual. Sex +morale is likewise so influenced. The fundamentals of sex ethics will, +in due time, be revised in accordance with these conceptions. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +HOW THE GLANDS INFLUENCE THE MIND + + +It is impossible to review here in detail all the facts accumulated +concerning the influence of the internal secretions upon all the +processes of mind, intellectual and emotional. A volume would not +suffice for their adequate consideration. Reflexes, instincts, +habits, tendencies and emotions are involved in their machinery. The +development and normal functioning of the intellect, the pure reason +as Kant called it, are controlled by them. Brain, without them in +solution, without enough of them in that wonderful solution, the +blood, sleeps or remains dormant like the butterfly in the cocoon. +The cretin, who has not enough thyroid or no thyroid, is an imbecile +because of his deficiency. Supply him with thyroid from outside +sources, feed him animal thyroid, be it of the sheep, the pig, or the +goat, and behold a miracle! he is restored to the level of at least +the relatively normal intelligence. + +Acuteness of perception, memory, logical thought, imagination, +conception, emotional expression or inhibition and the entire content +of consciousness are influenced by the internal secretions. The most +ultramicroscopic activities of the molecules and atoms in the highest +nerve cells and nerve tissues are dominated. The speed of their +chemistry and their associations, and thus the speed of thought, are +regulated. Iodine has been shown to increase the electric conductivity +of the brain that is, the rate at which electrons will fly through it. +The thyroid may then be regarded as manipulating the amount of iodine +brought to play upon the brain cells at a particular moment of danger +or exaltation. Adrenalin increases the electric conductivity of the +brain. Nerve impulses, and with them sensations and ideas, travel +faster or flow more quickly through iodinized or adrenalinized brain +cells. In dangerous situations we think more rapidly and keenly, for +in emergencies the blood floods the brain with extra thyroid and +adrenal secretions. + +THE BODY-MIND COMPLEX + +Mind, still regarded by most of mankind as something distinct and +apart from the body, is thus exhibited as but part and parcel of it. A +deaf, dumb, and blind animal, deprived of tongue, and olfactory mucous +membrane, without sensations from the outside world can grow no mind, +in the sense of intelligence. The sense organs of the body mediate +the primary mind stuff. Without internal secretions and a vegetative +system there could be no soul, in the sense of complex emotion. Nor +those combinations of thought and emotion which synthesize attitudes, +sentiments and character. The internal secretions and the vegetative +system mediate the primary soul stuff. Mind is thus emulsified with +body as a matter of cold literal fact. The soul was once a subtlety +of metaphysics. Now when mind appears soaked in matter saturated with +chemicals like the hormones, therefore woven out of material threads, +the independent entity created out of intangible spirit flies like a +ghost at dawn. + +View the outlook. Mind, the slippery phantom, now becomes controllable +for the purposes of everyday life, because we can put our fingers +upon, touch, handle and change these material factors, the internal +secretions and the vegetative system. Through them we may affect the +very quality of the nerve tissue. The future of the race, the future +of human nature, depends upon the knowledge to be born of the +researches into the vast possibilities of this idea. Man, the +Adventurer, the prey of Chance and Luck, will then become, indeed now +becomes, the Captain of Fate and Destiny. + +It is, of itself, a revolution in the intellect, to conceive of +instincts and emotions, suggestibility and contra-suggestibility, +initiative and imitation, volitions and inhibitions as chemical +matters. In all their relations, mutually reacting effects and +defects, excesses and deficiencies, the internal secretions set up +psychic echoes and reflections. When morbid and their equilibrium +dislocated, we may even have phobias and neuroses. + +A man's nature is essentially his endocrine nature. Primarily, when he +is born, he represents a particular inherited combination of different +glands of internal secretion. They, constituting the inventory of his +vital stock in trade, start him in life. Afterwards, food, the routine +of his existence, the accidents of experience, education, disease and +misfortune, in short, environment, modify him because they modify his +ductless glands and his vegetative apparatus, as well as his brain, +depressing some parts, and stimulating others, and so rearranging the +system. In particular will he be transformed as the gland is affected +which is the centre of the system to which the others adapt and +accommodate themselves. The inertia of the system is very great, +almost absolute, and always tends to return. If he has children, he +hands on his constellation of endocrines, in spite of mishaps, not at +all or only slightly transformed. Sometimes, however, the experiential +transformation has been sufficiently deep, and shaken the very +constitution of his germ-plasm. So family dispositions and traits, +national and racial temperaments, are propagated, maintained and +varied. + +THE SEX INSTINCTS + +Hormone reactions, as we have seen, initiate the complicated forces, +processes and expressions of sex. The dictum of the founder of modern +pathology, Virchow, that Woman was in effect an appendix to the +ovaries, has long been taken to apply to her psychic traits as well +as somatic. Her mind, like her skin, her hair and her pelvis, is a +product of the ovarian endocrines. But these determinations are by no +means her monopoly. Man is likewise a creation of the chemical wheels +within wheels and springs within springs that are his glands of +internal secretion. That he is not so obviously an appendix to his +testes is due to two reasons. First, the male sex hormones have not +the instability nor cyclic rhythmicity of the female. Secondly, and +perhaps consequently, his sex instincts have become overlayered with +other more labile instincts, with habits and customs and necessities +that appear to oust the sex instinct into an altogether decentralized +position. Moreover, it is the function of the female to be the excitor +in the sex process: her subconscious, thoroughly aware of the fact, +sees to it that the sex instinct stands starkly central and dominating +in her life. + +The moods of love, like the more stereotyped manifestations of sex, +are dependent upon a proper supply to the blood of the internal +secretions of the reproductive organs, the gonadal endocrines. If the +testes are removed from frogs, it is found that the clasp-reflex, +symptom of sex desire, is abolished. If, after an interval of several +days, the testes' extract is injected into the frog, the reflex +reappears for a few days. The hormone provoking this sex reflex is +present in the testes only during the breeding season. In birds, +the seasonal nesting and migrating instincts may be eliminated by +interfering with their ovaries. At the same tine there is a change in +their plumage toward the male type. Similarly, the males, when their +sex endocrines are cut off, will change their psychic nature as well +as physically. Besides owning his flag-waving comb, his spurs and +brighter feathers, the rooster struts to attract the female, and +fights aggressively with his sex competitors. When he is made a capon, +he loses his spurs and comb and distinctive plumage, and in addition +becomes retiring and submissive, in short, a pseudo-hen in his +instincts as well as in appearance. If the genital glands are +extirpated from a male before puberty, the wattles remain small, pale +and bloodless, no active, amorous or combative instinct emerges. The +creature maintains a demure silence, and may even be sought by a +virile male. So we may see homosexuality of a kind in the lowest +animals. On the other hand, hens deprived of ovaries tend to +metamorphose in the male direction, even to acquire the male spurs, +and to display the male attitudes. + +All through the animal world, in the springtime, when the pituitary +awakens or increases its secretion, and so stimulates the sex glands +to augmented activity, emotions of sex and their expression are +provoked by the inner stirring. When the nightingale warbles +passionately and the mocking bird gurgles provokingly, when the robin +fills its scarlet breast and the starling floats in ecstasy through +the perfumed air, when the pigeon coyly woos its mate, and the +butterfly flirts with the dazzling multicolors of its wings, when +all the marvelous devices of sex attraction in nature, selection and +courting, mating and reproducing are pondered, who but must wonder at +the infinite possibilities of reaction of the sex hormones? All is for +love, and all is because of the love in the blood that is manufactured +unconsciously by a few hidden cells. + +EXPRESSIONISM AND EXHIBITIONISM + +We need a detailed examination of the various forms of expression +art has differentiated into, in its relation to exhibitionism and as +effects of the circulating libido-producing substance of the gonads. +Sex exhibition differs in man and woman because of the differently +combined internal secretions that are their substrates. The male's +attitude, aggressive pursuit, is instigated by the compound adrenal +and gonad endocrines. The female's various emulsions of coyness and +display are motivated by posterior pituitary and gonad hormones in +alliance. + +It is a dogma to state that the internal secretions of sex do not +begin to function until after puberty. Some children manifest +exhibitionism with a certain independence of environment. +Before adolescence a good many girls act like tom-boys, and are +distinguishable externally from boys only by their clothes. But others +display signs of sex differentiation that are to be traced back to +an awakening interstitial gonad action. Some boys have no interest +whatever in sex. Others will show an intense curiosity spontaneously, +a curiosity which perhaps may be explained as a larval precocity, +dependent upon the minimum of sex hormone production by the gonads. +Close observation of the correlation of somatic and psychic +development in extreme examples of these children corroborates this +view. Jonathan Hutchinson has described full-busted children of +London already boasting of their affairs. Indeed, as education and +environment affect the body (in so far as they influence it as a +whole) by exciting or inhibiting the glands of internal secretion, +sex-arousing stimuli from without must be considered to evoke their +effects as stimulants of the latent puberty glands. + +At puberty, when the sex glands bloom, and the complex of the sex +instincts is activated, exhibitionism manifests itself in a host of +guises and disguises. Femininity in a woman, the womanly woman, or the +eternal feminine, may indeed be defined by the degree of somatic and +psychic exhibitionism she presents. A woman who has a delicate skin, +lovely complexion, well-formed breasts and menstruates freely will be +found to have the typical feminine outlook on life, aspirations +and reactions to stimuli, which, in spite of the protests of our +feminists, do constitute the biologic feminine mind. Large, vascular, +balanced ovaries are the well-springs of her life and personality. +On the other hand, the woman who menstruates poorly or not at all +is coarse-featured, flat-breasted, heavily built, angular in her +outlines, will also be often aggressive, dominating, even enterprising +and pioneering, in short, masculinoid. She is what she is because she +possesses small, shrivelled, poorly functioning ovaries. Between these +two types all sorts of transitions exist, according as the other +endocrines participate in the constitutional make-up. But no better +examples could be given, off-hand, of the determining stamp of the +internal secretions upon mind, character and conduct. + +INSTINCT AND BEHAVIOUR + +The sex instinct, analyzed as an endocrine mechanism, provides the +clue to the understanding of all instinct and behaviour. If the +post-pituitary regulates the maternal instinct, then its correlates: +sympathy, social impulses, and religious feeling, must be also +influenced, and so is furnished another example of a chemical control +of instinctive behaviour. McDougall, once of Oxford, now of Harvard, +introduced into psychology the idea of the simple instinct as a unit +of behaviour, regarding the most complex conduct as a compounding of +instincts. The instinct itself he analyzed into three elements: a +specific stimulus-sensation, an emotion following, all ending in a +particular course of muscular reaction. Translated into endocrine +terms, what happens may be pictured as a series of chemical events. + +When the activity of a ductless gland rises above a certain minimum, +its hormones in the blood sensitize, as a photographic plate is +sensitized, a group of brain cells, to respond to a message from +the outside world, with a definite line of conduct. There is a +registration by the brain cells of the presence of the specific +stimulus. Then there is communication by them with the endocrine +organs. As a result, some of them are moved to further secretion, +and others are paralyzed or weakened. In consequence of changes +of concentration in the blood of the various internal secretions, +tensions, movements and tumescences, as well as relaxations, +inhibitions and detumescences, occur throughout the vegetative +system--the blood vessels, the viscera, the nerves and the muscles. +Each wires to the brain news of the change in it. In addition, the +brain cells themselves are excited or depressed by the new hormones +bathing them. In their final fusion, the commingling vegetative +sensations constitute the emotion evolved in the functioning of the +instinct. + +To lower the new tensions throughout the vegetative system to +the normal range, the instinctive action is carried out. This +superficially is regarded as the essence of the instinct. As a matter +of fact, it is only the endpoint of a process, the resultant of a +drive to restore equilibrium within the organism. It may all happen in +less time than it takes to tell about it. + +The play of an instinct may therefore be analyzed into four processes. +They succeed one another as sensation--endocrine stimulation--tension +within the vegetative system--conduct to relieve tension. The dash is +the symbol of a cause and effect relationship. + +This equation for an instinct, based upon an analysis of the working +of the sex instinct, is the model for the analysis of all instincts, +and therefore of all the compounded instincts that all human behaviour +may be resolved into. Conduct, that fascinator of the common gossip +and the great novelist alike, normal and abnormal, social and asocial, +in all their complexities, even unto the third and fourth generation, +the Freudian complexes, is governed therefore by the same laws that +determine the movements of the stars and the eruptions of volcanoes. +The most interesting factor in the instinct equation is the endocrine, +because that is the one that is most purely chemical. + +ENDOCRINE CHARGING OF WISHES + +It is _the_ distinction of modern psychology that it has established +the wish (craving, need, desire, libido) as the moving force in any +psychic process. The position of the wish in psychology as the force +within and behind the instinct may be compared to that of energy in +physics, when it was elevated to a central position in the explanation +of physical processes in the nineteenth century. The concept of the +_charged_ wish has illuminated all the hidden recesses and rendered +audible all the subdued murmurings of the mind. The truly novel in the +content of the idea is the recognition of the fact that the wish is +charged. Now it could never be charged in a vacuum. That means that +a wish could never be born in the brain alone. For the brain has no +power to charge itself with energy--it can only store and transmit. If +a wish is potential energy that must be transformed into kinetic, it +must have a source. That source is the vegetative system. Without the +vegetative system, the great complex of viscera in the abdomen and +chest, blood and its vessels, endocrines, muscles and nerves, the +brain would remain but an intricate cold storage plant of memories, +associations of past experiences. It would need no change and initiate +no effort. But when the wish enters upon the scene, it is as if a dead +storage battery has been refreshed with new current. Enriched with +billions of electrons there is a stir and a movement, dynamic mind. +But the dynamo is the more ancient possession of the animal, the +vegetative apparatus. In short, what must always be remembered is that +a wish is never cerebral, but always sub-cerebral, visceral, in its +origins. + +The sub-cerebral makes the cerebral. Activities in the nervous system +below the brain and especially the vegetative system, force upon it +its function of the active verb. It has to be, to do, and to suffer, +and then to manipulate the environment to satiate the insatiable +viscera, insatiable because the local chemistry is continually raising +the tension of one or the other of them. A physics of human behaviour +becomes possible with the aid of these concepts of endocrine +regulation of intravisceral pressure, and intervisceral equilibrium, +an intramuscular pressure and an intermuscular equilibrium, with the +brain as the shifting fulcrum of the system. + +The sensation of hunger, as we have seen, serves as good an exemplar +as any of this mechanism of the wish. Hunger is preceded and +accompanied by contractions of the stomach of increasing intensity. +Those contractions must be brought about by a substance acting upon +the nerve endings in the wall of the stomach. As it closes down upon +itself, waves pass up and down. With each wave, the pressure within it +rises. The exact amount of the pressure may be accurately measured +by means of a small balloon swallowed and then inflated. When the +pressure rises above a certain figure, the sensation of hunger breaks +into the consciousness of the individual. We infer that certain +sensory impulses sent up to the brain attain a strength that finally +forces itself into the conscious field of feeling. The sensation of +hunger varies from individual to individual because of variation in +the reaction throughout the vegetative system. Most often it is a +sense of movement or even an itch in the upper abdomen. Let some cause +produce a weakening or cessation of the movements of the stomach--as +fear and anger--and the sensation of hunger disappears coincidently +with the drop in the pressure within it. As the mathematicians +would say, the wish is a function of the pressure, and so of the +concentration of substance behind the pressure. + +We have in hunger the wish reduced to the lowest terms, the most +primitive form of it. Yet we may resolve all wishes, even the most +idealistic, into the same terms. As the vegetative system becomes +habituated by repeated experience to react in the same way to the same +stimulus, permutations and combinations of wishes become possible +until at length the inscrutable complexities of the behaviour of +civilized man are evolved. We have to thank Von Bechterew, the +greatest of Russian physiologists, for these fundamental principles, +so important for the understanding of the control of human life and +conduct. + +The associated reflex, aboriginal ancestor of the involved train +of associations that constitute the highest thought, conduct and +character, is the unit of the system. Recall the classic example +cited. If a piece of meat is shown to a dog, his mouth waters. If now +you proceed to ring a bell before offering the meat, his mouth will +water only when he sees or smells the meat. If, however, the ringing +of the bell precedes the meat a sufficient number of reactions, a time +comes when merely the sound of the bell will cause salivation, without +the presence of the meat. So it is with the associated reactions of +the internal secretions. A stimulus originally indifferent to the +endocrines may, by association, the laws of which are many, come to +act like a spark to the endocrine-instinct mechanism. Hence we can +account for the subtle play of instinct throughout all thinking. + +Even objects resembling the specific excitant of an instinct only +remotely, or in some one quality, may start its mechanism and a host +of associations bound up with it. Thus the maternal instinct may +be excited by the sight of a baby. But because a baby is small and +delicate, anything small and fine, a tiny book, a toy, a miniature, +may arouse it. The object is then said to be appealing. The doctrine +of association of instinctive and so of endocrine reactions enables +us to understand the feeling--tone that at any moment pervades +consciousness as well as its content. + +Choices, the psychology of selection of food, color, friends, mates, +amusements also become explicable rationally. For conflicts among +the different components of the vegetative system are continuous and +inevitable. If the pressure within a viscus has been heightened, and +persists, that is, is not disturbed by some other associated factor or +instinct, conduct results to lower the pressure to what it was before +the instigator of the tension appeared. But if another instinct is +sparked, or another associated factor comes into play, another focus +of increased pressure within the vegetative system is created, with +another stream of energy flowing to the brain and demanding an outlet. +This clash of instincts, the struggle between different foci of the +vegetative system competing for the possession of the brain, is a +common everyday process in conduct. Which will win means which will +will. And so we have an energetic basis for volition. + +Which will win appears to depend primarily upon the kind of endocrines +that predominate in the make-up of the individual, secondarily with +his education. For it is the endocrines that are really in conflict +when there is a struggle between two instincts. And if one endocrine +system conquers, it must be either because it is inherently stronger, +its secretion potential, that is, the amount of secretion it can put +forth as a maximum, is greater (so explaining the term dominant)--or +because a past experience has conditioned it to respond, although the +opposing endocrine system does not. Fear and anger, respectively bound +up with the activities of the adrenal medulla and cortex, we shall +see, provide as good exemplars as any of this process. + +The response of the ductless glands to situations varies with their +congenital _capacity_, and acquired _susceptibility_. Capacity is +a question of internal chemistry, modifiable by injury, disease, +accident, shock, exhaustion. Susceptibility depends upon the play of +the forces focusing upon them that may be summed up as associations. +In the ability of one endocrine system to inhibit another we have the +germ of the unconscious. Hence the modus operandi of the repressions +and suppressions, compensations and dissociations, which may unite to +integrate or refuse to integrate, and so disintegrate and deteriorate +a personality. + +As the personality develops, the vegetative system becomes susceptible +to the manifold associates of family, school, church and society, art, +science and religion, and last but not least sex. All the different +nuances of personality are expressions of a particular relationship, +transitory or permanent, between the endocrines and the viscera +and muscles. Conversely, behaviour shows what a person actually is +chemically; that is, what endocrine and vegetative factors predominate +in his make-up. + +FEAR, ANGER, AND COURAGE + +Fear and anger are the oldest and so the most deep-rooted of the +instincts. An ameba, contracting at the touch of some unpleasant +object, feels fear in its most primitive form. And anger, the +destructive passion, must have appeared early upon the scene of life. +Certainly these two instincts were definitely developed and fixed in +the cells before sex differentiation and the sex instincts were born +at all. It is interesting to note this for our rabid Freudians. + +Fear and anger involve the adrenal gland. How comes it that two states +of mind so contrasted should involve the same area? The answer lies in +the bipartite construction of the adrenal. All the evidence points +to its medulla as the secretor of the substance which makes for the +phenomena of fear, and to its cortex as dominant in the reactions of +anger. + +When adrenalin is injected under the skin in sufficient quantity, it +will produce paleness, trembling, erection of the hair, twitching of +the limbs, quick or gasping breathing, twitching of the lips--all the +classic manifestations of fear. These are the immediate effects of +fear because they are the immediate effects of excess adrenalin in the +blood upon the vegetative viscera and the muscles. The perception +by associative memory of these effects of adrenalin, the sensations +arising from the organs affected, constitute the emotion of fear. +Flight follows by muscle prepared for flight, for the disturbance of +the inter-muscular equilibrium tenses the flexor muscles, the muscles +of flight, and relaxes the extensor muscles, the muscles of attack. + +If, it would seem, the cortex secretion now pours into the blood, +enough to more than overcome the effects of the medulla secretion, the +inter-muscular equilibrium is disturbed in the opposite direction, +for fight rather than flight, and anger results. Or if the cortical +secretion pours in an overwhelming amount of its secretion from the +first into the blood there will be no fear, but anger immediately. +Habitually charging and fearless animals like the bison, bull, tiger, +or lion have a relatively larger cortex in their adrenals. Habitually +fleeing and fearful animals, like the rabbit, have a small cortex +and a wide medulla in their adrenals. The reinforcing action of the +thyroid is important. The adrenal medulla reinforced by the thyroid +makes for terror, the adrenal cortex reinforced by the thyroid makes +for fury. + +Some people are not easily frightened, others are more readily +frightened, and still others are of an extremely fearful nature. It +depends upon the proportion of adrenal cortex to medulla secretion in +them. And their reaction to fear stimuli is a pretty good measure +of the ratio. These formulations apply more particularly to fear in +general and anger in general. But even in the least fearsome, i.e., +an individual in whom cortex dominates medulla, there may be +fear--complexes, dating back to events and times when medulla +overtopped cortex, especially childhood. So in the coolest people, +certain persons, objects, episodes, may send a wave along an old line +of nerve cells and paths which lead to the adrenal medulla, and so +flood him with fear, terror or even panic before his usual cortex +response occurs. Impressions during the early years of childhood, +probing of the unconscious by various methods, have been shown to be +the most potent in this respect. Sometimes the episode goes further +back than childhood, and one must assume an inherited conditioning +of the vegetative and endocrine systems. An animal leaping upon an +ancestor in a forest during the night might account for the panic fear +some people experience when alone in the dark, that nothing of their +childhood history may account for. + +In women, the adrenal medulla naturally tends to overtop the cortex, +because the latter makes for masculinity. Besides, the recurring +cycle in the ovary, making the corpus luteum, evolves an additional +stimulant to the medulla, through its irritating influence upon the +thyroid. Then the influence of the post-pituitary is anti-adrenal +cortex. So that, on the whole, a number of endocrines work to render +woman naturally fearful, as we say. + +Courage is so closely related to fear and anger that all are always +associated in any discussion. Courage is commonly thought of as the +emotion that is the opposite of fear. It would follow that courage +meant simply inhibition of the adrenal medulla. As a matter of fact, +the mechanism of courage is more complex. One must distinguish animal +courage and deliberate courage. Animal courage is literally the +courage of the beast. As noted, animals with the largest amounts of +adrenal cortex are the pugnacious, aggressive, charging kings of the +fields and forests. The emotion experienced by them is probably anger +with a sort of blood-lust, and no consideration of the consequences. +The object attacked acted like the red rag waved at a bull--it had +stimulated a flow of the secretion of the adrenal cortex, and the +instinct of anger became sparked, as it were, by the new condition +of the blood. In courage, deliberate courage, there is more than +instinct. There is an act of volition, a display of will. Admitting +that without the adrenal cortex such courage would be impossible, the +chief credit for courage must be ascribed to the ante-pituitary. It is +the proper conjunction of its secretion and that of the adrenal cortex +that makes for true courage. So it is we find that acts of courage +have been recorded most often of individuals of the ante-pituitary +type. Photographs are obtainable of thirty-four winners of the +Congressional Medal of Honor for extraordinary bravery in the War +with Germany. Of these twenty-three exhibited the somatic criteria or +hormonic signs of the ante-pituitary type. A prerequisite for adequate +ante-pituitary function is a normal secretion of the interstitial +cells of the reproductive glands. Cowardice is said to be a feature of +eunuchs. + +THE PITUITARY AND INSTINCT + +We have seen that, more than any other gland or tissue of the body, +the post-pituitary governs the maternal-sexual instincts and their +sublimations, the social and creative instincts. A great deal of +evidence is in our possession concerning the disturbances of emotion +accompanying disturbances of this gland, and controllable by its +control. It might be said to energize deeply the tender emotions, and +instead of saying soft-hearted we should say much-pituitarized. +For all the basic sentiments (as opposed to the intellectualized +self-protective sentimentalism), tender-heartedness, sympathy and +suggestibility are interlocked with its functions. Its secretion must +act upon the great basal ganglia, at the base of the brain, which +contain the nerve cells and fibres that are the centers of emotional +control and co-ordination. + +The ante-pituitary has been depicted as the gland of intellectuality +(to use that term for lack of better). By intellectuality we mean +the capacity of the mind to control its environment by concepts and +abstract ideas. The frontal lobes of the brain are the central offices +for higher thought. Their cells are the most complex, have the most +numerous branches and association fibres. They store the fruits of +abstract thinking, mathematics, for example. The anterior pituitary is +in the closest relation and contact with them. Its secretion is tonic +to them. Now the instinct that is the forerunner of intellectuality +is the instinct of curiosity, with its emotion of wonder, and its +expression in the various constructive and acquisitive tendencies. +Studies of intellectual men, and of those with a keen instinct of +curiosity and a constructive-acquisitive trend prove them to be +ante-pituitary dominant in their make-up. The administration of +ante-pituitary extract to some defectives increases intellectual +activity and self-control. The future of intelligence may expect +a great deal from the newer chemistry of the secretions of the +ante-pituitary. + +Two most important instincts, therefore, which in the complexity of +their sublimations have created most of the institutions of society, +the maternal and the intellectual, are connected directly with a +proper function of the pituitary endocrines. So it happens that +disturbances of these instincts, reaching far into the normal and +intellectual spheres of the mind, are definitely connected with +disturbances of the pituitary. As we shall note in reviewing the +essentials of the pituitary-centered or pituito-centric personality, +the personality governed by the fluctuations of activity within the +pituitary, people with injured, diseased or mechanically limited +pituitaries (because of the smallness of the bony case enclosing them) +exhibit defects and perversions of conduct and intelligence directly +attributable to affections of the very instincts and functions +the pituitary governs. Children with small, mechanically cramped +pituitaries lie and steal, are bed-wetters, have poor control over +themselves, and a low learning capacity. + +THE THYROID AND INSTINCT + +The chemical mechanism of the instincts described: sex libido, passion +and jealousy in relation to the ovaries and testes, fear and anger in +relation to the adrenals, sympathy and curiosity in relation to the +pituitaries, suggests that a similar explanation will hold for the +dynamics of the other instincts. In the closest relation to the +thyroid appear the instincts first isolated, so to speak, by McDougall +as the instincts of self-display and self-effacement, accompanied +by emotions of pride and shame respectively. In certain states of +excessive thyroid activity there is an extra stimulation of the +instinctive display of the person which may go on to boasting, +mania and exhibitionism. On the other hand, in states of thyroid +insufficiency, depression is produced, which may go on to melancholia, +a desire to be alone, to hide, to sit apart and even a tendency to +accuse the self of various uncommitted crimes and sins. In the form +of cyclic insanity known as the manic-depressive psychosis, mania +alternates with depression, as if the personality were dominated +wholly in turn by one or the other of these two instincts of the ego. +There is a good deal of evidence that behind them is a corresponding +fluctuation in the amount the thyroid secretes into the blood. Among +the thyroid-centered attitudes toward the self gyrate more than in +any other type. Egomania and megalomania occur most often in thyroid +unstable individuals. + +ENERGY AND SENSITIVITY + +In his classic Inquiries into Human Faculty, Francis Galton laid down +some fundamental considerations concerning energy and sensitivity +as mental traits. Energy he defined as the capacity for labor, and +declared it to be the measure of the fullness of life or vitality. +Statistical study by him of men of genius and their ancestors showed +them to be endowed with a large amount of energy. It has been said to +be the absolute prerequisite of genius. Now if there is a single fact +that has been well established by investigations of the internal +secretions, it is that the energy quantum of an individual is a +function of and determined by his thyroid. The more thyroid he has, +the more energetic will he be--the less thyroid the less energetic, +and the lazier. The thyroid-centered individual, of the excess thyroid +type, actually burns up more food and produces more heat than the +ordinary organism. He burns himself up faster in general. + +When the thyroid sends more secretion into the blood, more thyroxin, +it accelerates all the functions and activities of the organs. Tea and +coffee produce loquacity because they stimulate the thyroid. People +with thyroid dominant constitutions talk fluently, rapidly, and +continuously. Their energy makes them doers, actors rather than +spectators. They get up early in the morning, are on the go all day +without surcease or fatigue, go to bed late, and often suffer from +insomnia. + +Thyroid deficients, however, are definitely the opposite. They are +quite conscious of the limited reserve of energy at their command. +Also that they need plenty of refreshing sleep. Early to bed and late +to rise remains the leading maxim of health for them. In addition they +find it necessary to sleep during the day. Forty winks or more in +the afternoon makes a good deal of difference to them. Taciturn, +inarticulate, lazy, slow, tired, are the adjectives applied to them +by their friends as well as by their enemies. All because of an +insufficient or inefficient supply of the thyroid's iodine to their +cells. The mobility of energy in an organism is a measure of the +amount of active iodine in it. The physiologic synonyms for "energetic +and lazy" are "well-iodinized" and "poorly iodinized." + +Sensitivity, the ability to discriminate between grades of sensation +or acuteness of perception is another thyroid quality. Just as the +thyroid plus is more energetic, so is he more sensitive. He feels +things more, he feels pain more readily, because he arrives more +quickly at the stage when the stimulus damages his nerve apparatus. +The electric conductivity of his skin is greater, sometimes a hundred +times greater, than the average. Conversely the thyroid deficient type +has a low discriminative faculty. Galton has recorded that idiots +hardly distinguish between heat and cold and that their sense of pain +is so obtuse that some of the more idiotic seem hardly to know what it +is. Cretins may moan but never shed tears. + +Energy and sensitivity in an individual should direct attention to the +thyroid element predominating in his composition. Lack of energy and +insensitivity to the degree of thyroid insufficiency in their make-up. + +MEMORY, JUDGMENT, AND POISE + +In between sensitivity and energy, the sensation and the reaction, +comes a passage of the stimulus through the gauntlet of the stored +past experience of the individual known as memory. Many hypotheses +have been advanced by philosophers, psychologists and physiologists to +explain the phenomenona of memory. To conceive of memory materially +at all one must admit some sort of memory trace as the basis for the +persistence of memory. This memory deposit facilitates the occurrence +of the chemical reaction constituting the memory along the same path +the next time. Forgetting then consists in a disappearance of these +memory traces or deposits. Forgetting is greatest in the first hour +after remembering, more than half of the memory trace being lost in +that time. Comparison of the curve of forgetting, and the curve +of diffusion of a colloid like gelatine from its solution, into a +surrounding medium, shows them to be exceedingly similar. Forgetting +may be explained by some such loss of the memory trace or deposit into +the blood continually flowing by it. + +The internal secretions influence the amount and duration of the +memory deposits. The thyroid appears to be essential to the _laying +down_ of the memory trace. Cretins have poor memories on the retention +side and so cannot learn. The memory of thyroid insufficients is +wretched. In the extreme grades, the memory for recent occurrences +becomes completely lost. Iodine and thyroid increase the electric +conductivity of the brain, so that the memory trace must be deposited +more easily in those who have an excess of thyroid. Removal of the +thyroid produces a degeneration of nerve cells and their processes, +and associative memory becomes difficult or impossible because +conduction from cell to cell is interfered with. If sufficient thyroid +is fed in excess, brain conduction may be so facilitated that epilepsy +may result upon slight irritation. + +On the other hand, the pituitary seems to be related to _preservation_ +of the memory deposit. In conditions of disease of the pituitary, +loss of memory for past experiences is more marked. As regards recent +experiences, they are better held, although in a sort of subconscious +manner, recoverable when the condition improves or is cured. But the +greatest difference between the thyroid and pituitary effects upon +memory exists as regards material: the thyroid memory applies +particularly to perception and percepts, the pituitary to conception +(reading, studying, thinking) and concepts. + +Judgment is another mental process that often intervenes between +sensation and the energy-reaction. It involves memory and association +of experiences. Behind it is an attitude as much as there is in an +emotion or the arousing of an instinct. Beliefs and reasonings are +complex judgments. They form the units of the intellectual process. + +There is an element of speed in judgment on reasoning as in perception +and memory. And as in the latter, the thyroid determines the velocity. +Quick thinking, as we call it, means good thyroid action, and slow +thinking deficient thyroid action. The other element in judgment, +accuracy, is influenced by the ante-pituitary. During adolescence +there is physical growth which consumes most of the secretion of the +ante-pituitary. After adolescence, after the early twenties, when +physical growth has ceased, the ante-pituitary secretion sensitizes +the cells of the brain to mental growth. The reaction potential of +the ante-pituitary, that is its inherent, latent ability to supply a +maximum of its endocrine for the nerve cells of the frontal lobes, is +the best-known chemical determinant of intellectual genius. It makes +for the greatest co-ordination of experience, knowledge, information, +tastes and problems into one harmonious whole. And curiously, not only +does it cause a fusion of intellectual material: it creates a desire +for and a love of such material. + +We should expect to find extraordinarily well-developed ante-pituitary +action among eminent philosophers and men of science, and we do. +Adequate action of it is present throughout the range of normals who +evidence sufficiently ripened judgment as they progress through +life. The ability to profit by experience, and to make more and more +accurate judgments as one grows older implies at least a maximum +efficiency of it. This maturation is not at all universal. Even after +middle age, after forty and fifty years of reasoning, some individuals +retain the juvenile mind of their youth. Like the Bourbons, they +have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Their ante-pituitary +insufficiency often coupled with a post-pituitary excess, and other +instabilities and disequilibriums in the endocrine system, render them +immature morons, compared with what might be expected of them for +their years. They are the people who are old enough to know better. +For the same reasons, inhibition and emotional control are poor in +them. + +Besides the ante-pituitary, in the evolution of judgment, and the +judgment faculty, due stress must be laid upon the influence of the +internal secretion of the testes or ovaries, the product of the +interstitial cells. Although the probability is that the effects +are indirect, through a stimulation of the ante-pituitary, the fact +remains that, in a child, memory may be marvelous and judgment poor +(such memory is possibly purely thyroid in its determination). With +the advent of the gonads upon the scene, judgments become the centre +of the play's plot undoubtedly. The intelligence of eunuchs and +eunuchoids is in general low. The skull and brain of castrates, animal +and human, is smaller than the average. Gall, the physiologist who +popularized ideas concerning the meaning of the protuberances and +depressions of the head in relation to faculty and character, early in +the nineteenth century, was the first to prove this. Among historic +castrates, eunuchs, not a single example of great intellect, of the +creative type, is known. On the contrary, the native gifts of the mind +were destroyed. Thus Abelard, who was punished with castration by his +uncle for his love affair with Heloeise, never composed a verse of +poetry thereafter. + +IMAGINATION AS AN ENDOCRINE GIFT + +That brings us to the consideration of imagination as influenced by +the endocrines. The physical conditions of exercise of the imaginative +faculty have not been sufficiently investigated. Alcohol has long been +known to act as an evocant of strange images. The hallucinations of +delirium tremens are the results obtained in extreme intoxication. A +strangely imaged flow of consciousness, the imaginative state, may +also be evoked by morphine and cannabis indica. There is no doubt +that the brain cells may be made to combine in the fresh, novel, and +unfamiliar associations that are recognized as unreal. + +Francis Galton, pioneer student of the conditionings of human faculty, +left an interesting study of the visualising capacity, so far as it +could be attacked by the statistical method. Two of his conclusions +are worth repeating for our purposes. One is that the power to imagine +is poor in philosophers and men of science. The other that it is +higher in the female sex than in the male. We have seen that the +philosophic, scientific, intellectual mind, the capacity to abstract, +and think in terms of abstractions, is definitely dependent upon +proper secretion by the ante-pituitary. In woman, the post-pituitary +is generally predominant over the ante-pituitary. Though we are in +need of a series of studies of the endocrine traits and composition of +men endowed with high imaginative qualities, and so are at a loss, we +have indications of an endocrine control of the state of consciousness +we speak of as the imaginative. + +Most of the evidence accumulated in the examination and treatment of +morbid conditions characterized by a restless, incoordinate activity +of the brain cells points to excess of the post-pituitary secretion as +the cause, or as one of the most important causes. The thyroid and the +adrenal medulla also exert their influence. But the strongest appears +to be the post-pituitary. Phobias, fears which obsess the mind, +anxiety neuroses, suspicions, hallucinations, delusions, nervousness, +all expressions of what we may sum up technically as the imaginative +state of mind, occur and occur frequently, associated with other +symptoms of posterior pituitary overactivity. Persons in whose make-up +it rules are more liable to imagine disturbances of their mentality, +or exhibit a well-developed imaginative streak. Normal states of +overactivity of the post-pituitary such as occur in some women during +the menstrual period and pregnancy, and in some men as part of the +endocrine cycle of their everyday lives, are accompanied by increase +in the susceptibility and vigor of the imagination. Whether the +feeding of excess post-pituitary would lead to a stimulation of the +tendency or ability to imagine is still to be decided. But it is +known that quieting the post-pituitary by various means will cause +a depression of the faculty, and eliminate its pathologic +manifestations. + +Psychologists distinguish between the constructive imagination that +expresses itself in an ordered activity and the unbalanced fancies +of the fearful neurotic for example. The post-pituitary confers the +lability of the underlying state of brain in all of these imaginative +tincturings of consciousness. The constructive imagination, one of the +few truly precious gifts of a personality, is probably the expression +of a certain balanced activity of the ante-pituitary and the +post-pituitary. + +MOODS AND THE ORGANIC OUTLOOK + +The lability the post-pituitary confers upon the combinations of +perceptions and conceptions, grouped as the imagined, extends to +the ruling mood that may be spoken of as the organic outlook. +Post-pituitary in excess, without compensation or balancing by one or +some of the other endocrines, is associated with an instability of +mood and the organic outlook. Concomitant is a defective self-control. +Typically, one sees the effects in the mental abnormalities of women +during the premenstrual period. A number of them have their pituitary +balance upset then, with an overtopping of the ante-pituitary by the +post-pituitary. Irritability, a sub-hysteria, or an actual hysteria +may emerge in the usually most placid characters. A quiet wife and +mother may go for her husband, curse and mortify him, even strike and +beat him. She may slap her children at that time and no other. It is +well known that most of their crimes are committed by women during the +menstrual period. So are the suicides. Deterioration of mentality and +character so often observed during the menopause, with its apathies or +excitements, melancholia or mania, the fits of weeping or gaiety, the +loss of grip upon reality, the complete change in mood and temperament +that reflect the transformation of the organic outlook, demonstrate +clearly the overwhelming influence of the endocrines upon the +attitudes of the self toward the self. + +It is possible to speak of thyroid moods, adrenal moods, +ante-pituitary or post-pituitary moods, gonadal moods. Each of +these is the echo in the mind of cells stimulated or depressed, +by concentration or dilution in the blood of particular internal +secretions. Restlessness and excitement can be produced experimentally +by feeding thyroid. Vague anxiety, depressive fancies and fears, +imaginative overactivity can be removed by inhibiting the +post-pituitary. Hypersecretion of the ovary will cause a sexual +susceptibility and a mood of genital obsession, capable of the most +remarkable sublimations and perversions. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE BACKGROUNDS OF PERSONALITY + + +The question of moods and sublimations once raised introduces the +problem of the relation of neuroses, nervous disorders without an +organic disease basis, and mental abnormalities, to the endocrine +system. Obviously, in view of all the influences exerted by the +ductless glands upon every organ and function of the body and mind, +and their intermediary, the vegetative nervous system, a relation must +exist. Observations accumulated, some of which have been referred to +in the preceding chapters, prove the complete, though complex, reality +of such a deduction. + +The history of attitudes toward nerve and mental disorders is a +remarkable illustration of the vicissitudes of ignorance playing with +words. The Greeks, swayed and dazzled as they were by the magic of +words which they discovered, yet never permitted themselves to be +fooled by them. As an explanation for the phenomena of hysteria in +women, that benign mental disorder par excellence, they had the theory +of a wandering about of the womb in the organism as a cause. That +provided an image of something material happening as an explanation. +With the triumphs of anatomy after the Renaissance, that naive view +had to be discarded. In its place the humoral theory held sway, with +its good humors and its bad humors, and their bilious, lymphatic, +nervous and sanguine admixtures. But that, too, went the way of all +flesh. During the first half of the nineteenth century, a popular +phrase, "nerves," paraphrased by practitioners of medicine as +neuroses, then came into vogue as the efficient cause of these +troubles. "Nerves" indeed today have filtered everywhere into the +common consciousness. + +Because of the irritant effects of light, food and social conditions, +America has come to swarm with neurotics of every type, especially the +sexual. A rich field was created for cults of treatment, which spring +up like weeds periodically all over the country. We have seen how the +American, Beard, was inspired by the idea that "nerves" represented a +loss of tone, a flabbiness, weakness and softness of the nerves, to +coin the word neurasthenia. Nerve exhaustion he believed was the cause +of the nerve weakness. Weir Mitchell, another American, introduced the +rest cure combined with overfeeding as a treatment for it. + +An analytical French neurologist, Charcot, was not to be satisfied by +words of Latin-Greek derivation. Insisting upon the significance of +the individual mental workings of each case, he and his pupil Janet +began to unravel a tangle which has led to the present revolution in +psychology. For Freud, Jung and Adler took up the story where Janet +left off. + +Janet elaborated the ideas of a subconscious and an unconscious, a +dissociation of the components of the mind, and a splitting of +the personality. Lumping the phenomena of amnesia, somnambulism, +hypnotism, anesthesia, obsession and hysteria into the grand group of +mental dissociations and disintegrations, he achieved a unification +never considered possible before him. Suggestion as a mode of cure was +also emphasized and elaborated by him to an undreamed-of degree. + +Freud, in 1895, studying a case of hysteria with Breuer, had attempted +cure by the method of free association, attempting to get the hysteric +to pour out her mental life. Not succeeding, and his interest aroused +by her continual references to her dreams, he discovered that by means +of those dreams he could tap the subconscious and unconscious in +regions hitherto inaccessible. For in the dreams, ideas, persons, and +experiences appeared that never came upon the stage of the conscious. +From that finding he developed the concept of repression, i.e., the +relegation of a painful experience into the unconscious, and kept +imprisoned there by the censor. Also how there it became the complex, +which, like a stage manager, never appeared before the footlights of +the conscious, but determined its content just the same by inhibition +or stimulation of any character or scene to be enacted upon it. + +A complete critique of Freudianism cannot be attempted here. But in +relation to the endocrine system as controllers of nerve function +in health and disease, a valid criticism can be made. Firstly, the +Freudian jargon, its technicalities and explanations, are metaphors. +Some may regard them as justifiable descriptions of mental processes. +But it certainly can be urged against them that they provide us with +no idea concerning what is happening in the cells of the body and +brain as explanation for the event, normal or abnormal, supposedly +explained. Words like sublimation or transference are figures of +speech and nothing else. Secondly, they ignore totally the powers of +the vegetative apparatus, the viscera, muscles and secreting glands +together, as originators and determiners of the wish and its +adventures. + +How utterly different, from the point of view of the physiologist, the +two explanations are as pictures, can be seen from a single example. +The idea of repression, to the Freudian, means the pushing down +into the subconscious of some experience. Pushing down is a process +controlled by the laws of physics: it involves the concepts of matter +and force. Hence, the expression, as a description of a psychic +episode, is a metaphor pure and simple. From the standpoint of the +process of repression as pictured by the student of the vegetative +apparatus, the term signifies a real bottling up of energy. For the +repression means actual compression of muscle, the muscle contained +in the viscera. And the repression means a real interference with +the release of energy, which remains bound up, tugging for room +for expression as much as a spring tightly coiled in a box. In the +production of that tension an endocrine has often been decisive. The +endocrine nature of the individual may decide whether a subconscious, +i.e., visceral or vegetative tension, is to come into being, live +or die, in the face of a given situation. If thereby, a permanent +disturbance of the equilibrium between the components is brought +about, a neurosis, expression of an unsatisfied vegetative tension, +follows. + +It has been hailed as a brand new discovery by those following the +latest in psychology that the subconscious and the unconscious +constitute a more essential component of the personality than the +conscious. As a matter of fact, common practice has recognized the +fact, if not the mechanism and its significance, for ages. It is not +what people say or do--it is how they say it: that is how the true +reactions of personality are recognized instinctively even by animals. +Tone and gesture (when not acted or posed) are accepted as symbols and +symptoms of states of the inmost sancta sanctorum that words and wit +never give entrance to, nay disguise and block. Tone and gesture as +revelations of the Inner-Me, the True-Me or Intra-Me if you will, +are so potent because they are direct expressions of the vegetative +apparatus. The curl of a lip, the flicker of an eye-lash, the twitch +of a shoulder are the overflow of energy cramped in the increased +intravisceral pressure, determined by increased outflow of endocrine +secretion. Wittingly or unwittingly we interpret the little signs as +messages from the deepest self, which they truly are. + +NERVOUS BREAKDOWNS AND SHELL SHOCK + +In civil life, the complex of symptoms Beard jumbled together as +neurasthenia, when associated with a loss of self-control, so that the +sufferer is incapacitated for the duties of everyday life, has become +the popular "nervous breakdown." A sanitarium appears to be one of the +necessary components of the condition. It is the last act, the climax +of "nerves." + +During the War of 1914-1918, thousands of cases of functional +disorders of the nervous came to be grouped under "Shell Shock." +The psychic phenomena in the wake of concussion of the brain due to +explosives suggested the term, and its application to affections of +self-control, or dissociations of the personality, with paralysis, +blindness, speechlessness, loss of hearing and so on. The War neurosis +(including those arising in home service) is still a topical subject +because thousands of mentally disabled soldiers are alive. + +In view of what has been said concerning the endocrine mechanism of +the instincts and the vegetative apparatus, it could be predicted that +a number of these nerve casualties of peace and war would be caused by +an upset of the equilibrium between the glands of internal secretion. +A study of war neuroses by the great Italian student of the +endocrines, Pende, confirms this assumption. As emphasized, the +internal secretions are like tuning keys, and tighten or loosen the +strings of the organism-instrument, the nerves. War for the soldier, +or the civilian combatant as well, sets the strings vibrating, and +with them the glands controlled by them. Excessive stimulation or +depression of an endocrine will disturb the whole chain of hormones, +and the vegetative system, and their echoes in the psyche. The nervous +disorders of war that have been lumped as shell shock or war shock may +be looked upon as uncompensated; airings of the endocrine vegetative +mechanism, as dislocations of parts and processes that are reflected +outwardly as ailment or disease. + +AN ENDOCRINE NEUROSIS + +An exquisite example of an endocrine neurosis, that is a disorder of +nerves and brain dependent upon an upset of the equilibrium between +the internal secretions due to a trying experience, was furnished +recently by the reactions of three naval officers lost in the snow +wilds of Canada through a balloon adventure. The cases aroused a good +deal of interest at the time, and the details were reported by the +newspapers as if they were the episodes of a serial mystery story. + +The three officers started out late one fine evening from Rockaway +Air Station in a balloon for a practice trip. Atmospheric conditions +suddenly changed, they became lost in the clouds, and finally landed +somewhere in the Canadian wilderness. The commander of the balloon +crew, Lieut. A., 23 years old, was the youngest of the three; the +oldest, Lieut. B., being 45, and the third man in the thirties, Lieut. +C. + +According to the testimony given at the Court of Inquiry held +afterwards, two hours after they abandoned the balloon and started +struggling through the snow, B. became tired and complained of his +fatigue. B.'s fatigue increased, and two days later became so great +that the party had to stop for an hour and build a fire in order to +permit him to rest. However, an hour proved too little: and in another +half hour he was falling and fainting. + +Letters written by C. to his wife and gotten hold of by reporters +declared that B. at this juncture passed into a semi-sane state, in +which he accused himself of a number of sins, and volunteered to +commit suicide, so that the others would not be burdened by his +weakness. Also, that they might use his body to fortify themselves. A. +discussed with C. the advisability of taking B.'s knife away from +him. Living on their carrier pigeons, they continued on, moved by a +desperate hope of finding someone. B. had several fainting spells +after drinking water traced by moose tracks. + +Luck favored them, and they encountered an Indian who guided them to +a place called Moose Factory. Here they wrote the letters home which +reached their wives and the daily press before they themselves +returned to civilization. A great hue and cry was raised by the +newspapers about their plight. Newspaper correspondents vied with each +other for the honor of being the first to meet them and get their +story. + +They arrived at a collection of houses named Mattice. A. and C. +proceeded ahead and found instructions for them not to talk. C. went +back to B., who was in a shack with the correspondents full of the +story of the letters. B. became enraged and struck C. who retained his +self-control. + +Differences were patched up, and the three returned together to New +York. There the medical examination of the three showed that the four +days in the wilderness had left its deepest effects upon the physique +and mind of B. In a few days he developed an attack of tonsillitis, +with fever, and a mental disturbance described by the medical officer +as exhaustion psychosis. He believed this condition to be the result +of severe exhaustion, prolonged anxiety, worry, and extreme exposure. +Extreme restlessness and irritability, confusion of thought and +an undefined perplexity, all the prominent symptoms of exhaustion +psychosis, making him hyperactive and inclined to acts of violence, +were in evidence. + +The physique, character and reactions of Lieut. B. are what interest +us in the case. The pictures of him published, and the structure of +his skull, face and teeth, his hair and other physical traits point to +his being an adrenal-centered type, of the unstable variety, so far as +his internal secretion make-up is concerned. As we shall see in the +next chapter on the different kinds of endocrine personalities, +the unstable adrenocentric (convenient name for the class) is +characterized by rapid exhaustibility because under conditions of +stress and strain, the reserve of the gland is consumed. The adrenal +glands, we noted in a preceding chapter, are concerned with the +maintenance of muscle and nerve tone in emergencies. They are the +glands which, during crises especially, control the production and +supply of energy to the various organs and tissues called upon to +function to the utmost in emergencies. When the adrenals fail, as they +do readily in these labile adrenocentrics, it is as if the adrenals +were cut out of the body. And it has been repeatedly shown that +extirpation of the adrenals is immediately followed by degeneration +and breakdown of the brain cells. + +These facts explain the reactions of Lieut. B. The acute call upon his +adrenals made by his dangerous situation probably soon exhausted them +of their content of reserve secretions. Overwhelming fatigue with loss +of muscle tone followed. The changes in the brain caused him to talk +as he did in the wilderness. Returned to safety, the news that his +reputation was under fire because of C.'s letter brought out another +adrenal characteristic: the excessive instinct of pugnacity, easily +stimulated, with its emotion of anger and the tendency to violence. +What is spoken of as a quick temper is an adrenocentric trait. +Returned to New York, an infection, tonsillitis, attacked him. +Infections in adrenocentrics use up the content of the adrenals as +rapidly as physical exhaustion or emotion. So the tonsillitis, which +in another type of individual would have been combatted continuously +by the adrenals and so passed by as a mere sore throat, presented him +with a high temperature, and the brain disturbance described by the +medical officer as exhaustion-psychosis, with again a tendency to +violence. In short, the history of his adventure is the history of his +adrenals under stress and strain. It illustrates the mechanism of a +typical endocrine neurosis. + +THE UNCONSCIOUS AND THE VISCERA + +In the chapter on the glands of internal secretion as an interlocking +directorate, certain generalities were stated as the laws of the +government of the organism's life by them in association with the +vegetative apparatus. It was put forward as a fundamental revision of +the theory, hitherto accepted, of the limitation of mind to the brain +cells. We think and feel not alone with the brain, but with our +muscles, our viscera, our vegetative nerves, and last but not least +our endocrine organs. In short, we think and feel with each and every +part of ourselves. + +Among these pristine factors determining the content of consciousness, +the endocrines are most important, because they alone to start with, +of all the other factors, are different in each and every individual. +They are what render him unique at birth, even though he looks the +counterpart of millions of other babies born at the same time. They +constitute his inner destiny. As he grows, the external factors, +social experiences, climate, accidents, and disease modify and +condition the reactions and complexity of the endocrine system. As +these modifications and associations are of the greatest import for +the final elaboration of the personality, composing as they do the +elements of the unconscious which confers the unique stamp of normal, +abnormal, supernormal, or subnormal, it is worth while now to review +the most general of the determining laws. Man is an energy phenomenon, +both conscious and unconscious, with the energy emanating from the +endocrine-vegetative mechanisms. So it becomes possible for us, +by their aid, to analyze the conscious, the subconscious and the +unconscious with the terms long current in the analyses of physics. + +1. Man is an energy machine which, though it is constantly losing +energy as a whole; consists of parts constantly accumulating energy +(as a result of inherent chemical reactions accelerated by the +absorption of food). This process of local accumulation of energy +associated with general loss of energy may be observed even in the +ameba, in the form of stored reserve food material. Evolution +created a system of organs, the viscera, as specialists in energy +conservation, utilization or transformation. + +For intercommunication and interaction between the viscera two systems +were elaborated: a younger system of direct contacts, the nerves, +and nerve cells, through which influences could be conducted for the +stimulation, acceleration, retardation or inhibition of an energy +process in them; and the older, the endocrine gland association, for +the production of chemical substances to act as messengers to be sent +from one viscus to another, and also to the nerves, through the blood +or lymph which bathe all the cells. They could affect only one or +certain organs, because by selection only the chosen organ or organs +knew the code, as it were. The chemical system is much the older +system, and preceded the nerve system by aeons of time. The whole +system, viscera, visceral nerves and the endocrines gradually united +into a complete autonomous organism within the organism, and as such +functions as the vegetative apparatus. + +EVOLUTION OF THE ENDOCRINES + +2. In the course of evolution, variations occurred in all three +components of the apparatus, the viscera, the nerves, and the +endocrines. Now variations in the viscera and the nerves are +essentially grossly physical and quantitative. That is, there may be a +bigger stomach or a smaller stomach, larger nerve fibres or smaller. +And as Life always has worked with a large margin of safety, and +always played for safety first as regards quantity, these variations +have not become of much significance for the history and destiny of +the animal. + +But variations among the endocrines made a tremendous difference. To +have very much thyroid and very little pituitary, much adrenal and not +enough parathyroid meant a great deal to the Organism as a whole, +as well as to the vegetative apparatus. For states of tension and +relaxation, activity and inactivity in the nerves and viscera would be +determined by these variations in the ratio between the variants. The +vegetative apparatus in its virginity, say in the new-born infant, may +be said to have its development primarily determined by the reaction +potentials of the endocrine part of it, that is the latent power of +each gland to secrete at a minimum or a maximum, and the balance +between them. + +EDUCATION OF THE VEGETATIVE SYSTEM + +3. Training or education involves, beside other effects, a training +of the endocrines, and hence of the entire vegetative apparatus, to +respond in a particular way to a particular stimulus. Experience is +like the introduction of new push-buttons, levers, and wheels into the +mechanism. All learning which calls out or arrests the functioning of +an instinct, must, from what we have learned of the chemical dynamics +of instincts as reactions between hormones, nerves and viscera, affect +the vegetative system. When there is a conflict between two or +more instincts, between pressures of energy flowing in different +directions, there may be compromise and normality, or a grinding of +the gears and abnormality. + +Where does the brain come in, in all this? As the servant of the +vegetative apparatus. To call it the master tissue is manifestly +absurd, when it can only be the diplomatic constitutional monarch of +the system. It can, in fact, act only as the great central station +for associative memory, as only one of the factors implicated in +education. + +The most powerful educative agents of the vegetative apparatus of a +human being are the other humans around him. And they comprise the +most powerful of the external effectors of education, for better, for +worse. The training and education of the endocrine-vegetative system +is the basis of all social rules (Habit, Custom, Convention, Law, +Conscience). An unresolved discord, a continued conflict among the +parts of the vegetative system, in spite of such education, is the +foundation of the unhappiness of the acute or chronic misfits and +maladjusted, the neurotic and the psychotic. + +THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF THE UNCONSCIOUS + +4. Another vastly important law that governs the content of the +conscious and the unconscious, and resultant behaviour is the fact +that the nerves and nerve cells of the vegetative apparatus, the +nerves leading to the viscera and the endocrine glands, like the solar +plexus, are affected by stimuli of lower value than those which arouse +the brain cells. In the metaphorical language of the old psychology, +the threshold value, that is the strength or loudness of stimulus +sufficient to make itself felt or heard, is less for the vegetative +apparatus than for the brain. So we begin to glimpse why an emotion +seems to be experienced before the visceral changes that really +preceded it, but pressed their way into consciousness later. This +gives us a clue to the unconscious as the more sensitive and deeper +part of the mind. + +More than that, it supplies us with a physical basis for the +unconscious which will explain much of the observed laws of +its workings. It provides a reason for the apparent swiftness, +spontaneity, and unreasonableness of what is called intuition. And it +may show us a source for a good deal of the material of dreams and +dream states. + +We have said that we think and we remember, not alone with the brain, +but with the muscles, the viscera and the endocrines. So do we forget +not alone with the brain, but with the muscles, the viscera, the +endocrines and their nerves. The utmost importance of muscle attitudes +in remembering has been established in the experimental laboratory. + +It is one of the great services Freud rendered to psychology (and one, +by the way, largely responsible for the acceptance of his doctrines +by the disinterested intelligence) that he showed that a species +of forgetting is nothing casual, but active and purposeful, a +manifestation of the life of the unconscious. However, though his +description of the process was correct, he left it to occur in a +vacuum. As a matter of fact this forgetting consists in the inhibition +of associative memory by a process in the vegetative apparatus, so +as to maintain the equilibrium within itself which is reflected in +consciousness as comfort. + +The unconscious, in short, consists of the buried associations among +the parts of the vegetative apparatus and the brain cells. We seem to +be much nearer to grasping the nature of the unconscious, when we look +upon it as a historical continuum, a compound or emulsion of different +and various states of intravisceral pressure and tone, in the +vegetative apparatus, dependent upon the balance between the +endocrines, as well as upon past experiences of the viscera in the +way of stimulation or depression. We forget that which is held down, +literally, in the vegetative apparatus. This explanation of forgetting +tells, too, why the forgotten (stored in the sub-brain, the +endocrine-vegetative system) continually projects itself into and +interferes with the regular flow of consciousness, e.g., in slips +of the tongue, mistakes of spelling, and so on: because the energy +bottled in the vegetative system tends to erupt into the consciousness +into which it would ordinarily flow. + +In the evolution of the mind, there have been elaborated devices +to protect it against the vegetative apparatus. Consciousness, or +awareness, must be accepted as a fundamental, primal fact, like +protoplasm. Consciousness and protoplasm may be the complementary +sides of the same coin. Whatever the truth, the fact stands out +that the oldest, deepest, most potent consciousness is that of the +traditionally despised lowest organs, the vegetative organs, the heart +and lungs, stomach and intestines, the kidneys and the liver, and so +on, their nerves, e.g., the solar plexus, and the glands of internal +secretion. They invented and elaborated muscle, bone and brain to +carry out their will. Evolution has been in the direction of a +greater perfection of the methods of carrying out their will. Their +consciousness, working upon the growing and multiplying brain cells, +has created what we call self-conscious mind. + +Mind, reacting upon its creator, has, in a sense, come to dominate +them, because it has become the meeting ground of all the +energy-influences seething and bubbling in the organism, and +so developed into the organ of handling them as a whole, their +Integrating-Executive. But just the same and all the time, the +underlying consciousness of the viscera and their accessories stand as +the powers behind the throne, but as what we have now learned to speak +of, in relation to the Mind, as the Unconscious. + +PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE + +To sum up these relations of the viscera, the endocrines, the +unconscious and the mind, it may be stated as a far-reaching +generality for the understanding of human life: that character and +conduct are expressions of the streams of energy arising in the +vegetative apparatus, primarily endocrine determined at birth, and +secondarily experience determined after the organism has learned to +react as a whole, as consciousness. The result of such a reaction as a +whole tends to balance the disturbance of energy, so as to maintain +or restore the equilibrium, or sense of harmony and comfort, when +consciousness again disappears. This law is an attempt at synthesis of +the labors of the psychanalysts, the behaviourists, and the students +of the internal secretions (Freud, Jung, Adler, Sherrington, Watson, +Von Bechterew, Kempf, Crile, Cannon, Cushing, Fraenkel are the +great names of the movement). Most of the details, and all of the +quantitative applications of the law still remain to be worked +out. But a statement like the following of Cushing, the eminent +surgeon-student of the endocrines, that "it is quite probable that the +psychopathology of everyday life hinges largely upon the effect of +ductless gland discharges upon the nervous system," shows which way +the wind is blowing. + +In the face of these conceptions the position of the psychanalyst as a +practical therapeutist becomes clearer, and the causes of his failure +when he fails. In the first place, he deals with psychic results as +processes, and ignores the physiology of their production. Since a +true cure of the neurosis, what he is after, is impossible without a +removal of the cause, a disturbance in the vegetative apparatus, he +cannot succeed where an automatic adjustment among the viscera does +not follow his probings and ferretings of the unconscious. In the +second place, he disregards the existence of a soil for the planting +of the malign complexes in the individual in whom they grow and +flourish. That soil is composed in part of the endocrine relations +within the vegetative apparatus. And as we can often attack that soil +more effectively and radically from the endocrine end than from the +experience end (e.g., repressed episodes) we may transform the soil +and make it barren rock for morbid complexes, at any rate. The concept +of the endocrine-vegetative apparatus as the determinant of normal +and abnormal behaviour, emotional reactions and disturbances of power +should in time cause even the most fanatic of the psychanalysts to +recognize the functional basis of the mental acrostics they are so +fond of dissecting. + +NATURAL ABILITY + +Another achievement of the psychanalysts is the recognition of the +influence of organic and functional inferiorities of the individual +upon the history of his personality. Gross organ inferiorities are +those which are definite handicaps in the struggle for success in +society, such as heart disease. Such handicaps, however, are limited +to relatively few of a population. The raison d'etre of the greater +number of minor mental inefficiencies the psychanalyst puts down to +handicaps in the unconscious. Again he mistakes figurative imagery for +explanations. The conception of endocrine diversity in the make-up +supplies us with the rationale of the vast majority of organic and +functional defects and inferiorities, in short, subnormalities of any +group, large or small. + +Moreover, how would the psychanalyst explain the occurrence and +influence of organic and functional _superiorities_ and their +tremendous influence upon the individual and society? We live in a +generation which has acquired a flair for the pathologic. Undoubtedly +it is a soul-sick generation, and its interest in sickness of the +mind is only natural. Just the same, whatever advances, improvements, +progress, have been made (and certainly a number of the changes in his +environment, external and internal, must be admitted to be changes for +the better) have been made, not by natural disability, but by natural +ability. What is the physiology of natural ability? + +The finest study of natural ability that has as yet been composed is +Francis Galton's on Hereditary Genius. It also remains the best study +of the natural conditions of success. He showed that of the type of +man he classed as "illustrious" there occurred about one in a million, +and of the type "eminent" about two hundred and fifty in a million. +Of the qualities which determine natural ability of this kind, he +selected inherent capacity, zeal, and perseverance as the three +prerequisites. And he states that "If a man is gifted with vast +intellectual ability, eagerness to work, and power of working, I +cannot comprehend how such a man should be suppressed." "Such men +(those who have gained great reputations) biographies show to +be haunted and driven by an incessant, instinctive craving for +intellectual work." "They ... work ... to satisfy a natural craving +for brain work." "It is very unlikely that any conjunction of +circumstances should supply a stimulus to brain work commensurate with +what these men carry in their own constitutions." + +What is this inherent craving for brain work? What is this zeal? And +what is power of endurance and perseverance, the quality of stamina? +How are they to be interpreted in terms of the internal secretions? + +In view of what has been said of the ante-pituitary as the gland of +intellectuality, studies of intellectually gifted people having shown +well functioning large pituitaries, and of mental defectives in a +certain number of cases a small limited pituitary, it is justifiable +to regard the factor of inherent capacity as a function of the +ante-pituitary. The factor of zeal or enthusiasm points to the +thyroid. Markedly enthusiastic types are thyroid dominant types. Vigor +as a third factor, the ability to stand stress and strain of continued +effort is dependent upon good adrenal and interstitial cell function. +So we may say that craving and capacity for brain work plus ardor plus +perseverance in its pursuit, the triplicate of natural ability, are +the reflections in conduct and character of balanced and sufficient +ante-pituitary, thyroid, and adrenal-interstitial contributions in +the chemical formula of the personality. In the chapter on historic +personages analyzed from the endocrine viewpoint, we shall see that +some of the most eminent and illustrious people of history have been +pituitary-centered. + +MENTAL DEFICIENCY + +Natural ability grows in an endocrine soil of a particular kind, +perhaps affected by the internal secretions much as natural soil is by +fertilizers like phosphates or nitrates. Increased production follows +increased fertilization. Natural disability must vary similarly with a +perversion or improper mixture, deficiency or absence of the hormones +that combine in natural ability. + +It is assumed as a matter of course that the brain itself is there, +which, to carry out our analogy, means that the crude soil or earth is +there. Sufficient quantity and adequate quality of nerve tissue must +be regarded as prerequisite. If the brain has been damaged in any way +during development or birth, if it has been smashed up in any way, or +if it has failed to evolve the minimum number of healthy nerve cells, +the endocrine influence becomes negligible. It is like attempting to +insert a key into a door which has no lock. + +It is among the specimens of normality of the brain cells that we may +look for our examples of endocrine mental deficiency. Included are all +sorts of examples of feeble-mindedness varying from the moron to the +imbecile and idiot, arrested brain life. The cretin is the classic +type of mental deficiency due to endocrine insufficiency, curable or +improvable by the proper handling. + +Insanity, degeneration of the normal brain life, may be caused by an +upset of the endocrine balance. Among the commonest manifestations +of insanity are excitements and depressions, apathies and manias, +hallucinations, delusions and obsessions, all of which are +reproducible under known conditions of internal secretion excess or +failure. Alternating states of mania and depression are caused in some +instances by extreme hyperthyroidism. The critical periods of life, +when a profound revolution is overturning the endocrine equilibrium, +puberty, pregnancy, and the menopause, are the periods of most +frequent occurrence of insanity, when mental instability reveals +endocrine instability (Dementia praecox, pregnancy psychosis, +menopause neurosis). Actual insanity need not be the only +manifestation. By far the greater number of mental disturbances due +to aberrations of the internal secretions never see an asylum or a +doctor. They live more or less close to the borderline of insanity as +persons who have spells, eccentricities and peculiarities, hysteria, +tics or just "nervousness." + +About two-thirds of mental deficiency is definitely inherited, about +one-third acquired. It is the opinion of a number of psychologists +that it is inherited as what the Mendelians call a recessive, that is +as a trait which will be overshadowed, if there is admixture of normal +mentality, but will crop up by breeding with another mental defective. +What we know of the endocrine factors in heredity leads us to suppose +that it is the mating of one marked endocrine insufficiency with +another that is often responsible for the inherited tendency to +feeble-mindedness and insanity. The effect of the hormone system upon +the vegetative apparatus may create the more obscure insanities and +quasi-insanities. The direct action of the internal secretions upon +the brain cells, producing a sort of hair trigger situation within +them, may cause the explosive discharges from them which appear as +overpowering impulses or uncontrollable conduct. The waves of feeling +which precede them are unquestionably endocrine determined. The wave +of fear a cat experiences upon seeing a dog is accompanied and indeed +preceded by an increase of the amount of adrenalin in the blood. The +picture of fright, as observed in a so-called normal person, staring +eyes, trembling hands, dry lips and mouth, corresponds to the portrait +of the appearance in hyperthyroidism. In persons afflicted with +uncontrollable impulses, the inhibiting hormones may not be present in +sufficient quantity. + +Feeble-mindedness, ranging from stupidity to imbecility, may also be +a direct effect of insufficient endocrine supply to the brain cells. +When there is not enough of the thyroid secretion in the blood, the +tissue between the cells in the brain become clogged and thickened, so +that a gross barrier to the passage of the nerve impulses is created. +We have here an illustration of internal secretion lack actually +producing gross changes in the brain. But without a doubt, most +endocrine influences upon the brain, at work every minute and second +of its life, are the subtle ones of molecular chemistry and atomic +energetics. We know that such mental qualities as irritability and +stupidity, fatigability, and the power to recover quickly or slowly +from fatigue, sexual potency and impotence, apathy and enthusiasm are +endocrine qualities. We know also that the thyroid dominant tends to +be irritable and excitable, the pituitary deficient to be placid and +gentle, the adrenal dominant to be assertive and pugnacious, the +thymus-centered to be childish and easy-go-lucky and the gonad +deficient to be secretive and shy. This brings us to the relation of +the internal secretions to the type of personality as a whole. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE TYPES OF PERSONALITY + + +THE ENDOCRINE PERSONALITY + +If a single gland can dominate the life history of an individual it +becomes possible to speak of _endocrine types_, the result of the +_endocrine analysis_ of the individual. Studying endocrine traits of +physique, life reactions, disease tendencies, hereditary history and +blood chemistry, one may gain an insight into the composition or +constitution of an individual. The endocrine type of an individual +is a summary of these, his behaviour in the past, and is also a +prediction of his reactions in the future, much as a chemical formula +outlines what we believe to be the skeleton of a compound substance +as deducible from its properties under varying conditions. Only, +admittedly, as yet the endocrine label is but roughly qualitative and +most crudely quantitative, whereas the chemical formula is the essence +of the exact. + +However, the fact remains that though we are only upon the first +rungs of the ladder, we are upon the ladder. The horizon undoubtedly +broadens. We possess a new way of looking upon humanity, a fresh +transforming light upon those strange phenomena, ourselves. Of the +ugly achievements of that dreadful century, the nineteenth, the most +illuminating was the discovery of itself as the _ape-parvenu._ Yes, +we are all animals now, it said to itself, and set its teeth in the +cut-throat game of survival. But there was no understanding in that +evil motto of a disillusioned heart. The ape-parvenu, desperately +lonely and secretive, has still to understand himself. + +Let us be clear if we can. There is perhaps a certain presumption in +the phrase, the endocrine type. It is ambitious, and perhaps will not +fulfill its promise. But it is useful because it points a parallel and +an ideal. As Wilhelm Ostwald never tired of repeating, H_{2}O is a +complete shorthand record for the bundle of qualities commonly known +as water. It is an example of that highest task of mind, synthesis. +It is the highest synthesis of the studies of the internal secretions +that certain combinations of them, permutations and blendings of +them, are responsible for those unique wonders of the universe, +personalities. + +The riddle of personality! Are we at last upon the track of its +uncovering? That elusive mystery, which philosophers have wrapped in +the thousand veils of Greek and Latin words, and psychologists, even +unto the third and fourth generation of Freudians, have floundered +about in, moles before a dazzling sun, is it to be unwound for our +inspection? Think of the human soul. What an invisible, intangible +chameleon is its true reality! Watch it, and you see something that +seems to uncurl and expand like a feather with exultation and delight +and joy, to contract and stiffen into a billiard ball with fear and +pride, shrewd caution and vigilant malevolence, to rear back and spark +fire like lightning with anger and temper, and to crawl and slither +with abjection and smirking slyness, when it needs to. This multiplex +Thing-Behind-Life, are we really about to dissect it into its +elements? + +Personality embraces much more than merely the psychic attributes. It +is not the least important of the lessons of endocrine analysis +that there is no soul, and no body, either. Rather a soul-body, or +body-soul, or the patterns of the living flame. The closer tracking of +the internal secretions leads us into the secrets of the living +flame, why it lives, and how it lives, the strange diversities of its +colorings and music and the odd variations in its energy, vitality +and longevity. Why it flickers, why it flares and glares, spurts, +flutters, burns hard or soft, orange-blue or yellow. + +The medieval scholiasts, who fought as fiercely about names as nations +about territories, divided men into the sanguine, the bilious, the +lymphatic and the nervous. It was a pretty crude classification of +different constitutions. The endocrine criteria, more exact and +concrete, divide them into the adrenal centered, the thyroid centered, +the thymus centered, the pituitary centered, the gonad centered, and +their combinations. + +THE ADRENAL PERSONALITIES + +An adrenal personality is one dominated by the ups and downs of his +adrenal gland. In the large, the curve of his life is the curve of +secretion by this gland, both of its Cortex and medulla. Such an +adrenal personality is entirely normal, within the definition of +the normal as something not threatening the duration of life, nor +comfortable adaptation to it. So are the other glandular types. No +sharp line can be drawn between the normal and the abnormal in any +case, the borderland is wide, the transitions many. + +The skin is one of the chief clues to the adrenal personality. The +relation between the adrenal and the skin dates way back in the +evolutionary scale, for adrenalin has been isolated directly from +pigment deposits in the epidermis of frogs. Skin pigment bears a +direct relation to the reaction of the organism to light, especially +the ultraviolet rays, to the radiation of heat, and hence to the +fundamental productions and consumptions of energy by the cells. So +the gland of energy for emergencies writes its signature always all +over the skin. + +In an adrenal personality, the epidermis is always slightly, somewhat, +or deeply pigmented. The pigmentation is due to a dark brown deposit +lightly or thickly scattered over the skin. With the general diffuse +pigmentation or darkening there are often the black spots, the +pigmented birth marks, or the lighter ones of freckles. The latter +signify some permanent or transitory adrenal inadequacy in the past, +ante-natal or post-natal, of the individual, and presage the same in +his future. These spots have been frequently observed to appear +after an attack of diphtheria or influenza. There seems to be more +tuberculosis among those who have them than those who do not. We +therefore say that diphtheria, influenza and tuberculosis stand out +as adrenal-attacking diseases, which have a greater power to kill, +cripple or hurt those with defective adrenal constitutions than +others. + +The hair of the adrenal type is characteristic: ubiquitous, thick, +coarse and dry. It is prominent over the chest, abdomen and back, +and has a tendency to kink. Often its color is not the expected: an +Italian's will be yellow, a Norwegian's jet black. It has been stated +that most red-haired persons are adrenal types. Such persons also have +well-marked canine teeth which is another adrenal trait. They also +have a low hair line. + +When the adrenal type has a properly co-operating pituitary and +thyroid, he possesses a striking vigor, energy and persistence. With a +fortunate combination, he develops into a progressive winning fighter, +arriving at the top in the long run every time. + +Brain work is pretty well lubricated in the well-compensated adrenal +type. Brain fag is closely associated with, if not dependent upon, +adrenal fag, particularly of the cortex. Brain tissue and adrenal +cortex tissue are near relatives, and a normal human brain never +develops without a normal adrenal cortex. The adrenal type with an +hypertrophied adrenal cortex is always efficient. + +Among women, the adrenal type is always masculinoid. If physically +feminine--due to adequate feminine reactions on the part of the +other endocrines--she will at least show the qualities of a psychic +virilism. A generation ago, such a woman had to repress her inherent +trends and instincts in the face of public opinion and law, and so +suffered from a feeling of inferiority. Nowadays, these women are +striding forward and will attain a good many of the masculine heights, +commanding responsible executive positions and high salaries. An +adrenal type will probably be the first woman president of the United +States. + +However, that presupposes a normal range of action of the other +endocrines. Let there be some quirk or weakness elsewhere in the +chain of hormones, and instead of the successful woman, behold +the spinsters, the maiden aunts, the prudes and cranks who never +satisfactorily adapt themselves in society. To them must be given +a good deal of credit for the suffrage revolution. These unadapted +adrenals, as we may call them, once sowed the seeds, expending their +masculinism in the struggles of the pioneers' martyrdoms, preparing +the harvest their sisters, the more adequate adrenal types, will now +reap. The unadapted adrenals of today will have to look for new worlds +to conquer. + +So much for the compensated adrenal types. They are the good workers, +the efficients, the kinetic successes of the driven world. They make, +at a certain level, good slave drivers because they feel within +themselves a driving force. But suppose the adrenal type becomes +uncompensated, or perhaps is inadequate to the demands of life to +start with. Then the story becomes different. The perfect efficient +superman of business or profession begins to lag. Though he is himself +in the morning, he begins to lag in the afternoon. That is when he +tires. In the evening he is all in. More sleep, recreational trips, +vacations slip into the rank of necessities, whereas previously they +had been laughed at as luxuries. More minute or large moles emerge +in the skin, especially if the individual is of a fair type. If a +strenuous effort is not made to give the adrenals an opportunity to +recuperate, or if adjustment on the part of the other glands does not +occur, this stage of intermittent and remittent adrenal inadequacy +gives way in turn to the state of permanent adrenal insufficiency. + +The adrenal insufficient is important because he is to be seen +everywhere. Built along the same lines as the adrenal adequate and +apt to be taken for him, he differs and contrasts vividly below the +surface. One may sum him up by saying that he is one variety of +neurasthenic, perhaps the most frequent variety. Cold hands and feet +plague him, cold feet psychically as well as physically, for a chronic +and obsessive indecision is one of his most prominent complaints. +A fatigability, that goes with a low blood pressure, lowered body +temperature and a disturbed ability to utilize sugar for fuel +purposes, is another of his chief complaints. The skin often presents +an instability of the blood vessels, so that they now react to +stroking with a blanched instead of a reddened effect. Irritability, +a liability to go off the handle at the slightest provocation, and a +consequent complete exhaustion that, after an outburst, sends him to +bed, is conspicuous. Dismissed sometimes contemptuously as weaklings, +they are accused of laziness, craziness, and haziness. In their +psychic attempts to compensate, they land into all kinds of hot water, +from which friends, relatives or luck extricate them sometimes. The +other times they go to the wall. + +The congenital adrenal deficient is a special problem. If the history +of such an individual is followed from birth, one gets a pretty +typical story. The genealogy is nervous. Nervous is a word of many +meanings. But when parents confess themselves nervous, it generally +means a mental and emotional instability of some sort. Sometimes the +idea is camouflaged as high strung. In the feeding narrative of the +child, one finds not occasional incidents or episodes, but continued +trouble, difficulties, adventures. Even after the first year or two, +the nutritional chronicle is not satisfactory. Lack of appetite, lack +of energy, lack of response to stimuli are its keynotes and the motifs +of the later years of childhood. + +Growth is a strain. It becomes a task to make these children grow +and gain. Chronically below the average weight and height, herculean +efforts are made by the conscientious parents, but with small success. + +With the entry of school life and competition, the curtain rises upon +the real tragedy, a tragedy in which the avenging Fates are the usual +ignorance, stupidity and misunderstanding. If the teachers alone are +duty-obsessed, or perhaps sadistic, the child endures the agonies of +repeated admonitions, demotions, and punishments. However, a certain +thick-skinned indifference may develop to protect the sufferer. + +If the parents are in addition ambitious, or proud, or competitive, +then woe betide the victim. With their nervous dispositions, it is +the school and the tutor who are to be blamed, if not the child. From +school to school, from system to system, from novelty to fad, from +doctor to doctor, from fakir to charlatan, from pillar to post, they +wander in search of an education. Educational cults by the dozen have +sprouted and grown fat around these unfortunates. + +The chief defect of the congenital adrenal inadequate is an +insufficiently developed adrenal cortex. That means an insufficiently +developed brain and nervous system. For we have seen how closely all +these are related in development. Now education can never be the +education of a vacuum. And we have to deal here with a relative +vacuum. When there are no potentialities, there can be no education. +Where the potentialities are limited, education must be limited. +The congenital adrenal inadequate is defined in physical and mental +energy. Hence educators cannot drive him. Up to a certain point he can +be led, but no farther. He should not be expected to go to a college, +and waste the opportunity of some one financially unlucky, but whose +endocrine system is more generously endowed. + +Not that the outlook is absolutely hopeless. Puberty, with its +tremendous changes in the glands of internal secretion, when one can +almost hear the clicks and the whirring of the wheels in the internal +machinery, may transform. The unfathomed possibilities of gland +therapy are still to be probed. But the general rule remains. + +THE REACTIONS TO MODERNISM + +The adrenal personalities in all their variations must be safeguarded +and carefully looked after in the strained complexities of modern +post-bellum civilization. In a sense, the adrenal type is the Atlas +of the twentieth century world, and small wonder that he and his +descendants stagger beneath the burden. The adrenals are organs for +the mobilization of energy, physical and mental, for emergencies. They +are the glands which meet shocks and neutralize the effects of shock. +In the solitary animal, the everyday producers of shock are pain, +fright and wounds. The adrenal mechanisms oversecrete to encounter +the enemy, and then there is a period of rest and recuperation. Man, +however, with the growth of his imagination and the increase in +number and density of his surrounding herd, has become the subject of +continuous stimulation. In the past, this was balanced by the almost +universal dominance of some religious belief, as an effective opiate. +Concepts like Fate, Predestination, an all-guiding and all-wise +Providence, relieved and shielded the adrenals, and acted as valuable +adjuvants for the preservation of normality. + +The nineteenth century witnessed the birth and expansion of a great +number of new stimulant reagents, the discoveries of physics and +chemistry, which, with the climax of the World War of 1914-1918, have +made for a more or less complete deliquescence of accepted religion. +For the great majority there was no faith to take its place. War, +pre-war, and post-war shocks have continued with their incessant +pounding upon the reserves of energy. Under these conditions the +adrenal personalities are bound to suffer. The other endocrine types +suffer, too, but quite differently. + +Today, anti-adrenal, anti-religious ideas are epidemic. Of these, +first prize belongs to a cult of egotism fathered by the Napoleonic +Idea, consciously assertive and self-conscious in Max Stirner's +"The Ego and His Own," which engendered a swarm of imitators and +plagiarists. Human beings are all incorrigible egoists more or less, +furtive or frank. But social and religious codes curbed the most +narcissistic of kings and conquerors. Before Napoleon, all of them +vowed allegiance and expressed submission to some sort of deity, +confessed some fear of the Lord in their hearts. But the ideas +of Napoleon flouted all that. The unscrupulous predatory who +put effectual scheming for the self plainly above every other +consideration and rode rough shod over all his fellows appealed +powerfully to the latent animality of the adrenal types. Then came +the dawning awareness of capital and labor of themselves as classes +fiercely opposed forever in the policy of cut-throat versus +cut-throat. The labor organizations and the commercial companies +and corporations pitted themselves against each other consciously. +Doctrines like "Property is but Robbery," "Everyone for himself and +the devil take the hindmost," the "Iron Law of Wages" and the "Facts +is Facts" of the Gradgrinds were the phrases of the nineteenth century +that assisted. Finally came the Darwinian revelation of man as the +ape-parvenu, which completed the disintegration of the old restraints. + +Man seemed to see himself now for the first time stark and naked. But +Man consists of many varieties, and all reacted differently to +the image in the clouded mirror. There was universal attempt at +suppression. But slowly the anti-adrenal forces infiltrated every +activity and every soul. Like a hidden focus of infection in the body, +it germinated and poisoned. A slow fever crept into life. A febrile +quality tinged the acquisition of wealth, the concentration upon sex, +and the desperate pursuit of the novel stimulus. + +Then, like the hand that appeared at Belshazzar's Feast, came the War, +only it was a hand that stayed with a long flashing lightning sword in +its grip, sweeping pitilessly among the erstwhile dancing multitudes +to mutilate and destroy. A good many people, with that sturdy +animality George Santayana speaks somewhere of as a trait of mankind, +set out to enjoy the War. It was a new sort of good time upon an +incredibly large scale. It was an undreamed-of opportunity. The +mechanisms of suppression of the mind render it incapable of +appreciating horror until encountered. And so thousands with +dangerously unstable adrenals were plunged into the most trying +conditions possible. Hundreds of them, already shaken, on the +borderland of instability, reacted with the phenomena of breakdown +of control, lumped with a host of other phenomena, under the general +rubric of "shell shock." + +That alone was not all. If hundreds collapsed, thousands approached +the verge of collapse. They survived and were discharged from the +armies as normal. They reappear in civil life as cases of "nerves." +Ordinarily that would mean that they would be classed as failures. But +such have been the psychologic reactions to the war that all kinds +of compensations in the way of dangerous mental states have become +frequent in these inadequate adrenal types. A trend to violence and a +resentful emotionalism are combined with desperate attempts to spur +the jaded adrenals with artificial excitements. Consequent melancholia +and depression, the "blues," are inevitable. A survey of drug addicts +would probably show a definite percentage of this type. The same +applies to certain petty criminals and law breakers. + +The adrenal element in the personality must be considered in every +disturbance, morbid, personal, or social involving brunette types, +Huxley's dark white, Mediterranean-Iberians, red-haired persons, and +even pigment-spotted fair people. Historians have traced the earliest +civilization to the doings of a brunette people, the Sumerians, the +first to build cities in the Euphrates-Tigris region more than five +thousand years before Christ was born. An adrenalized people one +would, expect to be the first to take advantage of possibilities +because of their energy capacity. The earliest Sumerian stone carvings +of warriors exhibit an undersized skeleton compared with the large +head, broad face, a low hair line and prominent nose that would fit +into the ensemble of the adrenal type. Certain other historical +aspects of the adrenal personality have yet to be worked out. + +THE PITUITARY PERSONALITIES + +The presence of two antagonistic elements in the one gland complicates +any attempt at even the most abstract analysis of a personality +dominated by that gland. The pituitary, composed of an anterior lobe +and posterior lobe, supplies two fairly uncomplicated corresponding +types, best described as the masculine pituitary type, and the +feminine pituitary type. The masculine pituitary type is one +determined by the rule of the anterior pituitary, representing +superlative brain tone and action, good all-around growth and +harmonious general function, the ideal masculine organism. The +feminine pituitary type has an excess of post-pituitary, with +susceptibility to the tender emotions, sentimentalism, and +emotionalism, feminine structural lines. Ante-pituitary dominance in +a male reinforces the general masculinity while the post-pituitary +depresses it. The post-pituitary in a woman augments her natural +trend, ante-pituitary tending to counteract it. In other words, +post-pituitary and ovary are conjunctive, ante-pituitary and ovary are +disjunctive, post-pituitary and testis are opponents, ante-pituitary +and testis are allies. + +One mechanical circumstance involved in the pituitary personalities +may be the determinant of the entire life history. That is the +emphasized fact that the pituitary is encased in a small bony box, at +the base of the skull. The size of this bony box, and its capacity to +yield to the various pressures of a pituitary enlarging to meet the +demands of the organism, will often spell happiness or misery, +success or failure, genius or idiocy for the man or woman. Certain +possibilities are conceivable. All of them occur, for the developments +of X-ray technique have rendered available almost a direct view of the +sella turcica. + +In the first place, the bony box may be definitely too small to start +in with. That means a small and so potentially inadequate pituitary, +both anterior and posterior, potentially inadequate in that it will +become impossible for it to grow and produce extra secretion upon +demand. Handicapped thus, the unfortunate so born is doomed to +inferiority and very little can be done for him. He will not develop +satisfactorily. He possesses small genital organs which will not +evolve properly in adolescence, or if they will not stand still, tend +to revert to the opposite sex type. Then he tends to be dwarfed, +fatigable, adipose. Among these types are included subjects of +obsessions and compulsions who are dull and apathetic, cannot learn or +maintain inhibitions, and so, without initiative, evolve into moral +and intellectual degenerates, liable to epilepsy and the most +remarkable sex aberrations. All because a cranny of the skull, about +the size of a thimble, is not large enough for their dominating gland. + +If the bone of the cavity of the pituitary is softer and yielding, +so that some enlargement of the gland is possible, especially of the +anterior, there appear rapid growth with a tendency to high blood +pressure, great mental activity associated with frequent and severe +headaches (often of the migraine type), a combination of initiative +and irritability and a marked sexuality. X-ray examination of the +sella turcica shows what is called erosion of the bone as it yields to +the pressure of the growing gland. + +The ideal sella turcica for the ideal pituitary type is a large room +in which the gland may grow and reach its maximum size and so its +maximum function, without needing to exert pressure or destroy and +erode bone in front of it, to the side of it or behind it. The +distinctive masculine and feminine types, classed as the normal, +belong to this group. Sometimes, the bone in front of the pituitary +will yield, while the one in the rear will not, and sometimes the +conditions are reversed. Thus we may have ante-pituitary sufficiency +with post-pituitary insufficiency, or ante-pituitary insufficiency +with post-pituitary sufficiency, complexes which contribute to create +the grosser functional hermaphrodite types of mixed sex. + +In the average feminine pituitary type of personality, post-pituitary +dominates. In a woman and to a lesser degree in a man, the general +build is slight and rather delicate. The skin is soft, moist, and +hairless, the face is the doll or Dresden China sort, with a roseate +or creamy complexion, flushing easily, eyes large and prominent. The +mouth shows a high arched palate and crowded teeth rather long. The +voice is high-pitched. One recognizes the traditional womanly woman, +petite and chic, who always marries the hero in stories. She is +usually fond of children, easily moved, has a good libido, and the +traditional feminine traits. When unstable, the post-pituitary type is +restless and hyperactive, craves excitement, and continual change of +interest and scene, a new pleasure every moment. A good many of the +women of today, who fifty years ago would have been nice sedate girls +because of their excellent post-pituitary constitution, have +been irritated by the atmosphere of post-1914 into the excess +post-pituitary state, the adventurous never-satiated avid pleasure +hunter, in whom the craving for stimulation will stop at nothing. F. +Scott Fitzgerald portrayed an exquisite specimen of the kind in his +short story "The Jellybean," with a quasi-heroine of a good Southern +family, built to be a high standard wife and mother, who drinks, +swears, gambles, and finally marries on a dare. Modern post-pituitary +woman is excitement mad and thrill chasing. The worst of it is that +the resultant personal tragedies cannot be dismissed as transient +inevitables. The heredity of the internal secretions determines that +the offspring of these women are bound to be pituitary unstable, the +least desirable of endocrine instabilities because of the concomitant +mental effects. Even from the purely selfish point of view, the +standpoint of enlightened selfishness, the post-pituitary type must +beware of excesses. For disturbances of menstruation, psychic fears, +anxieties, states of suspicion and obsession, various pains are among +the penalties. + +A period of post-pituitary excess as an effect of disease, pregnancy, +or the rapid life, may be followed by post-pituitary deficiency as a +result of exhaustion of the gland. The girl or woman then becomes fat +and suffers from headaches (the fair, fat and forty type) yet retains +a certain capacity for enjoyment which enables her to continue gay, +happy and gentle, kind, interested. So she contrasts with the thyroid +deficient who gets fat, but also dull, stupid, even morose. + +The masculine pituitary personality, the man with a dominant anterior +pituitary gland in a roomy sella turcica with plenty of space to grow +in, is the ideal virile type. They are generally tall (unless the +growth of the long bones was checked too early by a social precocity +of the testes) with a well-developed strong frame, large firm muscles, +and proportionately sized hands and feet. The head is of the marked +dolichocephalic type, flattened at the sides, face is oval more or +less, with thick eyebrows, eyes rather prominent, nose broadish and +long, lower jaw prominent and firm. Prominent bony points like the +cheek bones, the elbows and the knees, the knuckle joints of the hands +and feet. The teeth are large, especially the upper middle incisors, +and they are usually spaced. The arms and legs are hairy. High grade +brains, the ability to learn, and the ability to control, self-mastery +in the sense of domination of the lower instincts and the automatic +reactions of the vegetative nervous system, the rule by the individual +of himself and his environment are at their maximum in him. The +ante-pituitary personality is educable for intelligence, and even +intellect, provided the proper educational stimulus is supplied. Men +of brains, practical and theoretical, philosophers, thinkers, creators +of new thoughts and new goods, belong to this group. The distinction +between men of theoretical genius, whose minds which could embrace +a universe, and yet fail to manage successfully their own personal +everyday lives, and the men of practical genius, who can achieve and +execute, the great engineers, and industrial men lies in the balance +between the ante-pituitary and the adrenal cortex primarily. Men like +Abraham Lincoln and George Bernard Shaw belong to this ante-pituitary +group. + +The feminine pituitary personality, in whom there is predominance of +the post-pituitary over the ante-pituitary, occurs in men. The type +is short, rounded and stout. They have heads that seem too large +for their bodies, the general hair distribution on the trunk and +extremities is poor, although that of the scalp and face is plentiful, +and they acquire an abdominal paunch early. They exhibit the feminine +tendency to periodicity of function, their moods, activities, +efficiency are cyclic, reminding one of the menstrual variations of +the female. This rhythmicity saturates their personalities, so that +poetry and music almost morbidly appeal to them. A number of the great +poets and musicians are to be classified as of the feminine pituitary +species. Last, but not least, they are the hen-pecked lovers and +husbands. Sex difficulties are frequent in their history. + +The determination of endocrine type and tendencies, the prediction of +the future personality, during childhood is one of the developments +confidently to be looked for, as our knowledge of the internal +secretions will grow. The possibilities of control loom as one of the +most magnificent promises of science. Yet the high expectations for +tomorrow should not depress our respect for the achievements of today. +In the case of the pituitary, for instance, a hint as to the method +of approach is furnished by the tabulation of the traits of pituitary +dominance and pituitary inferiority in children. + + Pituitary sufficient and dominant: + Large, spare, bony frame + Eyes wide apart + Broad face + Teeth, broad, large, unspaced + Square, protruding chin and jaws + Large feet and hands + Early hair growth on body + Thick skin, large sex organs + Aggressive, precocious, calculating, self-contained + + Pituitary inferior: + Small, sometimes delicate skeleton + Rather adipose, weak muscles + Upper jaw prognathous + Dry, flabby skin + Small hands and feet + Abnormal desire for sweets + Subnormal temperature, blood pressure and pulse + Poor control of lower vegetative functions + Mentally sluggish, dull, apathetic, backward + Loses self-control quickly, cries easily, discouraged promptly, + psychic stamina insufficient + +The pituitary personality in childhood produced by limitation of the +size of the gland, because its bony box is completely or partially +closed, presents typical hall-marks. He supplies the second and third +offenders in the juvenile courts, the delinquents and pathological +liars of childhood, the incorrigibles, the precocious hoboes, mental +and moral deficients and defectives, the prey of the sentimental +complexes of elderly virgins and helpful futility all around. Not +utilitarianism or futilitarianism is needed, but pituitarianism. +The feeding of pituitary gland in large enough quantities to these +unfortunates may do more than ten charity organizations, with the most +patrician board of directors complete. + +THE THYROID PERSONALITIES + +The accessibility of the thyroid gland in the neck, the ease of +surgical approach, the definite effects following its removal, and +then the miraculous marvels of the feeding of thyroid have rendered it +the centre of attack by the largest army of endocrine investigators. +As a result we know more about the thyroid in childhood, adolescence, +adult life and old age than about the other glands. + +In childhood, the subthyroid or thyroid deficient, the cretinoid type, +the type resembling the cretin, is fairly common. The peasant's face, +with the broad nose and the tough skin, coarse straight hair, the +undergrowth, physical and mental, a persistent babyishness and a +retardation of self-control development, make up the picture. He needs +an excess of sleep, sleeps heavily, needs sleep during the day, +when awakened in the morning still feels tired, and rather dull and +restless, dresses slowly, has to be coaxed or forced to dress, gets to +school late nearly every morning, does badly at the school, reaction +time, learning time and remembering time being prolonged as compared +with the average, and is lazy at home lessons. He perspires little, +even after exertion, yet fatigues easily, is subject to frequent +colds, adenoids, tonsillitis, and acquires every disease of childhood +that happens along. + +Adolescence, the coming of menstruation, the first blooming of youth +is delayed in the subthyroid. The secondary sex traits as they develop +tend to be incomplete and to mimic those of the opposite sex. Yet in +adolescence too there may be a sudden change and reversal of the whole +process, a jump from the subthyroid to the hyperthyroid state. So a +girl who has been dull and lackadaisical, with no complexion and every +prospect of evolution into a wall flower, may be transformed into a +bright-eyed woman, generally nervous and restless, high colored, and +possessed of a craving for continual activity and excitement. Skin, +hair and teeth become of the thyroid dominant type. The heart +palpitates under the slightest stimulus, she perspires almost +annoyingly, heat and emotion are prostrating. If such a +transfiguration does not occur, the effect of the reconstructions +of puberty is to create a person with about the following +characteristics. + + 1. Height below the average + 2. Tendency to obesity (toward middle age) + 3. Complexion sallow + 4. Hair dry--hair line high + 5. Eyebrows scanty, either as a whole or in outer half + 6. Eyeballs deep-set, lack lustre, in narrowed slits + 7. Teeth irregular, become carious early + 8. Extremities cold and bluish + 9. Circulation poor. Subject to chilblains + +Intellectually, these people vary enormously, depending upon which of +the other glands will enlarge to compensate for the deficiency of the +thyroid. If the growth of the skull has left a roomy sella turcica +for the pituitary to grow in, the intellect may be normal or even +superior, though energy is below par. If this is not possible and +the adrenals have to predominate, a lower, more animal and less +self-controlled type of mentality is produced. + +In direct contrast to the subthyroid types is he who originally was +hyperthyroid. During childhood he is quite healthy, thin, but striking +robust, active, energetic, generally fair-complexioned with nose +straight and high bridged, eyes rather "poppy," teeth excellent, +regular, firm, white with a pearly translucent enamel. These children +are always on the go, never get tired, require little sleep. Seldom +will one of the classical children's diseases strike them, measles +perhaps, but no other. Adolescence for them, however, is more apt to +be stormy and episodic, adjustment to the new world of people and +things is much more difficult, wanderlust is acute. All an expression +of cells keyed up, charged with energy that must flow somewhere or +explode. + +The ruddy live-wire, recognized everywhere as bubbling with vitality, +the life of any group, the magnetic personality may, however, be +shocked by some seismic event like the death of a father or mother, +or the ruin of some cherished ambition. A break in the balance of the +other glands follows quickly and disablement and invalidism, which may +cure itself after some years, remain stationary, or descend to the +worst forms of thyroid deficiency. + +During maturity, the type are characterized usually by a lean body, +or tendency rapidly to become thin under stress. They have clean cut +features and thick hair, often wavy or curly, thick long eyebrows, +large, frank, brilliant, keen eyes, regular and well developed teeth +and mouth. Sexually they are well differentiated and susceptible. +Noticeable emotivity, a rapidity of perception and volition, +impulsiveness, and a tendency to explosive crises of expression are +the distinctive psychic traits. A restless, inexhaustible energy makes +them perpetual doers and workers, who get up early in the morning, +flit about all day, retire late, and frequently suffer from insomnia, +planning in bed what they are to do next day. + +Certain types of thyroid excess associated with the thymus dominant +next to be described are peculiarly susceptible to emotional +instability. They are subject to brain storms, outbreaks of furious +rage, sometimes associated with a state of semi-consciousness. To +emphasize the analogy to epilepsy, their attacks have been called +psycholepsy. Among the Italians especially they were watched and +reported during the War, when the explosive fits were seen to take the +form of irresponsible acts of insubordination or violence. + +THE THYMO-CENTRIC PERSONALITIES + +During the first period of childhood, up to five, six or seven, or +more accurately, up to the point at which the permanent teeth begin +to appear, every child may be said to be a thymus-dominated organism, +because the thymus, holding the other endocrines in check, controls +its life. That is why up to the third and fourth years at any rate, +most children seem alike. Closer observation, however, reveals points +of differentiation and signs of the coming potencies of the other +hormones. During the second period, up to puberty, these marks of the +deeper underlying forces of the personality make themselves more +and more felt. The thymus, like a brake that is becoming worn out, +continues to function in a progressively weaker fashion. Until with +the arrival of the gonadal (ovaries' or testes') internal secretion, +its influence is wiped out. + +There is a definite degree of thymus activity during everyone's +childhood, unless by its premature involution, precocity displaces +juvenility. Yet even during childhood, there are certain individuals +with excessive thymus action, foreshadowing a continued thymus +predominance throughout life. The "angel child" is the type: regularly +proportioned and perfectly made, like a fine piece of sculpture, with +delicately chiselled features, transparent skin changing color +easily, long silky hair, with an exceptional grace of movement and an +alertness of mind. They seem the embodiment of beauty, but somehow +unfit for the coarse conflicts of life. In English literature several +characters are recognizable as portraits of the type, notably Paul +Dombey, whose nurse recognized that he was not for this world. They +may look the picture of health, but they are more liable than any +other children to be eliminated by tuberculosis, meningitis or even +one of the common diseases of childhood. + +It is after puberty, when the thymus should shrink and pass out of +the endocrine concert as a power, that the more complex reactions of +personality emerge when the thymus persists and refuses to or cannot +retire. The persistent thymus always then throws its shadow over the +entire personality. To what extent that shadow spreads depends upon +the strength of the other glands of internal secretion, their ability +to compensate or to stay inhibited. Whether or not the pituitary will +be able to enlarge in its bony cradle seems to be the most important +factor determining these variations. If there is space for it to grow, +at any rate normally, the individual may pass for normal, although +he will have difficulties throughout life he may never understand, +particularly in sexual directions. If the pituitary is limited. +partially or completely, the thymus predominance is more prominent +and fixed, and the abnormalities become obvious, both of person and +conduct. + +The anatomic architecture of the latter thymo-centric personality is +fairly typical. The reversion in type of the reproductive organs, the +slender waist, the gracefully formed body, the rounded limbs, the long +chest and the feminine pelvis strike one at the first glance. The +texture of the skin is smooth as a baby's, and sometimes velvety to +the touch. Its color may be an opaque white, or faintly creamy, or +there may be an effect of a filmy sheen over a florid complexion. +Little or no hair on the face contributes to the general feminine +aspect in the more extreme types. They are often double jointed +somewhere, flat footed, knock-kneed. + +In women, the external manifestations of a thymo-centric personality +may be limited to thinness and delicacy of the skin, narrow waist, +rather poorly developed breasts, arched thighs and scanty hair, +with scanty and delayed menstruation. Or there may be obesity, with +juvenility, if there is a repression of the pituitary secretion for +one reason or other. + +In their reactions to the problems, physical and psychic, of everyday +life, the thymo-centrics are distinctly at a disadvantage. In the +first place, muscular strain, stress or shock is dangerous to them +because they have a small heart, and remarkably fragile blood vessels, +which renders their circulation incapable of responding to an +emergency, or at least definitely handicapped. In infancy, they may +die suddenly because of this, either for no ascertainable cause at +all, or because of some slight excitement like that attending some +slight operation, a fall, or a mild illness. During the run-about +epoch they are unable to cope with the necessities of an active +child's existence in playing with other children. Puberty and +adolescence are specially perilous to them for they may endeavour to +compensate for an inner feeling of physical inferiority by going +in strenuously for athletics and sports, and so risking a sudden +hemorrhage in the brain, producible by the tearing of a blood vessel, +as if constructed of defective rubber. Reports published in the +newspapers from time to time of children or young men instantly +killed by a tap on the jaw in a boxing contest, or some other trivial +injuries are doubtless samples of such reactions in thymo-centric +people. + +As an illustration of the conduct aberrations of the thymo-centric +personality during adult life, the following extracts from a newspaper +report of a suicide are worth quoting. + +"An autopsy made yesterday by Dr. Benjamin Schwartz, first assistant +to Dr. Charles Norris, Chief Medical Examiner, removed any mystery +that surrounded the death on Saturday night by pistol bullets of Dr. +Jose A. Arenas and the wounding of 'Miss Ruth Jackson' and Ignatio +Marti. + +"Dr. Schwartz said that his post-mortem examination had convinced him +beyond doubt that the dead physician-dentist had killed himself after +he had tried to take the life of the young woman with whom he had +lived and of the youth who was his successful rival. + +"'Besides that,' Dr. Schwartz said, 'my report to the police will +include a statement from the young woman to me that she always had +understood that Dr. Arenas had killed some one in Havana, Cuba, before +he came to New York. + +"The autopsy left no doubt that Dr. Arenas was a case of status +lymphaticus (thymus-centered personality). I made a most complete +report because of the scientific value of the autopsy. + +"'This confirmed my first deductions after seeing the body on Saturday +night in the doctor's furnished room with alcove bedroom adjoining. +You will remember that as soon as I had seen him I revealed that he +was wearing corsets. + +"'These cases of status lymphaticus are intensely interesting. In them +the blood vessels are very small, and the lymphatic clement is greatly +in excess. They die suddenly, from ruptures of blood vessels. Many +of them are degenerate. Most of them are criminals. All of them are +liable to commit crimes of passion. Among them are found a large +percentage of drug addicts. + +"'Miss Jackson, in the hospital, confirmed my scientific theory that +the dead man was not normal. She was perfectly frank in her statement. +She said she had left her husband, Elmer Schultz, an automobile +salesman in Toledo, several months ago and had come to New York. She +said she had lived with the doctor for some time. + +"'About ten days ago she left him to live with Marti, a healthy, +normal lad. Before she went from the doctor's room she destroyed those +colored collars that were found beside the body. She cut them with +scissors. But that was after, so she states, the doctor had destroyed +stockings of hers by cutting them. + +"'She told me in the hospital today, and with every appearance of +truth, that she had met Arenas in the subway at the station on +Seventy-second Street and Broadway on Friday night and that she had +asked him when she could come and get her clothes. He said, according +to her story: + +"'Come to the house tomorrow afternoon--but come with Marti.' + +"'She said that she and Marti went there according to this invitation: +that first the doctor showed her the cut collars and told her that she +would get her clothes back in perfect condition, and that the next +thing she knew she had been shot. She couldn't remember much after +that. + +"'I believe that both she and Marti have told a perfectly +straightforward story and the autopsy is proof of it. + +"'There were six bullets in the doctor's pistol to be accounted for. +One, in an undischarged cartridge, still was in the weapon. That +leaves five. One struck "Miss Jackson" in the right chest squarely in +front, and penetrated the flesh about one inch. If there had been any +power at all behind the missile it would have gone right through, +pierced a lung, caused a hemorrhage, and the chances are that "Miss +Jackson" would have died. That leaves four bullets. + +"'One more struck Marti in the left upper chest. It passed through the +pocket there, and the skirt, grazed the skin, and then bounced over to +the right hand side in front. It was a most amazing case of a bounding +bullet. I was particularly careful about examining its course because +at first I was suspicious of the stories that were told by Marti and +"Miss Jackson." Now I know they are true. + +"'But anyone might have been puzzled by the queer antics of the +missiles from the pistol of South American manufacture that the doctor +used. If it had had any penetrating power--or rather if the bullets +that it sent out, had any real kick behind them--the chances are that +both "Miss Jackson" and Marti would be dead now. + +"'Two bullets, it will be remembered, entered the doctor's left chest, +quite close together. Well, one nicked the heart and lodged between +the lung and the heart. It didn't cause any more damage than a +mosquito bite. + +"'The second bullet went through the soft flesh of the chest, but it +struck a rib and bounded back out again. That bullet was picked up +beside the body. + +"'After these vain attempts to send a bullet through his body to a +fatal spot, the doctor apparently shifted the weapon to his right +temple and pulled the trigger for the fifth time. Then the fifth +bullet, driven likewise by a very weak charge of powder, pierced the +skull at a point where it was thin and tore into his brain. Its lack +of power, however, is shown by the fact that I found it this morning +in the brain tissue. + +"'In all my experience I have never seen anything so queer. It sounds +almost like a dream--a man trying to kill with a pistol that shoots +bullets that either stop after striking soft flesh or bound out of the +body into which they are fired. But it is true; I have had all of the +bullets in my hand. + +"'They are all accounted for. They are all of the same sort. There +is no reason to doubt that they are all from the same weapon, an +instrument without manufacturer's name, and of a design that the +police say is unfamiliar to them. + +"'The dead doctor was a distinct type, and his tragic end was one that +should not surprise anyone who has any knowledge of such cases. The +courtroom was thronged with friends of the dead physician-dentist, who +not only is reported to be of a wealthy family of Bogota, Colombia, +but generally is credited with many charitable works in the uptown +Spanish colony here.'" + +The distinct type to which the first assistant to the chief medical +examiner of the city referred is the thymo-centric personality +(status lymphaticus is another technical name for it), we have been +considering. The persistence of the thymus after adolescence makes for +an arrest of masculinization or feminization, the end-point arrived +at by the processes of puberty. That is, a partial castration takes +place. Now, as the experiments of Steinach upon the transplantation of +ovaries into males deprived of their testes and of testes into females +deprived of their ovaries have demonstrated, the removal of the +interstitial cells of one sex assists enormously in arousing the +opposite sex traits that have been latent, homosexuality. In a +thymo-centric, tendencies to homosexuality and masochism appear. +And so all the remarkable after-effects of those processes that the +Freudians have so lovingly traced: the father complex in men, the +inferiority complex, and the feminoid complex in general. + +The feminoid complex introduces again the character of the functional +hermaphrodite, the mixed male-female. The sex index will certainly +come in time as a measurement of sexuality. But until then some more +available classification of sex tendency is necessary. Including +sex intergrades, one may divide sex types into six classes: +male, _male_-female, male-_female_, female, _female_-male, and +female-_male_. The sex intergrades, the four hyphenated classes, +nearly all have some degree of persistent thymus. If its influence is +partial, the emphasis is before the hyphen, upon the ostensible. If +its influence is unchecked, the emphasis is after the hyphen upon the +apparently latent sex. The sex difficulties produced in these people +by the conflict between their conscious sex and their subconscious +sex, the sex duel in the same mind, Siamese twins pulling in +diametrically opposite directions, are comprehensible only from the +viewpoint of the internal secretions. + +Homosexuality, in one form or another, frank or concealed, haunts +the thymo-centric and spoils his life. The persistent thymus, like a +vindictive Electra, stalks the footsteps of its victim, its possessor. +He wishes to live, according to society's remorselessly rigid +expectations, for virility and happiness. But his thymus condition +forces him also to live for femininity and misery. That homosexuality +is not purely a psychic matter, of complexes and introversion, as +the newest psychology would have us believe, has been proved by +observations of its development in animals with internal secretion +disturbances, acquired or experimental. Thus it has been recorded that +a male dog showed a large goitrous swelling of the thyroid in the +neck, with a rapid heart, staring eyes, the loss of flesh and fat and +the nervousness of a hyperthyroid condition. Therewith he became an +absolute homosexual. Observations on the primates along the same +lines have been made. In goitrous hyperthyroids thymus persistence is +common. + +What complicates his sex difficulties, and makes social adjustment +almost impossible or completely impossible, is that his pituitary +frequently cannot react to assist him. Often, as emphasized, it +is bound in by bone on all sides and neither ante-pituitary nor +post-pituitary can adequately secrete for his needs. So social +instinct and the capacity for inhibition, the ability to control +himself conceptually and somatically, are poor. As a child it is +difficult to train him along the lines of the elementary habits and +customs. He is into late childhood a bed-wetter, and steals and lies +quasi-unconsciously. + +His mother realizes soon that he cannot be made to acquire a sense of +responsibility either for himself or for others. She becomes afraid to +let him go into the street because of his inability to take care of +himself, to acquire the right attitude toward street cars, autos, +strangers, in short, danger. She dreads to take him to places because +no sooner would they be out of them, than she would discover that he +had taken something that did not belong to him, quite as a matter of +course. He will fabricate stories with no motive, fabricate them +out of whole cloth for the pure fun of it. In a word, moral +irresponsibility is the keynote of the volitional traits of the +thymo-centric personality from childhood up. + +With so much against them, physical inferiorities, mental defects, +moral lacks of every sort, it is little wonder that the thymo-centrics +die young. Infections hit them badly. The cases of flu that went off +in twenty-four hours belonged to the type. Fulminant meningitis, +pneumonia, diphtheria, scarlet fever, the varieties that are supposed +to kill in twenty-four to forty-eight hours because of the terrible +virulence of the attacking microbe, are probably so malignant only +because the organism attacked is a thymus subject. + +In the alcohol and drug habitue wards of hospitals as well as in +medicolegal cases of degenerates, gunmen and other criminals, +the characteristic conformation and diagnostic stigmata of the +thymo-centric are often encountered. Life treats them badly. +Misunderstood and misjudged, they are the hopeless misfits of society. +If the pituitary and the thyroid can enlarge to compensate for their +defects, they may become the queer brilliants, the eccentric geniuses +of the arts and sciences. Should they not, mental deficiency and +delinquency are their portion. Epilepsy, then, is sometimes their mode +of escape from the terrors of an utterly foreign world. Should they +survive all other hazards, suicide may still be their most frequent +fate. A study of 122 cases of suicide by one observer showed that the +status lymphaticus was practically constant and often pronounced. + +Certain of them, after a stormy life in the twenties, become adapted +to their surroundings in the thirties because the pituitary gradually +emerges and becomes dominant in their personalities. They are then +recessive thymocentrics. An increase in size, a broadening, together +with a greater mental tranquillity and stability, accompany the +adaptation. Historically, the thymocentrics who combined brilliancy +and instability played a great part as some of the famous adventurers +and restless experimentalists. + +THE SEX GLAND CENTERED OR GONADO-CENTRIC PERSONALITIES + +(The Eunuchoid Personality) + +Among the individuals whose personality is dominated by their sex +glands the physiognomy, physique and life reactions are so distinctive +that no better examples exist of our main thesis: that the whole life +of man is controlled primarily by his internal secretions. These +gonado-centric types are not all necessarily sex gland deficient, as +the term eunuchoid implies. They may be rather gonad unstable with a +corresponding instability of the entire endocrine system. + +About the face of the eunuchoid the striking feature is the +incomplete, irregular, or absent hair development. Below thirty it is +chubby and ruddy, and rather childish in its texture; after thirty, +there is an effect of premature senility: the skin is yellowish, +leathery, and wrinkled as the faces of old women are wrinkled: the +upper lip is traversed by vertical wrinkles, and wrinkles come around +corners of the mouth. The expression is juvenile, effeminate or +plaintive. + +Invariably the voice is higher pitched than the usual masculine tones. +It may be gentle and subdued, like a genteel female's, or strident and +rasping. Occasionally it is a pleasant high tenor. The Adam's apple, +poetic popular name for the thyroid cartilage, is never prominent, +because it is not ossified, as it should be in the normal male. + +Tall and slender, or generally undersized, the muscles are soft +and flabby as a woman's. The hands and feet are small and gracile +typically. Viewed in profile, the lines of the body are feminine. The +breasts may reach almost the size of the female's and there may be a +well-marked area of pigmentation around the nipple. The hair growth +under the shoulders and on the lower abdomen tends to be scanty and to +approximate the opposite sex in quality and distribution, as do the +reproductive organs themselves. + +These traits of physiognomy and physique indicate functional +hermaphroditism in the underlying feminoid constitution. The feminoid +constitution appears again in the supposedly masculine. The feminoid +constitution should not be confused with the infantiloid constitution. +The former, the gonado-centric personality, is a digression of growth, +a deviated evolution of the individual because of the conflicting +forces, some masculine and some feminine, in his make-up. The +infantiloid constitution is one of arrested development, and may +center around the arrested function in childhood or adolescence of +any one or a number of endocrine glands. Yet the two may resemble one +another pretty closely, at times. A cretin imitates the extreme grade +of infantiloid constitution. The infantiloid is a sort of enlarged and +lengthened child. The feminoid is ostensibly a man, with a good deal +of woman in him. The infantiloid is a quite general type, but of +course when typical is a freak, recognized and treated as such. How +far the eunuchoid may deviate from the normal is suggested by the +following description of one. + +"Face rounded, moon-like, chubby, devoid of hair. Eyes puffed. Lips +protruding and fleshy. Cheeks round and thick. Nose little developed. +Skin thick and of clear color. Disproportion between the size of head +and body. Hair of scalp fine. Brows and lashes scarce, trunk elongated +and cylindrical. Limbs thick and plump, tapering from the root to the +extremities. Good fat layers over the entire body. Reproductive organs +those of a little boy. Infantile mental state: light-heartedness, +naivete, timidity, easily evoked tears and laughter, promptly aroused +but fugitive wrath: excessive tenderness, but unreasonable dislikes." + +An almost wholly mental infantiloid state or one purely physical +may occur. Certain rather large Tom Thumbs belong to the group. In +everyday life we see doll creatures, overgrown children, on every +hand. Mental measurements of any large group of population reveal a +remarkable percentage of it as below the mental age of 12. Juvenile +traits and juvenile mind, separate or combined, should always suggest +the possibility of the infantiloid constitution of one type of +thymocentric also. + +The eunuchoid or feminoid personality is also found often among +artists. One must carefully distinguish the two because the ensemble +of characteristics of the one may easily stimulate the other. Yet +fundamentally they are as far apart as the poles. The infantiloid +type never rises above the subnormal, which is its habitat, while the +feminoid type (or masculinoid, in woman) often produces an abnormal +personality which rises above the normal. The infantiloids become the +slaves and the weaklings of society, the Mark Tapleys, and the Tom +Pinches, while the eunuchoids have created splendid literature and +immortal music. + +The life reactions, and especially the sex reactions of the +gonado-centric, are as complex and difficult as those of the +thymo-centric. Straightforward homosexuality and the eunuchoid +constitution have always been intimate. The homosexuality of the +thymo-centric is more subtle and disguised, often buried under the +stronger masculine component of the personality. + +Homosexuality as a cult has appeared correlated with the production of +the functional hermaphrodite by artificially creating the eunuchoid +type of constitution. Among the Aztecs, homosexuals were produced +in quantity for religious purposes by a deliberate fostering of the +eunuchoid constitution. They called them the Mujerados. Their method +consisted in making a healthy man ride horseback constantly, until an +irritable weakness of the reproductive organs ensued, and a paralytic +impotence followed. The exhausted testes would then atrophy, and the +voice ring falsetto, muscular tone and energy diminish, inclinations +and habits become feminine. The Mujerado lost his position in society +as a man, assumed female clothing, manners and customs, and to all +intents and purposes was treated as a woman. Their large breasts were +said to be capable of lactation. Their only reward was the high honor +paid them as religious consecrates. + +Among the Phoenicians there was a similar sect, devoted to the worship +of Astarte. Known as the Galli, they were men who had transformed +themselves into the closest possible resemblance to women. At all +times they were prepared to engage with members of either sex in +sexual relations of the most depraved kind. They lived in idleness as +prostitutes, cultivating and extending their skill in sex perversions +as specialists. Their initiation into their professional careers was +a part of a religious ritual. During the revels of great festivals, +apprentices to the trade, wrought up by certain traditional songs and +music, would be hypnotised into a frenzy, run amuck, throw off every +garment, and, snatching up swords, deliberately placed in convenient +spots, castrate themselves at one blow. In a wilder hysteria, +screaming loudly, the self-made eunuchs would then run through the +streets holding the severed organs high above their heads. At last, +faint through loss of blood, they brought their madness to its climax +by hurling the organs in their hands into the nearest houses, so +forcing the owners to take them in, and provide them with female +wearing apparel, and the other feminine accoutrements of war. +Henceforth, this manner of dress was not to be changed. The physical +changes followed. The hair of the face was lost, the breasts enlarged, +the voice became high-pitched, and the other type-characters of the +eunuchoid complex appeared. + +These constitutions thus may be either congenital or acquired. +Individuals apparently normal during childhood and adolescence may +be transformed. Injuries to the reproductive glands, sometimes the +slightest bruises, may lead to atrophy, and a change of personality +follows in less than six weeks. Mumps may achieve the same results +because of the inflammation of the gonads that may accompany or follow +it. + +Whole family and races may show some of the signs of the eunuchoid +constitution for generations. According to Darwin (Descent of Man) +"the development of the beard and the hairiness of the body differ +remarkably in the men of distinct races, and even in different tribes, +and families of the same race. On the European-Asiatic continent, +beards prevail, until we pass beyond India, although with the +natives of Ceylon they are often absent.... Eastward of India beards +disappear, as with the Siamese, Kalmuks, Malays, Chinese, and +Japanese. Throughout the great American continent the men may be said +to be beardless: but in almost all tribes a few short hairs are apt to +appear on the face, especially in old age...." Hair being an adrenal +cortex trait, it is to be inferred that hairless families and races +are more eunuchoid, and possess less of the adrenal cortex secretion +than the more hairy. + +Whatever the exceptions--and there have been eunuch generals in +history--Marces, Chancellor of Justinian, who beat the Goths at +Nocera, and Ali the Gallant who commanded the Turkish Army after the +invasion of Hungary in 1856--the eunuchoid generally runs to type in +his mentality and his sexuality. He is an introvert, his personality +is shut in, he isolates himself from the world. + +The lower eunuchoids exhibit a curiously child-like personality. +Naively confiding, communicating to all comers all their joys and +sorrows, they ask diffidently for confirmation of their statements, +and they pass quickly from tears to laughter. About sexual matters +they are extremely timid. A moral innocence pervades their speech and +conduct. Usually they have no true conception of crimes of jealousy +or passion. The occupations they go in for are those without +responsibility away from crowds or observation, such as ship cooks, +stewards, and so on. They marry to find a home, without the object of +establishing sexual relations. When they are asked whether they think +their wives will be pleased to look at the matter in the same light, +and be contented to live with a man upon such conditions, they are +puzzled or perplexed, as if they had never thought seriously about +the matter before. Their simplicity has even extended to proposing to +their wives to seek gratification from some other man. Naturally, such +an arrangement often proves unsatisfactory, and desertion follows. + +Concerning the children sometimes the offspring of these unions, +scepticism as to the identity of the father is decidedly permissible. +Still in some cases the best of evidence exists that fertility occurs. +The vitality of the children then is subnormal and the mortality +rate high. The eunuchoid tendency is transmitted. Variations and +transitions of every kind are found among the undersexed eunuchoid +personalities, depending upon the quality and degree of the secretions +lacking. + +When there is an excess of these sex secretions, a turbulent, +tempestuous, sexually sensitive temperament, that may go on to +satyriasis or nymphomania, is created. It has been shown that doves +can be rendered overfeminine in their behaviour and characteristics +by injections of ovarian material. Oversexed types of personality +therefore may exist as well as undersexed. + +COMBINATIONS AND PERMUTATIONS + +The types of personality sketched--the thyrocentric, the +pituitocentric, the adrenocentric, the thymocentric, the +gonadocentric--are really prototypes, the great kingdoms of +personality, to which individuals can be assigned, by hall marks which +facilitate their classification. They may also be described as the +pure endocrine types, which include a minority of a population. But +the majority consist of dominant mixtures, hyphenates, groups which +are the species and varieties of the greater classes. Combinations and +variations of control among the adrenals and thyroid, pituitary or +thymus, and so on, occur, with effects that are sometimes additive, +reinforcing a particular trait of the person, and at others +conflicting, and neutralizing. Quantitative variations of the same +secretion may occur periodically in the same individual, which +explains the multiplicity and complexity, the inconsistency and +contradictions of conduct in a man or woman at the different episodes +and crises of life, to a certain extent. + +There should be a stable balance between the various endocrines, the +stability expressing itself in what we are pleased to call the normal. +There should also be a balance between the antagonistic elements in +the same gland; for instance, the pituitary. The pituitary, built +of two distinct portions, the anterior and the posterior, is in +equilibrium when the two are nicely adjusted. But the accidents and +vicissitudes of life (pregnancy for example) will upset the balance. +And so there will result changes of physique, conduct and character. +Like possibilities apply to all the other glands of internal +secretion. In our ability to exercise a control over these +disturbances of balance, to be developed in the future, lies one +of the great hopes for a chemical perfectability of human life and +nature. + +NATURE'S EXPERIMENTS VS. MAN'S + +The kinds of personality described, as prototypes and variants and the +fundamental facts supporting the view that they are the reaction types +of the human beings we meet in everyday life, represent simply a +beginning of the work to be done. Putting into our hands a new +powerful searchlight that penetrates the interiors of body and soul, a +fresh attitude toward the complicated problems of Man in society grows +imminent. The normal and the abnormal become illuminated with an +effect as if our retinas were suddenly to get sensitive to the +ultraviolet rays to which we are now blind. An apparatus is put in our +hands which shows us not only a static condition at a given moment, +but the whole life process of an individual, normal or abnormal, his +past and his future. + +Upon that fetich of the biologists, the struggle for existence, the +struggle for survival, the struggle for possessions and satisfactions, +for happiness, victory and virility, in short, for success, as success +is measured by the biologists, a searching spectroscope can play, with +a yield for our understanding and control of life, that will stand +comparison with the astronomer's analysis of the stars. Toward the +process of adjustment and adaptation, of the environment to the +individual, as well as of the individual to the environment, attitudes +will change from _hopeless acquiescence in the inevitable to a +complete self-determination of the self and its surroundings._ The +adventures of the personality, strung along as the episodes of his +career, his friendships and sex reactions, his mishaps and diseases, +and the final fate or fortune that overtakes him, be he normal, +subnormal, supernormal, or abnormal, begin to become comprehensible, +and hence controllable. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SOME HISTORIC PERSONAGES + + +THE INTERNAL SECRETIONS IN HISTORY + +According to the views, facts and guesses concerning human +personality, as a body-mind complex dominated by the internal +secretions, outlined in the preceding pages, biography, and human +history as the interaction of biographies, become capable of +interpretation from a new standpoint. If human life, in its +essentials, is so much the product of the internal messenger system we +speak of as the endocrines, then biography should present us with a +number of illustrations of their power and influence. What is the +evidence that, as Huxley anticipated, "the introduction into the +economy of a molecular mechanism which, like a cunningly contrived +torpedo, shall find its way to some particular group of living +elements, and cause an explosion among them, leaving the rest +untouched," and the multiplication of such cunningly contrived +mechanisms, were responsible for those personalities, magnificent +chemical compounds, with whose adventures historians are concerned? + +THE CASE OF NAPOLEON + +As a unique will and intelligence, Napoleon Bonaparte the First must +be classed as one of the Betelegeuses of the race. H.G. Wells has +called his career the "raid of an intolerable egotist across the +disordered beginning of a new time." "The figure of an adventurer and +wrecker." "This saturnine egotist." "Are men dazzled simply by the +scale of his flounderings, by the mere vastness of his notoriety?" +"This dark little archaic personage, hard, compact, capable, +unscrupulous, imitative and neatly vulgar." There are other opinions. +The Man of Destiny was worshipped by millions. Napoleona bring +fortunes today. Interest in the man as a man has multiplied with every +year. And certainly no one can deny him the quality of individuality +in its most exaggerated form. + +In the second place he belongs among the moderns. Modern science and +methods of observation have had their chance at him, and have left a +conscious record of their results. Napoleon was the central figure of +his time, and was watched by trained medical eyes during his life, +and after his death. Protocols of the examination of his body are +accessible, and Napoleonic specimens, preserved by fixing agents, +may still be viewed at the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, +England. Dr. Leonard Guthrie has worked up the material at hand in +a report which he presented to the historical section of the +International Congress of Medicine, in London in 1913. I propose to +relate his findings to some other facts and the general principles +roughly sketched in this book. + +There are a number of word portraits of Napoleon extant. But for our +purposes certain of the notable features of his face and physique are +to be considered. The first characteristic that struck everyone about +him was the matter of his height. He was definitely sub-average, +at death being about five feet six inches in height. As has been +emphasized several times, deficiency or excess of growth will always +direct attention to the pituitary. His sharply outlined features and +a powerful lower jaw, combined with oddly small plump hands, long +straight black hair, and dark complexion, all point to the pituitary, +with a secondary adrenal effect. His pulse was slow, according to +Corvisart, his personal physician, rarely above 50 to the minute. His +sexual life, his libido, was abnormal. Curiously explosive in their +appearance and manifestations were his sexual impulses. They "beset +him on occasions which were sometimes inconvenient, and a peculiarity +about them was that they subsided with equal suddenness if not +immediately gratified, or if meanwhile something occurred to +discourage his attention. All women were to him 'filles de joie.' +Sexual rather than social attractions in women appealed to him." +He was never in love, never possessed of permanent affection or +tenderness for any woman. This explosive periodicity of the sexual +life, "with a tendency to compression of it to the merely physical," +is another mark of some pituitary-centered personalities. + +Two other phenomena that persisted throughout his life throw light +upon his endocrine constitution. One was trouble with his bladder +which he told Antommarchi, another physician, bothered him as long as +he could remember. Irritability of the bladder was so pronounced that +he could not sleep for more than a few hours at a time. After battles, +the trouble became worse so that it interfered with his riding. +Constitutional difficulties in urination have been connected +definitely with the function of the pituitary. The other pituitary +disturbances which tinctured his life were certain "brain storms," +attacks of vomiting followed by "stupor verging on unconsciousness" +brought on by outbursts of temper, physical overexertion, mental +strain, or sexual excitement. It has been shown that such epileptic +tendencies are present in subjects of pituitary disease, particularly +those with pituitary instability. In Napoleon's case the brain attacks +may have been crises of pituitary insufficiency in a hyper-pituitary +type. This supposition is borne out by the headache which followed +them, the headache of an oversecreting pituitary compensating for +a defect in its formation. During his prime, his intellect was +mathematical, logical, and rational, and remarkable for a prodigious +memory. Such an intellect is the product of an extraordinary +ante-pituitary. That he never permitted feeling to interfere with +the dictates of his judgment, a quality which rendered him the +most unscrupulous careerist of history, must be put down to an +insufficiency of the post-pituitary. What post-pituitary does to the +brain cells and the organism as a whole to render them susceptible +to sympathy and suggestion, the social sublimations of the maternal +instinct, with its offsprings of religion and art, we have seen. +Napoleon lacked a chemical trace of the religious instinct, his +sympathy was nil, and his conquests were made possible only because he +was blind to the suffering and misery his greed for glory and dominion +generated. Post-pituitary insufficients of this type, patent or +concealed, gradually become corpulent as they grow older. The +increasing corpulency of Napoleon was commented upon by all observers. + +A student of his make-up, and acquainted with present developments +concerning the internal secretions, given an opportunity to observe +him as we have when he was alive, and at the height of his success, +would have had every reason for classing him a pituitary-centered, +ante-pituitary superior, post-pituitary inferior, with an instability +of both that would lead to his final degeneration. Besides, his +insatiable energy indicated an excellent thyroid, his pugnacity, +animality and genius for practical affairs a superb adrenal. Given the +kind of pituitary he possessed, with its great intellectual potential +energy and the relation between the two parts which would further the +objects of an intellectual machine, plus a remarkable thyroid and +adrenal, plus the military education Napoleon had, and the character +of the Revolution into which he was plunged, and we have the +conditions out of which his career emerged as inevitable. + +That it was his pituitary which first failed him, rather than the +thyroid or adrenal, which might have, is demonstrated by a number of +considerations. Before he made himself Emperor, it was noticed that he +was becoming fat, a pituitary symptom. A comparison of portraits at +different stages of his rise and fall shows an increasing abdominal +paunch, and a laying down of fat in the pituitary areas, around the +hips, the legs and so on. The beginning of weakness in judgment that +he was to exhibit soon in the invasion of Russia manifested itself at +the same time. His keen calculating ability attained the peak of its +curve at Austerlitz, Jena and Friedland. Thereafter, the descent +begins. A rash, grandiose, speculative quality enters his projects, +and divorces the elaborate coordination of means and end from his +plans. That his thyroid energy capacity did not fail him is indicated +by the fact that at St. Albans he would ride for three hours at the +end of the day to tire himself sufficiently for sleep. That his +adrenals were not affected is indicated by the brutality which +remained characteristic to the end of his life. + +The findings after death confirm the view of him as an unstable +pituitocentric who succumbed to pituitary insufficiency toward the +latter half of his life. We possess the account of the postmortem by +Dr. Henry, who performed it. "The whole surface of the body was deeply +covered with fat. Over the sternum, where generally the bone is very +superficial, the fat was upwards of an inch deep, and an inch and a +half or two inches on the abdomen. There was scarcely any hair on the +body, and that of the head was thin, fine and silky. The whole genital +system (very small) seemed to exhibit a physical cause for the absence +of sexual desire, and the chastity which had been stated to have +characterized the deceased (during his stay at St. Helena). The skin +was noticed to be very white and delicate as were the hands and arms. +Indeed the whole body was slender and effeminate. The pubis much +resembled the Mons Veneris in women. The muscles of the chest were +small, the shoulders were narrow and the hips wide." In other words, +the typical feminization of the body which accompanies pituitary +insufficiency was found. He died of a cancer of the stomach. But +before his death there were noted the mental transformations that +succeed deficiency of his central endocrine. Apathy, indolence, +fatigability, and frilosity were what impressed his associates at St. +Helena. The deterioration of his mentality was also exemplified in his +literary diversions, the "Siege of Troy" and the "Essay on Suicide." +The puerility of these productions, as well as of his conduct, a +sulking before his captors, and the decline of his physical energy, +once a bottomless well, all point to the same conclusion. + +The rise and fall of Napoleon followed the rise and fall of his +pituitary gland. No better illustration exists of the fundamental +determination of a personality and its career by an endocrine, +aside from other factors of education, environment, accident and +opportunity. Without the sort of endocrine equipment he was born with, +however, none of the other factors would have found the material to +work upon. Born, say, with more of a posterior pituitary than he had, +which would have rendered him more sensitive to the sufferings of his +fellow-creatures, if nothing else, and the forces of the Revolution +probably would have swamped him from the very first moment of his +emergence at Toulon, when the whiff of grape-shot, symptom of an +inexorable, merciless intellect and will, started him upon the road +that led to the Napoleonic Era. Destiny is always ironic. For the +deficiency of the internal secretions which made him eligible for +glory was responsible as well as for his downfall. + +EPILEPSY AND MIGRAINE IN GENIUS + +In the annals of genius, there occur a number of instances of those +who suffered from attacks that have been diagnosed epilepsy +or migraine. Because their ailment was associated with their +extraordinary ability, they attracted an attention that concerned +itself not at all with the circumstance that genius has also been +liable to measles, scarlet fever, and so on. Epilepsy and migraine +certainly occur in people of no supernormal gifts, and often in +degenerates and subnormals. Yet the fact remains that these affections +of the nervous system, so terrible to feel and to behold, have +afflicted the finest brains of the race. + +About forty years ago the idea established itself that epilepsy, +exhibiting itself in one form or another as "fits," and migraine, the +severe periodic sick headache, were interconvertible manifestations of +the same underlying morbid process in the brain. Nothing in the way +of a concrete cause, attackable on the material side, was elicited by +this generalization. Then the investigations of the pituitary in the +last decade produced evidence of epilepsy-like and migraine-like +symptoms in sufferers from tumors or other enlargements of it. +Reasoning back, cases of epilepsy and migraine began to be examined +for evidences of involvement of the pituitary in their troubles. +These accumulated rapidly. The physiognomy and physique of the +pituito-centric were discovered in them. The phenomena noted in +Napoleon's case were often present: lowering of the pulse, chilliness, +and an increased irritability of the bladder. In women the attack +often coincides with the menstrual period, a typical time of endocrine +unbalance. Finally X-ray examinations of the sella turcica, the bony +lodging of the pituitary, clinched the matter: it often appeared +small, or enlarged, with erosions of the bone, signifying a desperate +attempt of the gland to grow, and meet the needs of the organism. The +complex of appearances called migraine now becomes understandable. +There are a number of factors, such as fatigue, intense cold, or high +sugar food like chocolate, which will cause an engorgement of the +gland with blood and swelling of it. But they do not concern us now. +Intense mental occupation, concentration as the popular term has it, +acts as a patent excitor of the attack. + +Brain work drives more blood into the brain and the gland. Besides, +mental activity is accompanied by increased function of the +ante-pituitary, if intellectual, or of the post-pituitary if +emotional. Brain work then causes a temporary enlargement of the +gland. If, now, the bone container of the endocrine is too small to +permit of much swelling, the bone will be pressed against or even worn +into. This means headache, severe, easily going on to the kind known +as sick-headache. The nerves which move the eyes in various directions +lie next to the pituitary. If, in its expansion, it moves sufficiently +outward, it may press upon, irritate them or paralyze, and so evolve +various eye disturbances in association with the headache. No one can +overrate this conception of migraine, for a number of men of genius +have suffered from sick-headache and eye symptoms. + +As for epilepsy, the problem is more complex. One has to rule out +first those who have organic destructive disease of the brain. But +they are out of our field: genius predicates at least an intact brain. +Of the others a number may be interpreted upon an endocrine basis. At +least they will, in their physiognomy, physique, mentality, conduct +and character, document the glandular constellation under which they +live, and a proper understanding of which is necessary for them to be +helped. One frequently seen is the thymo-centric, with small enclosed +sella turcica. The latter fact explains the occurrence of the +epilepsy. Periodic variations in the secretory tides of the other +endocrines, the ovaries, the thyroid, and so on, may determine the +onset of the attack of "fits." The point is that when epilepsy plays a +constant part in the life history of a man of genius, we are justified +in assuming a disturbed balance among his hormones, and so a reasoned +picture perhaps of the foundations for the erratic in his behaviour or +his productions. + +THE NEURASTHENIC GENIUS + +The fin de siecle intelligentsia of the nineteenth century were quite +stirred up by a publication of Max Nordau on "Degeneration," in which +a number of revered artists and intelligents were held up to public +scorn as degenerates and neurasthenics. So wrought up were they, in +fact, that Bernard Shaw was moved to compose a defense entitled "The +Sanity of Art." In spite of the Great Vegetarian's dialectics, it +remains to be explained why a certain species of creative ability has +been combined with the fatigability, variability and general wretched +irritability of every organ and tissue in the body which taught them +that they were sensitive souls imprisoned in the flesh. Going from +doctor to doctor as from pillar to post, from this medical creed to +that hygienic cult, lucky to escape the worst, often landing upon the +bosom of New Thought for succor. We have noted in previous chapters +the relation of neurasthenia to the glands of internal secretion +in general, and to adrenal insufficiency in particular. A closer +examination of neurasthenic genius will show it to consist essentially +of a pituitocentric in whom for one reason or another, congenital (the +persistence of the thymus) or acquired (shocks, accidents, diseases) +there has been failure of the adrenals, thyroid or the interstitial +cells, about in the order of their occurrence. + +THE CASE OF NIETZSCHE + +Friedrich Nietzsche is about as good a case as there is on record of a +genius blasted by migraine. The originality and force of his mind, as +well as the articulate music of an imaginative poet, places Nietzsche +among the philosophic elect of the race. Showing that he was an +unstable pituitary-centered of a certain type will throw light upon +his malady, as well as upon his life and work. + +In a set of volumes, entitled Biographic Clinics, Dr. George M. Gould +of Philadelphia contended that the ill health of a number of men and +women of genius of the nineteenth century was due to unconnected eye +troubles. In attempting to bolster up his thesis he has collected +biographic material useful to the student of personality. He never +appears to have asked himself what was behind the eye trouble. The +evidence relating to Nietzsche's endocrine personality is derived from +some of the data he collected, as well as from the two volume life of +the philosopher written by his sister, and the other biographies of +him extant. + +To reconstruct the endocrine formula or equation of Nietzsche +inductively, one should analyze first the information available +concerning his parents and relatives. His grandfather was a +conservative bourgeois of a superior type, who was the author of +treatises designed to narcotize the forces of rebellion of his time. +What he was like physically, no epitaph declares. His father was a +clergyman. A description of him reads ... "tall and slender, with a +noble and poetic personality, and a peculiar talent for music ... +short-sighted." That ranks him at once as a pituito-centric. +The mother was dark and had a fiery temper and came of a family +distinguished for the powerfully built anatomy of its members. In +the heredity of Nietzsche, the father appears therefore to supply +a pituitary predominating element, the mother an adrenal-pituitary +predominating element. + +Nietzsche himself worked strenuously at the intellectual life (after +20, when he probably stopped growing, and the brain tonic action of +the ante-pituitary could manifest itself). Early distinction rewarded +him with a professorship in philology at 24. One of Prussia's wars +of conquest entangled him, and presented him with diphtheria. A +friendship with Richard Wagner marked the turning point of his life, +and the point of departure for his works on the most fundamental +values of human life. Meanwhile, attacks of sick-headache of varying +degrees of severity made him miserable periodically--they came about +every two weeks and lasted two to three days--and left him wretched +and exhausted. At last, at 44, a species of stroke terminated his +sufferings, causing him to lose his speech and memory, and thenceforth +there was progressive deterioration, physical and spiritual, with +repeated attacks. + +In the sister's biography there are several good photographs and +reproductions of sculptures of Nietzsche at different ages. An +examination of the frontispiece picture, which shows him in profile +(profile views are the best for physiognomy), as well as of the bust +of Nietzsche by Donndorf, exhibit the most striking traits of the +head. To the student of internal secretions, the most prominent +feature of the face, emphasized by both the camera and the artist, +is the remarkable prominence of the supra-orbital arches, the bony +protuberances from which the eyebrows spring. This is a definite +pituitary character. The eyebrows themselves are luxurious and slope +to meet, the bony development of the face as a whole is sharp and +clean-cut, the skull tends to be long and narrow and the chin is +square. All these point to a pituitary-centered personality. It is to +be regretted that we have no picture or record of Nietzsche caught +smiling, which would have preserved the state of his teeth for us. At +any rate, considered as checks to my interpretation, his physiognomy +and physique, the nature of his genius and the attacks which finally +ruined his life, all fit into the conception of him as one whose life +centered, like Napoleon's, around what was happening in his sella +turcica. + +The attacks of sick-headache, diagnosable symptomatically as +migraine, were so devastating that in 1883, after the printing of his +masterpiece, "Also Sprach Zarathustra," he wrote "My life has been +a complete failure." Extracts from his letters, collected by Gould, +provide some idea of his suffering. In 1888, just before his stroke, +he said, "I have in my eyes a dynamometer of my entire condition." + +The history of Nietzsche's eye trouble makes it probable that not +simply a defect in his eyes themselves, but a deeper condition behind +them was responsible. Up to the age of 15 he was a model scholar. +Essential eye defects of refraction should make themselves felt during +childhood. Then, with adolescence, he changed. Adolescence is one +of the red-letter epochs for the pituitary, when its growth and +enlargement precedes and stimulates the ripening of the sex cells +in the reproductive organs. Until adolescence ended and physical +development ceased, his intellectual interests were nil, and he was +particularly backward in mathematics. Colds and coughs, and recurring +pains in the head and eyes bothered him (colds and coughs are frequent +in those whose pituitary expansion is limited by the bony sella +turcica to any extent). After his puberty, migraine definitely became +his demon companion. Following the diphtheria in the army (which +must have damaged his adrenals), the attacks grew much worse, and +complaints about them more bitter because the pituitary now, in +addition to its own burden, had to compensate for the insufficient +adrenals. So "his frequent illness made him more and more a subject of +treatment and commiseration.... If only my eyes would hold out ... +it seems to me at the age of 30 as if I had lived 60 years ... very +frequent sufferings of stomach, head and eyes ... acidity oppresses +me, and everything except the tenderest food becomes acid.... I cannot +doubt that I am the victim of a serious cerebral disease, and that +stomach and eyes suffer only from this central cause ... half-dead +with pain and exhaustion." In December 1888, he fell, had to be +helped home, lay silent for two days, then became loud, active and +unbalanced. The attack was preceded by the drinking of much water. + +The specific quality of the Nietzsche genius also directs attention to +a pituitocentric, to a pituitocentric in whom both ante-pituitary and +post-pituitary are extraordinarily well-functioning, but are in a +state of unbalance in which the post-pituitary gets the upper hand. +Now, as we have seen, the post-pituitary makes for that instability +of association between the brain cells which must be at the bottom of +originality and creative thought, as well as of phobias, obsessions, +hysterias and hallucinations. Persons in whom the post-pituitary +predominates have a lively fancy and are liable to suffer from the +tricks of association. Nietzsche, as we have noted, was poor in +mathematics and in the calm cool proportioned forward march of +scientific thought in general. His most brilliant ideas came to him in +flashes and gleams. That is why so much of his work has come down to +us in the form of aphorisms and paragraphs. He was, essentially, a +poet among the metaphysicians, which again favors the conception of +him as a pituitary-centered with a dominant post-pituitary. Yet his +incisive critical faculty, as well as his love of music, also document +the supernormal ante-pituitary. + +To sum up, the physique and physiognomy of Nietzsche, his migraine +attacks and the later fate which overtook him, his likes and +dislikes, his tastes, abilities and accomplishments followed from his +composition as one pituitary-centered, with post-pituitary domination, +a superior thyroid, and inferior adrenals. + +DARWIN AS A NEURASTHENIC GENIUS + +Charles Darwin, as the author of the "Origin of Species" and the +greatest revolutionist of the nineteenth century, has naturally had +a great deal of attention paid to his life and personality. Yet not +until the publication of his Autobiography and his son's Reminiscences +was it generally known that he suffered from chronic ill health for +most of his adult life. Dr. W.A. Johnston, in an article in the +_American Anthropologist_, 1901, has marshalled a number of available +facts, to sustain his thesis that Darwin was a victim of neurasthenia. +Now neurasthenia, it is now accepted, is simply a waste-basket word, +corresponding to the class miscellaneous in a classification of any +group of real objects. And, as has been emphasized in preceding +chapters, most neurasthenia rises upon a disturbed endocrine +foundation, most often, an insufficiency of the adrenals. That is, a +defect in the chain of co-operation, balance and compensation among +the internal secretions is the basis for the weakness of the nervous +system the term neurasthenia is supposed to explain, actually only +names. Darwin's case was pretty certainly that. + +There can be no doubt that Darwin had an abnormal fatigability, a lack +of stamina and endurance in mental as well as physical application +which plagued him from the late twenties to the sixties. As a child, +he was strong and healthy, fond of outdoors, and though underrated by +his teachers, noted to be possessed of intense curiosity, especially +concerning natural objects. At school he was a fleet runner and +cultivated a habit of long walks. Then he was surely no neurasthenic. +Three years which, he himself afterwards said, were worse than wasted, +at Cambridge, were filled with shooting, riding and hunting. His good +health lasted until the time he probably stopped growing at 21 or 22. +Thereafter his troubles began. + +What was Darwin, so far as his endocrine composition was concerned? +In the first place his father was a variety of pituitocentric, of the +post-pituitary inferior type, six feet two inches tall, exceedingly +corpulent, and, in the eyes of his son, the sharpest of observers and +the most sympathetic of men. He wished to make a physician out of his +son in order to carry on the medical tradition of the family: Erasmus +Darwin was a physician before him. His son, however, showed no +inclination for so learned and confining a profession and had to +be reproached by his father in these immortal words: "You care for +nothing but shooting dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a +disgrace to yourself and all your family." + +Cambridge came after Edinburgh, as he was rushed from medicine into +the clergy. But in vain. A friendship struck up with a naturalist, +Henslow, settled his career for him. Henslow heard of a trip of +general exploration the ship _Beagle_ was to take and recommended +Darwin as naturalist. The captain at first would not hear of the +proposal because of Darwin's nose, a typical pituitary proboscis. But +his prejudices were overcome, and Darwin sailed. + +It was upon this voyage that Darwin made himself the greatest +naturalist of all time, and at the same time infected himself with +the virus of neurasthenia. At Plymouth, while waiting for the ship to +sail, he complained of palpitation and pain about the heart, probably +due to a transient hyperthyroidism, brought on by excitement. During +the voyage, which lasted five years, he was afflicted often by +sea-sickness. A ship-mate relates that after spending an hour with the +microscope he would say "Old Fellow, I must take the horizontal for +it" and lie down. He would stretch out on one side of the table, then +resume his labors for a while when he again had to lie down. Already +fatigability had to be fed with rest. A serious illness that Darwin +claimed affected every secretion of his body acted probably as the +exhausting drain upon his adrenal potential. + +The return to England was the date of onset for a record of continuous +illness, aggravated by his marriage, apparently, for his misery +increased progressively after it. So much so that he was forced to +leave London altogether so as to avoid the strain of social life, even +that of meeting his scientific friends or attending scientific society +meetings fatiguing him to exhaustion. After such occasions there would +be attacks of violent shivering, with vomiting and giddiness. It was +necessary for him to impose upon himself an absolute regime of daily +routine. Any interference with it upset him completely, and made it +impossible for him to do any work. Early morning was the only time for +physical as we; as mental exertion. Evening found him thoroughly used +up, with every move an effort. Insomnia made him its prey. A curious +sensitiveness to heat and cold distressed him. In 1859, when the +"Origin of Species" appeared, he wrote to a friend that his health had +quite failed, and that indigestion, headaches, with a looming hopeless +breakdown of body and mind made his life a burden and a curse. The +twenty years of research he devoted to the problems of evolution were +one long torture. For sixteen more years, during which he worked upon +and produced immortal classics of biology, he was the most wretched +and unhappy sufferer from neurasthenia. His life was a continuous +alternation of small doses of work and large doses of rest. So he +was enabled to publish twenty-three volumes of original writing and +fifty-one scientific papers. Living a sort of quasi-sanitarium life, +with the rules and regulations of one undergoing a rest cure for +thirty-six years, he thus accomplished infinitely more than the +millions who have led the strenuous life. That he thus survived, as a +genius, among the perils of an intellectual nature in an environment +for which his adrenals sentenced him to destruction, must be put down +in large measure to the ministrations and good sense of wife and +children who supplied him with the endocrine energy he lacked. All +these details I have given in the attempt to analyze the internal +secretion constitution of this great man of genius, to establish that +he really suffered from inadequate function of his adrenal glands, for +the symptoms of chronic though benign adrenal insufficiency coincide +in their mass effect with the story of his life. He was not a good +animal, as Herbert Spencer declared was a first sine qua non of the +successful life. He was a poor animal, the poorest of animals, because +he possessed poor adrenals. What saved him was his congenitally +superior pituitary (the nidus of genius) and the overacting thyroid, +which combined to compensate to some extent for his fundamental lack. +According to his son he rose early because he could not lie in bed, +and he would have liked to get up earlier than he did. + +What other hints have we that in spite of his fatigue disease he was +a pituitocentric? The record of his physique and physiognomy, +documentary and that left in portraits and photographs. He was tall +and thin and his frame was naturally strong and large. Face was ruddy, +and his grey eyes looked out from under deep overhanging brows and +bushy eyebrows. The ears were large and prominent, the hair straight, +the nose broad and well developed. All these are distinctive pituitary +traits. The photograph of him taken by Maull and Fox in 1854 shows his +chin to be the square firm kind that goes with the ante-pituitary type +physique. (This photo is the frontispiece of the collection of essays +entitled "Darwinism and Modern Science," edited by A.C. Seward and +published in 1909). Charles Darwin, we may say, then, lived the +life of one with a hyperfunctioning pituitary, the anterior portion +dominating the posterior, a thyroid excess, and an adrenal much +deficient, the combination settling the fate of a grand intellect +in an invalid. It is interesting to note that an extant portrait +of Erasmus Darwin, Darwin's distinguished grandfather, shows a +pituitocentric, but with a rounder head and a fatter face, which point +to a predominance of the post-pituitary over the ante-pituitary. +Correspondingly, he was more speculative and poetic intellectually +than his grandson, and more irascible and imperious in his moods. + +After 1872, when Charles Darwin was sixty-three years old, a marked +change for the better occurred in his health. For the last ten years +of his life the condition of his health was a cause of satisfaction +and hope to his family. "He was able to work more steadily with less +fatigue and distress afterwards." This is probably to be explained as +following the gonadopause hi him--the cessation of activity of the +interstitial cells. After this event, the adrenals in the male nearly +always function more efficiently, and well being is improved even +though the blood pressure often rises coincidently. In the relative +vigor of that decade we have another bit of evidence that the adrenals +had much to say over Darwin's life. + +EPILEPTIC GENIUS + + He had a fever when he was in Spain + And, when the fit was on him, I did mark + How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake + His coward lips did from their color fly; + And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world, + Did lose his lustre: I did hear him groan. + + --Julius Caesar. + +Epilepsy, the "falling sickness" or "fits," is generally associated +with a deterioration or degeneration of mentality, and an inferior +personality is frequently an ingredient. Progressively increasing data +accumulate to incriminate more and more a disturbance of the endocrine +balance, on the side of multiple deficiencies, as the basic mechanism +at the bottom of a good many of them. Concurrent studies reveal that +abnormalities of the thyroid, the parathyroids, the ovaries and +testes, and even the thymus exist behind the attack. Investigation of +the content of the consciousness of the different kinds of epilepsies +from this point of view will doubtless bring to light some interesting +information. There is much to be done for the epileptic with this new +method of approach. + +Epilepsy, just the same, may occur in men gifted with the sort of +transcendent ability called genius. Mohammed, Lord Byron, Dostoyevsky, +Flaubert, to name a few cases, are famous instances. The point to be +settled is whether epileptic genius, that is epilepsy with superior +ability, occurs most often in pituitocentrics, the epilepsy being +symptomatic of a pituitary struggling against barriers, tugging +against bonds. As mentioned, in such cases epilepsy appears as the +twin brother of migraine in genius. Should that be established, +we should have more evidence for the pituitary dominance of most +specimens of intellectual power. As a case in point let us take the +most famous of the epileptic geniuses--Julius Caesar, "When the fit +was on I marked how he did shake; tis true, this god did shake." + +According to Plutarch, Julius Caesar was of slender build, +fair-complexioned, pale, emaciated, of a delicate constitution +(reminding us of Darwin), subject to severe headache and violent +attacks of epilepsy. In view of the work of Cushing, the concurrence +of "severe headache and violent attacks of epilepsy" is sharply +suggestive of a pituitary origin for both. In his seventeenth year +he was already engaged to be married, which proves his precocity. An +overactive, erratic pituitary could here also be held responsible. +Soon after he was proscribed by the dictator Sulla, and the first of +a series of epileptic convulsions is recorded. Shock tries the +pituitary, as well as the adrenals. + +His sexual libido was of the quality that stimulated his soldiers to +sing celebrations of his exploits. The first woman he was engaged to +be jilted. Cornelia, his first wife, he divorced on the ground that +"Caesar's wife must be above suspicion." Matrimony committed twice +thereafter landing him in the divorce court, he devoted himself to +liaisons, one with Cleopatra. This sexual hyperactivity was probably +another pituitary trait. + +The compound of intellectual and practical ability he realized was +of the rarest. It meant a most delicate balance between his +ante-pituitary, post-pituitary, adrenals and thyroid. He was an +orator, politician, historian, conqueror, and statesman. That his +thyroid functioned well can be deduced from a career which involved +more than three hundred personal triumphs as recognition from his +native city. On horseback, riding without using his hands, he would +often dictate to two or three secretaries at once. The masculine love +of glory and ambition, expression of a well-working ante-pituitary, +was combined with the effeminate echoes of an equally well-evolved +post-pituitary. No prima donna was more concerned with the care of +her skin, complexion and hair than he. The analogy extends even to +superfluous hair which he had removed, not by the modern electrolysis, +but by depilation with forceps and main force. The attendants at +his bath would polish his epidermis, for his satisfaction, until it +resembled alabaster or marble. + +Caesar was not the kind of great man that Darwin was, and only +a rather muddled careerist because he had too much adrenal and +post-pituitary. But he was pituitocentric of a certain type. We +possess no authentic portraits or busts of him to go by. But the bust +in the Museum of Naples, for which he probably sat (some, H.G. Wells +among them, will not accept this), presents the sort of face that is +often seen in pituitary epileptics, and the features and skull of a +pituitocentric: long, large, well-modeled head eyebrows prominent, +with tendency to meet, aquiline nose and strong chin. + +In these three, Napoleon, Nietzsche and Caesar, we have male +pituitocentrics, exhibiting diversities of life and tastes because of +differences in the co-working endocrine glands in their makeup. We +shall consider now a female pituitocentric who presents the strangest +contrasts in physique, physiognomy, conduct and character, dependent +upon a variation in the balance between the two portions of the +pituitary. + +THE LEGEND OF FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE + +All biographies consist of prevarications and all autobiographies +of fiction. That summing up of a mass of literature over which +industrious students have ruined their eyes, held good until after the +War, when things changed. Then Mr. Lytton Strachey, at one fell blow, +and with one magnificent masterpiece, hurdled the old idols and +established a new standard of deliberate accuracy in print. In his +"Eminent Victorians" he set the pace for the host of those who have +been stimulated by his good example, like Lady Margot Asquith. + +Of the four Victorian respectable worthies Strachey has dissected as +ruthlessly as the anatomist a post-mortem, his portrait of Florence +Nightingale, the founder of the modern science and art of nursing, is +most interesting because it provides data of the utmost value to +the student of the endocrine basis of human personality. In the +conventional two-volume biography of this superwoman, she is pictured +as an intellectual saint, stepped from a stained glass window upon her +wonderful visit to a clay-smeared earth. The biographer, presenting +all the ins and outs of her body and soul as he has, makes her live +before us with a fresh vitality that is startling. + +The species of life Florence Nightingale lived, involving as it did +struggle with a masculine world, and conquest of it, implies the +existence in her of certain masculine traits and marks, for the normal +feminine psyche is submissive rather than aggressive toward its +environment, human and otherwise. Belonging to a family in the highest +circles, it was upon the table d'hote of her destiny that she should +become a regulation debutante, careeristina, and successful wife and +mother. Instead, she chose to question the whole routine of the life +of her class, and in her diary she records her doubts and cravings, +and her revolt against what is assumed by her family and friends to be +the normal course of existence for her. The attitudes and questionings +in these passages, the religious feeling displayed, are distinctly +masculine. Most easily could the following, for instance, pass as +having been written by a man: "I desire for a considerable time only +to lead a life of obscurity and toil, for the purpose of allowing +whatever I may have received of God to ripen, and turning it some day +to the glory of His Name. Nowadays people are too much in a hurry +both to produce and consume themselves. It is only in retirement, in +silence, in meditation that are formed the _men_ who are called to +exercise an influence upon society." In a note-book she puts May 7, +1852, as the date upon which she was conscious of a call from God +to be a saviour. Now the vast majority of women who have remained +spinsters at 32, in spite of considerable personal attractions and +high natural ability, are visited by waves of emotional fervor for a +de-personalization of the self. But in the case of the subject, as +Strachey has so well shown, the call was pursued with a self-willed, +pitiless, unscrupulous determination, worthy of Satan himself upon the +most ferocious evil bent. In its pursuit indeed she became what her +latest biographer has called a "woman possessed by a Demon." All +necessary, not alone because if she had been meek and mild she would +have existed in futility, but because of the high percentage of the +masculine endocrines in her composition. It is most regrettable that +we have no statement of the findings of a gynecologic examination of +her. That she was almost consciously masculine may be inferred not +only from the way she bullied Lord Pannure and worked to death her +dearest friend with the angelic temper, Sidney Herbert, who was so +amiable that he could be driven by one who wrote: "I have done with +being amiable. It is the mother of all mischief." She could also +write, "I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an +excuse. Yes, I do see the difference now between me and _other men_. +When a disaster happens, I act, and they make excuses." + +Lytton Strachey has painted superbly all this in his essay. But for us +his most significant passage is the following: "When old age actually +came, something curious happened. Destiny, having waited patiently, +played a queer trick upon Miss Nightingale. The benevolence and public +spirit of that long life had only been equaled by its acerbity. Her +virtue had dwelt in hardness, and she had poured forth her unstinted +usefulness with a bitter smile upon her lips. And now the sacredness +of years brought the proud woman her punishment. She was not to die +as she had lived. The sting was to be taken out of her: she was to be +made soft; she was to be reduced to compliance and complacency. The +change came gradually, but at last it was unmistakable." + +"_There appeared a corresponding alteration in her physical mould._ +The _thin, angular_ woman, with her haughty eye, and her acrid mouth, +had vanished, and in her place was the _rounded, bulky form_ of a _fat +old lady_, smiling all day long. Then something else became visible. +The brain which had been steeled at Scutari was, indeed, +literally growing soft. Senility--an ever more and more amiable +senility--descended." + +We have here an absolutely typical pituitary history, with another +case of pituitocentric natural ability. What happens when pituitary +hyperfunction or superiority becomes underfunction or inferiority is +precisely as Strachey has described so cleverly of the "ministering +angel": the acrid, thin and keen degenerate every time into the +amiable, fat and dull. Just as Napoleon was transformed by the +mutations of his pituitary, so was the Saint with the Lamp. And in +both instances the contrasting modifications, from one extreme of +glandular function to the other, supply us with the clue to the secret +hand of their inner being and becoming, which worked upon the twists +and turns of circumstance about them as a sculptor upon clay. + +The official biography by Sir Edward Cook contains three portraits, +representing three different stages, which bear out the pituitocentric +thesis of her personality and life history. One as she was at 25, and +pictured by Mrs. Gaskell: "She is tall; very straight and willowy in +figure; thick and shortish rich brown hair; very delicate complexion +... perfect teeth ... perfect grace and lovely appearance ... she is +so like a saint." The face is long and oval, of the post-pituitary +kind. Then gradually the ante-pituitary gained an ascendency in the +concert of her internal secretions, so coloring her life with its +masculine tints, and altering her face as well as her disposition. The +photograph of her taken when she was 38 shows a quadrangular outline, +and all the acridity that impressed Strachey. The last picture of her, +a water color drawing made in 1907, shows a round visaged old dame, +who might be the peasant grandmother of two dozen descendants. Little +patches of red over the cheek bones remind one of myxedema and +indicate that toward the very end of her life her thyroid failed her +as well as her pituitary. So that our biographer relates: "Then by +Royal Command, the Order of Merit was brought to South Street, and +there was a little ceremony of presentation. Sir Douglas Dawson, after +a short speech, stepped forward and handed the order of the insignia +to Miss Nightingale. Propped up by pillows, she dimly recognized +that some compliment was being paid her. 'Too kind--too kind!' she +murmured; and she was not ironical." In the days of pituitary and +thyroid hyperfunction we may be sure she would have been caustically +and penetratingly ironical. + +THE EXPLANATION OF OSCAR WILDE + +The case of Oscar Wilde, as one of the high tragedies of English +Literature and Life, attracted the attention of the whole world in its +heyday, and even today evokes controversy. As a literary figure and +artist, the poet of the Portrait of Dorian Gray, and "De Profundis," +belongs without a doubt to the immortals. As a convicted criminal, who +served for two years at hard labor in Reading jail, and afterwards, +a prey to chronic alcoholism, died in obscurity in Paris, he still +remains a subject of whispered conversation in private, and his crime +a taboo to the public, mentionable only at the risk of arousing the +terrible odium sexicum of the prurient majority. Oscar Wilde was a +homosexual of a certain type. In view of the previously laid down +considerations concerning the endocrine genesis of homosexuality, how +are we to explain him, and his natural history? + +As with the other exemplars of genius examined we need here, too, to +gain some insight into his "internal secretion heredity." His father, +Sir William Wilde, was a surgeon. Photographs of him show the long +and broad face of a pituito-adrenal centered individual, with +a corresponding duplex incarnation in the face, the upper half +strikingly spiritual, the lower curiously animal. + +He was active, practical and eminently successful. His wife recalls +Florence Nightingale, in face, figure and conduct (people who are +built alike as regards their internal secretions are those whom we +recognize as similar physically and psychically). She, too, was a +pituito-adrenal, and in so far resembled her husband. But as in a +woman ante-pituitary and adrenal superiority make for masculinity, +she must be classed as a masculinoid type of woman. She was socially +aggressive, and took part in the revolutionary movement of her time in +Ireland. Thus we find that Oscar Wilde was the result of a mating of +internal secretions acting in the same direction. The process might be +compared to parthenogenesis. + +It is on record that when enceinte his mother often expressed the +wish that her child be a girl. When a boy was born, she was immensely +disappointed. To compensate for her disappointment, she brought him up +a good deal like a little girl. She had him dressed in girls' clothes +at an age when most boys are violent destroyers of clothing. She would +hang massive jewelry upon him, for the delight of playing with the +resultant stage picture as a satisfaction for her discontented +desires. In the light of modern psychology, and our formulization of +her endocrine status, we must put down her conduct to a suppressed +homosexual craving. Had her son been built along the lines of strong +emphatic masculinity, her influence, though vicious, would probably +have found no congenial soil, and would have died out altogether after +his contacts with the outer world, beginning with school. No matter +how she would have conditioned his vegetative system temporarily, +his internal secretions, released then from compression, would have +asserted themselves and determined his fate differently. However, it +is quite possible that if such had been the case Oscar Wilde, the +aesthete, the paradoxer, the disciple of Walter Pater and Baudelaire, +would have stayed in the land of the to be born. I mean that then +we would not have had Oscar Wilde, but another person, genius or +commonplace, who also might have borne the name of Oscar Wilde. + +That was not to be. The singular assortment of endocrines that mingled +their activities to make Oscar Wilde shaped a personality which we +must classify as the thymocentric (thymus-centered). Why this should +be so is an interesting question. Pituito-adrenal plus pituito-adrenal +of his heredity should make two pituito-adrenals according to +elementary arithmetic and the rule of three. A cancellation of the two +factors of the equation rather than addition seems to have occurred. +The result was a persistent thymus superiority, with an instability of +the other two main glands involved. + +How do we know that Oscar Wilde was a thymocentric? Because in his +fullest development he exhibited all the earmarks of the thymus +pattern. We possess a number of good pictures and descriptions of him, +as he was really a contemporary, and would probably be alive today +if he had been put in a hospital for proper treatment instead of in +prison. An excellent description is that of Henri de Regnier's: "This +foreigner (Wilde) was _tall_, and of _great corpulence_. A _high_ +complexion seemed to give still greater width to his clean shaven +face. It was the _unbearded_ (glabre) face that one sees on coins. The +_hands_ ... were rather _fleshy_ and _plump_." The points of immediate +interest are the height, the complexion and the beardlessness. One +classic variety of the thymocentric is tall, has a baby's skin, and +has little or no hair on the face. A passage from a narrative written +by one of his warders confirms the last condition decidedly. "Before +leaving his cell to see a visitor, he was alway careful to conceal, as +far as possible, his unshaven chin by means of his red handkerchief." +Bristles on the chin, with little or none on the cheeks, is the +inference. It is important to stress the thymocentric significance of +this glabrosity of the face. Another sign to be put in italics was the +quality of his voice. It has been described as a beautiful tenor, when +he had it under perfect control, and high pitched and strident when +under the influence of passion or temper. Such a voice would be the +product of a larynx remaining partly or completely in the infantile +state, as in a woman's. That, and the large breasts he is said to have +had, point again to the thymus-centered constitution. All in +all, there can be no doubt that Oscar Wilde was a case of status +lymphaticus, the technical name for the thymus-centered personality. + +As happens in a number of thymocentrics, his pituitary must have +attempted to compensate for the endocrine deficiencies always present +in them. The exceptional size of his head was a pituitary trait. +Finding, possibly making, plenty of room for itself to grow, for some +unknown reason, in an extraordinary fashion, it reinforced the love of +the beautiful that is part of the feminine post-pituitary nature, with +an intellectual ability and maturity that was at first all-conquering. +In the face of a society organized for pure masculine and pure +feminine types, disgrace and disaster at last overtook him with almost +the ruthlessness of natural selection wiping out an unadapted sport +suddenly cropping up in an environment. In prison he suffered from +severe splitting headaches, which were probably due to changes in his +pituitary. Described as being directly over the eyes, they haunted him +until his death, and may have had a good deal to do with the absinthe +addiction he acquired. + +THE TREATMENT OF GENIUS + +The problem of Oscar Wilde raises an ethical question that still +remains to be finally answered. Granting that all of society should +one day see him and his kind as a peculiar and specific constitutional +product of an odd intermixture of internal secretions, what should +be done with him and them? It is easy to play with words like +"degenerates." But still, we do not condemn imbeciles, idiots or +defectives, or other substandard, subnormal creatures to the prisons. +For the sake of the good opinion society would maintain of itself, +it sends the latter nowadays to hospitals, sanitaria, or their +equivalents, where protection for itself without punishment for them +may be practised. But is confinement, or even treatment the solution? +For we have to consider what society would lose by cutting such +abnormals off from itself, and them from its stimulations. A number +of artists have been built like Oscar Wilde, musicians in particular. +Without them, would there not be a great gap, a yawning absence, in +the world's culture? + +Modern diagnosis and modern therapy might have done a great deal for +Napoleon, Nietzsche, Julius Caesar, Florence Nightingale, Oscar Wilde. +Were they alive today, and willing to submit themselves to scientific +scrutiny, the X-ray would tell us of the state of the pituitary and +thymus in them, chemical examinations of the blood the condition of +the thyroid and adrenals, detailed investigation of the body and mind +a flood of light upon their maladies as well as their personalities. +Therapy might have relieved Napoleon of his attacks, and so, halting +the creeping degeneration of his pituitary, made Waterloo impossible. +But then, would we have had the Emperor at all? Would there have been +enough of that instability that drives on the genius to his goal? +Nietzsche might have been relieved of his headaches, and Caesar of +his epilepsy--but then, would not--with correction of the underlying +streams of activity on the part of the other glands of the internal +secretion to compensate--their peculiar superiority and distinction, +and the fruits of their lives as by-products, have been destroyed. +Florence Nightingale, too, might have been a softer and more human +person. But then would she have revolutionized the practice of +nursing? Oscar Wilde possibly might have been made over into a +heterosexual. But then would not the world be the poorer without "De +Profundis," let us ask? To state the problem in the most general +terms: how much abnormality are we to tolerate (I speak, of course, of +malignant abnormality, and disregard benign abnormality altogether) +for the sake of the valuable that is concomitant? How much are we +to stand of that which degrades the germ-plasm while it raises the +mind-plasm of the race? The Flowers of Evil. Destroy or modify the +roots, change the seed, and the buds will bloom, if at all, not +orchids, but dull brown commonplaces. + +What means may be licensed for the attainment of a worthy end is +perhaps the broadest aspect of the problem. The instruments of Man's +ascent to divinity may arouse his instinctive repulsions, dislikes, +and destructive passions. The study of the internal secretions is +putting and will put the most powerful apparatus for the control of +the abnormal into our hands. What are we going to do with them? + +It does not follow that because we are beginning to understand the +normal that we are to establish one fixed absolute standard of the +normal. In view of all the possible mixtures, permutations and +combinations of the endocrine glands, that may construct an +individual, it is possible to conceive a million types of normals. +For normality means harmony, the harmonious equilibrium between the +hormones, which tends to continue itself, because it does no harm to +itself. So there are all sorts and conditions of men and women who +are classed as normals. We need create no inquiry into the value of +raising the subnormal to the normal level. It is when we come to +consider the possibility of lowering the supernormal (in certain +respects) to the normal, that we pause and hesitate. Traditional +morality assists not, but hinders us here. + +Whatever the race may ultimately decide, it is safe to predict that it +is now somewhat possible, and will become more and more possible, to +regulate or even check the ills of genius, without interfering with +its highest evolution and expression. For example, Bernard Shaw, to +take a living man of genius, is pretty visibly a pituitocentric of the +well-balanced variety. He has the height, the facial features, the +hands, and the sort of mentality that run together in his endocrine +make-up. He also has the headaches. It is quite probable that feeding +him pituitary gland extract in the proper dosage would relieve him of +his headaches. A process might be started in his pituitary, however, +that would diminish its extraordinary output which has assisted +to make his brain so brilliant. The possibility, nevertheless, +is excessively remote as the pituitary predominance in him is so +overwhelming, that nothing short of surgery, nature's or the medical +graduate's, could really affect that overmastering eminence. The time +will come, though it is not yet by a long, long road, when we shall +be able to intervene, and perhaps meddle, in nature's most intimate +plans. The right of the power to modify, like the power to kill, will +be defined and limited by common agreement before that goal will be +reached. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +APPLICATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES + + +The knowledge that the shape and action of a man's body as well as +his mind depend on the internal secretions inspires the hope of the +emergence of a hitherto inconceivable controlling power over human +life in the future. For in the wake of chemical discovery there has +always come chemical control. The nature of chemical research, the +necessity for clear thinking, accurate measurement, and experience +in the actual handling of materials, the fundamental tradition and +technique of the science, have made and will make the practical +applications about which we today may only speculate. What the study +of the internal secretions suffers from, at the beginning of the third +decade of the twentieth century, is insufficient appreciation of its +meaning for mankind. It is true that there are thousands of workers +scattered throughout the world contributing their mites to the general +store. They increase yearly, almost daily, and their achievements, +in spite of an uncritical enthusiasm in some quarters and a +semi-charlatanism in others, have been and continue magnificent. But +they are pecking at a mountain which requires organized, massive, +engineering organization for its blasting. + +The crying need is for an international institute, endowed and +equipped for investigation upon the proper scale, with all the +available appliances and methods already worked out and at hand. Such +an institution would possess the right chemical laboratories for +the making of blood analyses, metabolism examinations, and tests of +endocrine functions. There would be X-ray machines and experts to +radiograph the pituitary, pineal and thymus glands when possible. +There would be psychologists to carry out intelligence tests, +determine emotional reactions, and group mental aberrations, +deficiencies and defectives. There would be statisticians, trained in +biometrics, to criticize and compare data obtained. There would be +anthropoligists to note and measure variations in angles and curves, +ratios and quotients of the external conformation of the body. +Internists would record the history and status of the organs and +viscera. There would be librarians to collect, abstract and collate +the vast, accumulating literature. In short, the mystery of +personality, the most marvelous, complex, and variable process in the +universe, would be attacked and at length penetrated systematically +and persistently, with the ideal of absolute control of its +composition as the goal in view. + +The nature of the researches? They would be infinite in their variety +and significance. Their practical by-products, dropped in the pursuit +of knowledge by the scientist, as Atalanta's lover the golden apples +in his race, to assuage the scent of the hard-headed business man, +would be profitable enough for any country in peace or war, to pay +for itself ten times over and at compound interest. A volume could be +filled with suggestions for interesting and promising investigations. +But we may glance at some of the immediately useful aspects that might +exercise those concerned with the everyday life of men, women and +children. + +THE ENDOCRINE EPOCHS OF LIFE + +There is no more famous classifications of the epochs of life +that mark off the milestones of the individual's evolution than +Shakespeare's Seven Ages. So different is he at those different stages +of his development, so changed his body and mind that it has become a +part of popular physiology that we are entirely made over every seven +years, and that no cell in the organism lasts longer than that. The +tradition certainly does not apply to the brain and nervous system, +for the number of brain cells is fixed at birth, and cannot be +increased, only decreased, because they are too highly specialized to +reproduce themselves. + +What transfigures the individual as the years go by is no simple wear +and tear of the tissues, nor the replacement of old cells by new. It +is the rearrangement of relationships among the ductless glands, the +shifting of influences from the predominant to the subordinate, and +vice versa, in the constellation of the internal secretions, that +determines the unfolding of the personality. The transformations raise +doubt sometimes as to the reality of personal identity. What actually +happens in the changes from childhood to adolescence, from adolescence +to maturity, and so on, is the sloughing of one internal glandular +dominance for another. + +Growth, as a general name for the mutations, the ensemble of somatic +and psychic differentiation, from year to year, passes through five +epochs that are standard for the normal. The normal is the being who +harmonizes with his environment, and yet reacts with it because of +recurring needs within him. His endocrine equation settles what is +unique and different in him. But the gland which flourishes during the +epoch as its time of triumph, when it has its day, determines what +makes him like his fellows. + +From this point of view it becomes permissible to speak of the five +Endocrine Epochs. Similarities and resemblances of mind and body +between people at a given period of life, childhood, youth, maturity +must be put down to their common government by the salient endocrine +of the epoch. So one may list: + + Infancy as the epoch of the thymus + Childhood as the epoch of the pineal + Adolescence as the epoch of the gonads + Maturity as the epoch of whatever gland is left in control as the + result of the life struggle. + Senility as the epoch of general endocrine deficiency. + +Infancy as the epoch of the thymus explains why, in any given +geographic locality, the babies look alike and act alike. Specialists +in the observation and treatment of infants have noted that not until +after the second year is any tendency to differentiation discernible +to any extent among them. It is only after the second year, or +somewhere around that time, that the child begins to individuate, and +distinct individual traits and a personality manifest their outlines. +The thymus is the great inhibitor of all the glands of internal +secretion. By its checking activity upon the other members of the +endocrine system, the thyroid and pituitary in particular, it gives +the baby time to grow in bulk, which is its chief business during the +first two years of its existence. It quadruples its birth weight. The +brain and nervous system complete their growth in mass by the end of +the fourth year. Recall the experiments of Gudernatsch working with +tadpoles, who showed that feeding with thymus produced giant tadpoles +whose metamorphosis into frogs was inhibited, while feeding thyroid +produced frogs the size of flies. Differentiation occurred without the +preliminary increase in mass usual. As differentiation and bulk thus +appear antagonistic, at least at the beginning of growth, the function +of the thymus, at a maximum during infancy, seems then to be to +restrain the differentiating endocrines, until sufficient material +has been accumulated by the organism upon which the differentiating +process may work. + +After the second year, the thymus begins to shrink. That is to say, +officially its involution begins. Careful dissection will demonstrate +some thymus tissue even in a normal subject up to the fourteenth year. +This refers to the average normal, for the large thymus may continue +large and grow larger after the second year in the type of individual +designated in a preceding chapter as the thymocentric. + +If the thymus retrogresses after the second year, what takes its place +as a brake upon the forward driving impulses of the other endocrines? +We have every reason for assigning that role to the pineal. It +performs its service mainly, in all probability, by inhibiting the +sex stimulating effect of light playing upon the skin. Since it is +especially a sex gland inhibitor, the thyroid and pituitary become +freer to exert their influences than under the thymus regime. And so +we find that it is after the second year that thyroid and pituitary +tendencies manifest their effects. The Pineal Era, from the second +to the tenth to fourteenth years, remains to be investigated from a +number of viewpoints interesting to the parent, the educator, and +the student of puericulture. Precocity is directly related to early +involution of the pineal. For just as the thymus involutes at the +second year, the pineal atrophies before the onset of adolescence. + +Adolescence is the period of stress and strain throughout the somatic +and psychic organism because of the volcanic upheavals in the sex +glands. The history of the individual is dominated by them up to +twenty-five or so, when maturity commences in the sense of a relative +sex stability. They continue to exert a powerful pressure throughout +maturity. But life episodes and crises, diseases, accidents, and +struggles, experiences of pleasure and pain, as well as climatic +factors, settle finally which endocrine or endocrines are left in +control as a consequence of the series of reactions the period of +maturity may be analyzed into. + +THE INTERPRETATION OF SENILITY + +Senility inevitably follows maturity, not as night follows day by a +mathematical necessity, but because of the process of degeneration +which ultimately overtakes all the glands of internal secretion, +dominant as well as subordinate. Just why the degeneration must occur +no one can say. Injury to the endocrine organs of one sort or another, +ranging all the way from emotional exhaustion to bacterial infection, +is the reason usually considered sufficient. Just why recuperation and +regeneration do not preserve them in the elderly as they do in youth +is a problem to be solved when we understand the laws of regeneration, +at present almost totally beyond our control. Some say that it is a +matter of the wear and tear of our blood vessels, those rubber-like +tubes which transport food and drainage with nonchalant equanimity to +all cells as long as they last. In the classic phrase: a man is as +old as his arteries, ergo his ductless glands will be as old as their +arteries. And the age of arteries is simply a matter of wear and tear, +the resultant of the function which is universal among molecules. +Arteriosclerosis, the hardening of arteries, might be the whole story. + +But there are certain experiments and considerations which rather +confute that easy explanation, or at least make clear that the mystery +is not so simple. The work of Steinach, a Viennese investigator, has +contributed most to the elucidation of the nonarterial factor in +senility. No one has asserted more loudly the importance of the +interstitial cells that fill in the spaces between the tubules of the +testes in the male, and the follicles of the ovary in females. Rats +have been his medium of study, for they are most easily procurable, +live fastest, breed, and withstand experimental and operative +procedures better than any other animal. + +An old rat is like an old man in his dotage. His bald, shrivelled skin +covers an emaciated body. His eyes are dimmed by cataracts and his +breathing is labored and difficult because his heart muscle has lost +its tone. Huddled in a corner, life to him has become concentrated +into the desire for a little food, and immobility. If now, something +is done to his sex apparatus, a marvelous transformation may be +effected. That something no one could predict. It consists in slitting +the genital duct, which leads from the germinal cells to the exterior. +After the operation, the germinal cells, which grow into the +spermatozoa, atrophy and disappear, since they can no longer function. +As if released from some restraint, the interstitial cells, however, +multiply enormously. With their multiplication, the miracle of +rejuvenation is performed. + +After some weeks the sluggish currents of being in the rat, which had +slowed down as a preliminary to stopping altogether, flow fast and +furious. Waves of new chemical substances inundate his cells. And they +respond like the fields that border the Nile after the annual flood. +All his tissues, skin, muscle, nerve, even bone, are restored. A +vitality is created which makes him bound and dart like a youth of his +species. In due time, though, senility returns. It is as if a storage +battery, recharged, runs down and becomes dead again. Slitting the +genital duct of the other testis, causing its interstitial cells to +hypertrophy and multiply, repeats the effects of the first experiment. +The organism responds again to the new waves of vitality that vibrate +through it. That it is recharged is demonstrated again by a revival of +sex appetite and sex activity. The female which had become an object +of indifference is reinstated as a creature to be sought and pursued. +The second period ends in its turn. And now entirely new interstitial +glands, in the form of fresh testes removed from a young animal, are +transplanted into the body of the old rat. Once more youth returns. +But now it burns itself more quickly than even before. An acute +exhaustion of the mind appears first. Then all the other phenomena of +old age steal back upon the old rat, and senility, firmly established +in the saddle, rides him to the end. + +THE POSSIBILITIES OF REJUVENATION + +Whatever other deductions may be extracted from these experiments, +they prove beyond a doubt the existence of an endocrine factor in the +process of aging, as well as an arterial. They also demonstrate that +the internal secretion of the sex glands, well advertised as it has +been as the Elixir of Youth that Ponce de Leon, and Brown-Sequard with +so many others, pursued in vain, is not the whole story. For if it +was, the duration of the new youth should be another span of life, +whereas in actuality it is only a fraction of that time. This fact, +together with a number of others, make clear that while the gonads may +be the jeune premier of the drama, the vitality of the plot depends +upon the other endocrines. Since old age is an exhaustion, permanent +and irreparable of _all_ the members of the ductless gland +directorate, the reason becomes clear for the temporary quality of the +rejuvenation effected by the procedures of Steinach. + +Practically, then, the question at once arises: which of the glands in +particular are involved? There is first that ubiquitous agent in the +system, the thyroid. Chemical analysis of it has shown that the +iodine content decreases with the age of the individual, and becomes +specially low after forty. It is after the menopause in women that +myxedema, the disease of complete degeneration of the thyroid, and of +the physical and mental faculties, is most frequent. The thyroid +of old people exhibits, in varying degrees, signs of a similar +degeneration. Thyroid feeding, properly controlled, will clear up +certain of the deteriorations of mind and body observable in the aged. +The grossness of the features lessens, a number of the pains go, +muscular endurance increases, memory and intelligence do not remind +one so forcibly of the old dotard in his second childhood. Of course +the improvement at present achievable is only relative. But in the +prematurely aging, decay invading a half accomplished maturity, +marvels have been achieved at times with feeding of the gland. + +The pituitary, too, begins to retrogress after the period of maturity. +And an early retrogression means a short maturity. In women, the onset +of an obesity, and coincidently, of a lazy and dull morale, coincides +with this declension of the pituitary powers. All the glands of +internal secretion, in fact, shrink and shrivel as old age advances. +Only, as in other relationships, the predominating endocrine stamps +its signature more visibly upon the documents of decadence than the +others. Pituitary types, as said, get fat and slow, thyroidal become +bulky and stupid or thin and sour, the adrenal dark, shrunken and +forever tired of life. So type emerges, even in all-around glandular +deficiency. + +The problem of rejuvenation is the problem of recharging, or replacing +all of the glands of internal secretion, at least the most important, +the thyroid, the pituitary and the adrenals, as well as the gonads. +Longevity is perhaps largely a matter of preventing, or postponing +their wane. Beside, there is the prophylaxis of bacterial infections, +and their all embracing corrosions--which, too, have an endocrine +aspect. + +Persistence of youth or juvenility may be manufactured by nature in +two ways. There may be a persistence of early glandular predominances. +We have seen what happens to the thymocentric. That a pineal-centered +juvenile or infantile type exists may be safely predicted. Nature's +only other mode of securing perpetual youth seems to be by prolonging +the time allotted to the sex gland crescendo. + +As for the golden age of maturity itself, what humdrum people and +poets have despised as middle age, the margin of reserve of the ruling +hormone is a quantity almost malleable in our hands, but still to be +regarded with respect as a hard cold proposition by the physiologist. +In general, the continuance of any stage of development means the +maintaining of the glandular administration peculiar to it. So the +chubby debonair irresponsible whom nothing can touch is happy in the +possession of a pineal uncorrupted by the years, while the genius who +can turn out his best work at sixty-five must thank his pituitary for +standing by him to the end. + +THE SCIENCE OF PUERICULTURE + +There is a specialty now growing in the womb of science which in its +own good time will come to fruition as the study of the child's needs +or puericulture. Even today there exists a scientific basis for the +formulation of the principles upon which every child should be brought +up. Though we have had marvelous results from the campaigns to lower +infantile mortality, most of what has been done has been medical in +its interest, and so largely negative in its accomplishments. The +removal of the causes of evil no doubt gives the good its opportunity. +But how to raise a child, endowed with satisfactory ancestral stuff, +as a Grade A normal or supernormal, still remains to be erected into +an exact science. + +A number of attempts have been abortive in this field. Why they have +failed to arouse the ardor of the parent has puzzled some of the +pioneers. Child-culture as the foundation of all systems of education +has continued more or less of a hope rather than an achievement +because of a lack of appreciation of the different constitutional +varieties of children. A certain amount of attention has been lavished +upon children needing special attention, those mainly suffering from +insufficient development of one sort or another. In the last decade or +so, an endeavour to focus upon the exceptional child, exceptional +in intelligence or some special creative endowment, has started an +interesting movement. All of them have suffered from the fallacies and +troubles of the pure psychologist who would handle mind as an entity +in a vacuum. + +A realization of the different physical and psychic educational +needs of various children will arrive only when we see them as built +differently. Just as shoddy and silk, cotton and wool, alone or in +combination, all possess different qualities as wearing material, so +different children have varying capacities for the wear and tear of +education. The endocrine classification of the human race, applied +to children, will here yield a harvest to the educator and to the +country. Nothing is more evident than the diversified nature of the +needs of the various internal secretion types, once they are realized +as such. + +The history of a thymocentric type, for instance, is predictable from +the very first few months of his life. Difficulties in feeding, in +habit formation and adaptation, in the reaction to infections, in +social play and so on, one may expect for him. The course of events +for the other endocrine types also follow laws of their own. It will +be above all in the _understanding_ of children, their make-up, +reactions and powers, that the biologist will achieve some of his +finest triumphs. + +The educator will have to take account of the state of the pituitary +in estimating the normal intelligence, or influencing the abnormal or +subnormal intelligence. As well will he have to consider the thyroid +in the child whose conduct is refractory, even though his proficiency +in his studies is excellent. And the condition of the adrenal will be +ascertained in the types that tire easily, and that seem unable to +make the effort necessary or desirable. Periodic seasonal and critical +fluctuations in the equilibrium among the hormones will have to be +taken into account in the explanation of what have hitherto been put +down to laziness, naughtiness, stupidity, or obstinacy. + +A child's capacity for education, essentially its capacity for the +highest and most productive kind of life, is limited by inherent +factors. These factors are two: the quality of the nerve tissue, its +ability to make a number of associations, and the quantity of the +internal secretions, measured by the maximum obtainable in a given +situation. These inherent factors explain, too, why children born +and bred in virtually the same environment show the most extreme +differences in educability. That the differences are inherited was +made evident by Galton's finding that the chance of the son of an +eminent man exhibiting eminent ability was 500 times as great as that +of the son of a man taken at random. + +Every baby, then, is born with a combination of nerve cells and +ductless glands which determine its capacity for mental development, +that might never be realized, but could never be exceeded. If, in any +family, minor differences in educability are observed, they can be +put down to disturbance of these two factors occurring after the +fertilized germ cell had started to divide and reproduce itself. But +any marked falling off in either the nervous or endocrine factors has +to be considered pathologic, due to an impairment of them by adverse +environment. + +Recent studies have amply established that the proportion of +certifiable mental defectives, and of a much larger class, the +subnormal but not certifiable class, is progressing by leaps and +bounds. It is perhaps the most absurd frailty of our present system +of education that it takes almost no account of innate differences in +educability. To spend money upon the teaching of these children along +lines where they are unteachable is not only waste pure and simple, +but crime, for it deprives the educables of their just due. + +These, of course, are the crude and simple lines upon which the finer +and more complex evolution of the endocrine problems of the school +child will build. The fine art of education itself is crude and gross +and simple compared with what it might be, even as a beginning. The +science of education has yet to begin, as the offspring of that +science of the future, to which knowledge of the internal secretions +will contribute no little, the science of puericulture. + +VOCATIONAL EDUCATION + +It is difficult, indeed, to avoid becoming merely enthusiastic upon +the possibilities of the applications of the endocrines to the +educational domain. Happiness for the average individual consists of +a double success--success in his vocation (chosen or forced upon him) +and success in his sex life. A certain hue and cry has been raised in +the last few years concerning the vast and overwhelming importance of +sex in the happiness and even in the successes of a man's everyday +life. And no doubt there is a relation. Sublimation plays its part in +the explanation of vocational idiosyncrasies. The fact, however, that +perfect success in sex may occur with absolute failure in the career, +however, splits the problem for good into its realities: a physiologic +aspect as well as a psychologic. + +So, as school education will have to take serious account of endocrine +anomalies and possibilities, will the institution which selects and +trains for a career. Vocational misfits have aroused the ardor of our +efficiency experts. And again, the sweeping psychological attack has +beaten its head against the stonewall of ignorance of constitutional +predispositions and tendencies of material. The attempt to erect +psychologic types for vocational selections could never make much +headway because it could only flounder in a swamp of metaphors, +product of the vices of its methods. Not that anyone would wish to +discard at all the psychologic mode of approach. But no science, in +the sense of accurate examination, was possible, in the matter of +classification for vocation, without the insight into the physiology +of the candidate that the analysis of his endocrine formula will +provide. + +One need not dilate upon the value of such an examination. +Civilization has not yet learned how to pick its personnel. And so +artists and scientists, philosophers and politicians, financiers and +religious leaders, arise and survive by the operation of the laws of +probabilities and chances, rather than by any intelligent selection +and cultivation of material. The case, indeed, is simply a subdivision +of the vast subject: haphazard muddle in the conduct of life. A cry +has been raised for the superman, and a cry has been raised for a +method of anthropometry. For the lack of these two, it has been +said, all governments have been doomed to defeat. The study of the +endocrines will by no means supply a panacea. But as it will furnish a +means of approach to the determination of how men and women are built, +and why they are built differently, no one can gainsay the tremendous +advantages to the nation that will proceed to classify its population +accordingly, and know its strength and weakness in terms of the actual +generators of success and failure. + +Suggestions have been offered in the preceding pages of concrete +applications of endocrine knowledge to the understanding of behaviour, +of the genius and commonplace, criminal and Puritan. And in the +chapter on historic personages, we tracked some of the story in +detail. This vein when explored will quarry untold riches. It has been +observed that financiers of mark, like great musicians, are special +pituitary types. Also that the financiers are voracious meat eaters +and the musicians inordinately fond of sweets. Differences in anterior +and posterior predominances might account for this. That we are +playing here with no phantasy is proven by the fact that we can effect +changes of tastes as well as of intellectual direction by appropriate +feeding of various glandular extracts. Just as much, indeed, as we can +influence sex susceptibility, and the reaction to sex stimulation, by +the artificial introduction from without of the proper hormones. + +FATIGUE AND INDUSTRY + +In industry, business and profession, the biologist will come more and +more to be called as consultant. Labor unions as well as the large +employers of labor, and their employment managers have given much +thought to the problem of fatigue. Just what fatigue is, why different +individuals tire at different rates, why some are constructed for +monotonous routine while others must have constant variety and change, +the relation to accidents and to quantity output, are a few of the +major lines of inquiry upon which the endocrines obviously have a +large bearing. To the employment manager, labor turnover and the +selection of personnel are adjacent fields of research. + +Fatigue as an endocrine deficiency--a depressed state of one or +more of the glands of internal secretion, abolished when its normal +functioning is restored--is a general principle from which departures +of exploration of sub-problems will proceed. An endocrine organ will +secrete at a certain rate. When it is stimulated excessively, it will +eject extra amounts of its secretion. How long the period of excessive +stimulation may last must depend upon the secretion potential or +margin of reserve of the cells, varying from organ to organ, and from +individual to individual. After that, exhaustion and failure follows, +with the onset of the symptoms of fatigue. + +A pretty demonstration of this process has been worked out in the +electrical stimulation of muscle. If a muscle, say the biceps, is +irritated by an electric current, it will contract. As the strength of +the current is increased, the degree of contraction becomes greater. +A sort of stepladder effect of increasing contractions may be thus +obtained. After a time, the electric shocks cannot cause a greater +contraction, but only a lesser. And if continued, the muscle will +cease to function because of fatigue. If now, when the muscle begins +to lag in its response, and its contractions to decrease, one injects +into a vein extracts of thyroid, parathyroid, or adrenal glands, they +will immediately reinvigorate the failing contractions. The injections +must be made before the fatigue is carried to the point of absolute +exhaustion. It follows that these glands normally pour into the +circulation substances which counteract the effect of fatigue +substances, and in fact make possible muscular recuperation from +fatigue throughout the day as well as in emergencies and crises. + +Fatigue, conventionally recognized, is something acute and urgent. As +such it means a violent draining of the endocrine wells. But there +is also a chronic fatigue, which has been dignified with the name of +Fatigue Disease. Bernard Shaw once asked for someone to tell him +the name of the germ causing the symptoms of overwork. That being +impossible, he will have to be satisfied with the answer that it is +not a germ, but an internal secretion, or rather a defect of internal +secretion that is the cause. + +Whether or not the adrenals have been damaged by past experiences, +and upon their capacity to respond to the necessities of an occasion, +fatigue reactions primarily depend. A quotation from Sir James +MacKenzie, most distinguished of modern English students of medicine, +summarizes the matter neatly. "Abelous, and Langlois and Albanese have +studied the relation of the adrenal bodies to fatigue.... They infer +that the muscular weakness following removal of the adrenals is due +to toxic substances. In view of our present knowledge of the +physiological action of adrenaline in its various forms, it seems more +probable that the weakness is to be explained by the absence of the +normal tone producing internal secretions of the bodies in question." +In other words, the adrenals regulate muscle tone. They produce +nature's tonics for weary tissues. The chronic lassitude of thousands +of our generation, suffering from "that tired feeling," may be put +down to chronic adrenal insufficiency. + +It requires no superlative imagination to see that an adrenal poor +subject does not belong upon a job that involves muscle stress over a +long period, or indeed fatiguing conditions of any sort. Nor that a +thyroid poor individual is not the best choice for a position that +demands a keen, alert body and mind. In the selection of executives, +the nature and stamina of the pituitary will undoubtedly be taken very +seriously in the near future. + +A certain hocus-pocus concerning character reading, a perverted +revival of the ancient phrenology and physiognomy, has invaded the +employment territory in America as the newest charlatanism. The study +of the internal secretions, including blood and X-ray examinations, +will surely assist the demand for a truly scientific estimate +of constitution and character that can be relied upon in the +classification and distribution of personnel. + +THE PROSPECTS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH + +By their effects upon the endocrines, public health influences like +food, clothing, sleep and overpressure and last but not least, +_disease_, the so-called diseases of childhood, possess a tremendous +importance in limiting the output of the educable. They act to +subtract from and so to lower the rating, the capacity of the +germ-plasm. Most material and vital of these influences are the common +diseases of children, for they strike directly at the glands of +internal secretion. + +Measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, mumps, and the others have long +been accepted as providential visitations for sins known or unknown. +That children had to have them and were better off when they had them +has become part of the tradition of the laity, fostered by the lazy +ignorance of previous medical generations. But today we are beginning +to ask ourselves why children must have these endemic infections +of their age. The pathologist goes farther and asks the reason for +certain apparent immunities. He asks why the little boy who sleeps +with his brother sick with scarlet fever does not contract the +disease, even though not protected by a previous attack. + +Determining why susceptibility to a special disease in a particular +case exists will constitute the greatest line of advance for the +understanding and prevention of disease, and so the perfection of +public health. In the last influenza epidemic countless physicians +were puzzled by the spectacle of men and women in the pink of +condition carried off in twenty-four hours while puny associates were +either passed over, or pooh-poohed their colds. Pathologists have +spent their energies fruitfully upon the infectious causes of disease, +the microbes and parasites especially. But now, having solved most of +those problems, the vital question of why an organism permits itself +to be attacked is pushing itself to the front. Why a peculiar ailment +selects its victim, why the bacillus finds a fertile soil, is the +neglected problem, which must be solved before the abolition of +disease and its carriers will be remotely conceivable. + +Long ago, Hippocrates, revered founder of the art of medicine, +recognized that there was a specific affinity of disease for +individuals with more or less the same characteristic somatic and +psychic traits and trends. Tuberculosis, for instance, was noted for +its frequency in long-skeletoned, thin persons, remarkably optimistic. +And the plethoric, choleric nature of the sufferer from gout has +become proverbial. Before the era of the great bacteriologic +discoveries of the eighties and nineties, the concordance of esoteric +racial and personal markings was a great help in diagnosis to the +physician. For he realized, though he sometimes credited it to his +clinical intuition, that it was a certain type of personality that was +liable to the specific disease. + +But personality and its reactions, normal and abnormal, are determined +by the endocrines. So we should find that particular infections +run with special internal glandular predominances. For the picture +presented by an infection, temperature, rash, prostration, are the +details of the general reaction of the organism in the face of a +new situation, the presence of a powerful, destructive invader. +Information has accumulated that the invader is powerful and +destructive, as well as selective, because of endocrine deficiency of +one sort or another in the body it has attacked. Work of a number of +investigators has indicated that an individual's susceptibility or its +reverse, resistance, is intimately subjected to the derangements or +harmonies of the endocrine system. + +Comparison of the endocrine type and the disease assaulting has +yielded an even more interesting principle. Knowing the state of the +internal secretion reservoirs enables us to predict the liability to +certain of these infections of childhood. Diphtheria has been found to +occur most virulently among adrenal poor individuals. Moreover, they +are left poorer in adrenal afterwards. It follows that they would be +assisted by the feeding of adrenal. Mumps is a sickness that sometimes +permanently injures the gonads: the testes or ovaries. The thyroid +dominant, whose system is rich in thyroid, will rarely suffer from any +of the common diseases of children--if at all, from measles. Op the +other hand, those who have every infection of the period, and who, as +their mothers say, seem to get everything, are those whose system +is thyroid poor. Thyroid poverty is a splendid enticement to the +universal microbe. The thymocentric stands all diseases poorly. The +pituitary type is more liable to epidemic meningitis and infantile +paralysis, typhoid and scarlet fever. + +The public health officer of the future will be armed with a new +weapon in his fight against the spread of an epidemic. He will be able +to classify the endocrine traits of the population exposed, and to +advise a course of glandular feeding for the types specially liable. +The Schick test for diphtheria susceptibility is an illustration +of one method of approach to the problem of the epidemiologist in +settling who needs protection. The endocrines will assist him in the +great body of diseases for which no immunity test is at hand. Should +another influenza epidemic come along, for instance, the proper +handling, from the endocrine standpoint, of the thymocentrics and +the related adrenocentrics would help considerably in lowering the +mortality. + +Endocrine types have other tendencies, which when studied and +controlled, will decimate the great assassins of middle age: heart +disease and kidney disease, with accompanying degenerations of the +blood vessels and circulation. The adrenocentric tends to get up a +hyperacidity of the stomach and a high blood pressure, besides certain +forms of diseases of the lungs. The thyrocentric is predisposed to +heart disease, as well as intestinal disturbances. The pituitocentric +is liable to periodic and cyclic upsets in his health. + +Narcotism, the craving for narcotic or stimulant drugs, and its +subvariety, alcoholism, has been found most often among the +thymocentrics. Any type of endocrine inferiority, interfering with +success in life, may lead to the habit of drug addiction as one way +out. But the blood and tissues of the thymocentric appear to become +habituated to the narcotic stimulant more easily than the other types, +and so to demand it with a physical imperative comparable to the food +or sex urge. Among artists, philosophers and statesmen, on the other +hand, actively productive and so contrasted with criminals and +degenerates drug addiction has frequently been a mode of endocrine +compensation. That is, the drug produced temporarily the effects of +the internal secretion lacking or insufficient. Thus the effects of +cocaine may be compared with the effects of thyroid. But while there +is a normal mechanism for thyroid detoxication, the cocaine or heroin +derivatives mark the tissues permanently with their scars and deform +the personality. + +THE HYGIENE OF THE INTERNAL SECRETIONS + +All these protean expressions of endocrine determination may now begin +to be looked upon with the hopeful and optimistic attitude of him who +understands cause and effect and can control. The advances made in the +last ten years in the practical manipulation of the ductless glands +from without, the introduction of glandular extracts by feeding or +injection, and the modification of their structure and function by +surgery, the X-ray and radium, and other procedures, enable us +to regard more confidently the problems hitherto accepted as the +insoluble and intricate handiwork of Fate. Fate may have woven the +patterns of our being. But as we commence to probe the machinery and +to examine the looms more carefully, we begin to understand why the +wheels creak, and why there are seconds and odd lots in the product as +well as the rare and precious firsts. Moreover, we are learning how to +handle the machinery ourselves. The abdication of Fate can therefore +be confidently expected in due time. + +However, we have yet to begin, and we can begin with prevention. The +theory of Adler, that some organ inferiority is responsible for much +unhappiness in life has received much advertisement in conjunction +with the doctrines of the Freudians. It is a theory of little scope +when applied to the eyes, ears, heart and so on because only a small +minority of the cases are of that kind. But as we have seen, a +deficiency of an internal secretion, an endocrine inferiority, +reverberates throughout all the cells. Not only the mind, but all of +the members of the organism must strain and co-operate to make up for +the break in the balance. + +Endocrine inferiority is indeed the most frequent organic inferiority. +And we may explain a number of mental types upon that basis. Thus the +inferior gonado-centric, who has something wrong with his reproductive +organs, will evolve in one of two directions. If his adrenal and +thyroid are of poor quality, he will become the secluded introvert, +shut off from the interests of normal life. He will enter the +borderland of insanity if pituitary difficulties supervenes. If, on +the contrary, the adrenal, thyroid and pituitary are present in +a certain proportion, he will become the active, aggressive, +never-resting, keen, and relentless fanatic reformer. A woman who is +gonad deficient with a superior adrenal will suffer from virilism +and specialize in the extreme tactics and mythology of the feminist +movement. A number of life reactions are classifiable as the strivings +of endocrine inferior individuals to overcome their sense of +inferiority. The unconscious vegetative system and the system of +consciousness are both modified by the weakness of a link in the +glandular chain. + +What, therefore, is to be recommended in the prophylaxis of the +natural deterioration of the wells of life, the ductless glands? For +even if we may be able to replenish them when they dry up, would it +not be better to delay their dessication? The hormones reply to every +call of life and respond in every reaction. The normal constructive +process of their cells remanufactures what has been lost, and the +original capacity to respond is restored. If, though, the rate of +destruction and loss outruns the rate of repair and construction, they +will be permanently damaged. This is what occurs in shock, serious, +severe accidents and injuries, prolonged infections and diseases, +profound continued emotions, and the wear and tear of overwork. The +prevention of these excessive fatigues of the endocrine system in one +or all of its parts, and especially the prevention and enfeeblement of +the diseases of children which injure them at a period when they are +most sensitive to injury, is the task of the endocrine hygienist. +Periodic examinations, to check up the balance sheets of the hormone +factories and to measure the amount of their damage by means of blood +analyses, will provide the most valuable method in the campaign to +lengthen the productive and enjoying span of life. + +THE TREATMENT OF CRIME + +Endocrine hygiene will discover no wider or more fruitful area for +exploration and control than that of crime. For more than a generation +there have been attempts at a criminology, and a new understanding and +control of crime. In the United States a concomitant sentimentalism +has concocted measures like the honor system which, naturally failing +of their purpose, have undermined confidence in the idea of scientific +diagnosis and treatment of crime. As someone has noted, to ask a +criminal to promise not to misbehave, when discharged from prison, +is like asking a typhoid fever patient to promise not to have a +temperature above ninety-nine degrees the next morning. For a large +proportion of criminals--the percentage has yet to be determined, +although the most recent police commissioner of Chicago has estimated +it at ninety per cent--punishment for a period of time and then +letting him go free is like imprisoning a diphtheria carrier for a +while and then permitting him to commingle with his fellows and spread +the germ of diphtheria. + +Of course, the doctrine of responsibility is all tangled up with our +attitude towards and treatment of crime. Though clear thought makes +mandatory the recognition of a universal cause and effect law, +practical common sense has defined free will. Consent or the +withholding of consent to a given course of action has been the +criterion of responsibility. + +In practice, the limitation of responsibility will depend upon the +insertion of extraneous factors into the formula of consent. The +pragmatic test has been and will be the probability that the +correction of the somatic or psychic condition would have prevented or +will prevent the consent to the crime. As long as no such condition +will be demonstrable, society for its own protection will have to +confine the unfortunate individual. + +The character of the confinement, its duration, and the uses to which +it will be put should be dominated by the idea of discovering +the unknown criminal predisposition. If crime is an abnormality +scientifically studiable and controllable like measles, court +procedure and prison management will have to be transformed radically. +There is scattered throughout the world now a group of people who are +applying medical methods to the diagnosis and treatment of crime. They +are the pioneers who will be remembered in history as the compeers of +those who transformed the attitudes toward insanity and its therapy. +The insane were once condemned and handled as criminals are in most +civilized countries yet. The criminologic laboratory as an adjunct to +the court of justice, like that associated with the court of +Chief Justice Olson in Chicago, remains to be universalized. What +contribution to a more rational treatment of the criminal will the +study of the internal secretions make? + +It has been shown that the greater number of convicts are mentally and +morally subnormal. To explain the subnormality, the criminologist +has conducted and will continue to conduct investigations into the +heredity and early environment of the criminal, his education and +occupation, the social and religious influences to which he was +subjected, and the intelligence test quotient. The conditioning of the +vegetative system and the endocrine status of the prisoner, however, +will without a doubt come to occupy the leading positions in any +interpretation of crime in the future. + +Introspective observation of pre-criminal states of mind by so-called +normal persons reveals that in many of them there is an impairment of +reason and will power, in others an exaltation amounting almost +to hysteria. What are these but endocrine states of the cells, +experimentally reproducible by increasing or decreasing the influence +of the thyroid, the adrenals, the pituitary? Crimes of passion may be +traced in no small part to disturbances of the thyroid. A psychologic +examiner of a Pittsburgh court, interested in the subject, has found +an enlarged thyroid in over ninety per cent of delinquent girls. +Similarly, crimes of violence may be ascribed to a profound break +in the adrenal equilibrium. Criminal tendencies in women during +menstruation and pregnancy, periods of deep-seated mutation in the +internal glandular system, have long been noted. A kleptomania, +uncontrollable desire to steal, confined to the duration of pregnancy +alone, has been described. We have seen how the thymocentric, +especially if he possesses a small bony case for his pituitary, is +predisposed to crime. A recent study of twenty murderers in the State +of West Virginia showed them all to have a persistent thymus and the +thymocentric constitution. A study of the recidivists, those who +return for second and third offences, in one institution, disclosed +that a large majority had a subnormal temperature and an increased +heart and breathing rate. These are endocrine-controlled functions. +Conduct, normal or abnormal, being the resultant of the conflict of +conscious and subconscious impulses and inhibitions, the internal +secretions as controllers of the susceptibility of the brain cells to +impulses and inhibitions, must be held accountable for a portion at +least of the chemical reactions behind crime. + +It is possible, by X-ray treatment of the thymus, to cause it to +shrink to more normal proportions. It is possible, by feeding various +glandular extracts, to correct deficiencies or excesses of their +function, and so to remedy the underlying basis for a criminal career. +Here and there work of this kind has been successfully carried out in +selected instances. What a suitable drive upon the whole matter would +yield in happiness to the individual and dollars and cents to society, +time alone will show. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE EFFECT UPON HUMAN EVOLUTION + + +The ubiquitous and deep-seated influence of the internal secretions +upon life and personality comprises but a fraction of what is known, +and only a hint of what is to become known. There is an endocrine +aspect to every human being and every human activity, normal and +abnormal, internal process and its external expression, regulated +by laws of which we are beginning to catch a glimpse. Their control +promises us now a dominion over the most intimate and inaccessible +recesses of our lives in a way comparable only to the control we now +exercise over the forces and energies once revered as the instruments +of the gods--light, heat, magnetism, electricity. We have learned how +to control and change our environment. We are now learning, endocrine +research is now discovering, how to control and change ourselves. + +The story of the evolution of the two types of control has many +analogies. When man ceased looking upon his surroundings as inhabited +by spirits of good and evil, as he conceived himself, and discovered +that they were composed of things malleable and analysable in his +hands, he became their master. When now he drops the old superstitions +about himself as a spirit, an emulsion of a spirit of good and spirit +of evil, and sees himself more and more clearly as the most complex +of chemical reactions, regulated and determined as are the simple +and complex chemical reactions around him, he will begin to rule and +modify himself as he rules and modifies them. Whether or not he will +ultimately come to this final lucidity of thought and action, it +behooves us to consider some of the uses to which our present +knowledge might be put. + +Since every step of the daily routine or adventure, from waking to +sleeping, eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, working, +idling, fighting, playing, feeling, enjoying, sorrowing, every shade +of emotion and nuance of mood, in short every phase of happiness +and unhappiness, are endocrine episodes in the life history of the +individual, the sphere of applications is as long and broad and deep +as life itself. Not only do the internal secretions open up before us +the great hope--that Life at last will cease to stumble and grope and +blunder, manacled by the iron chains of inexorable cause and effect. +They provide tools, concrete and measurable, that can be handled and +moved, weighed and seen, for the management of the problems of human +nature and evolution. + +Every department of human life, the questions of labor and industry, +science and art, education, puericulture, international problems, +crime and disease, may be illuminated. War and Sex, those two master +interests of mankind, may be understood and handled sympathetically +as they have never before. The reactions of man alone, and man in the +crowd, will be clarified. The red thread of individuality which runs +through the woof and warp of all human affairs will be unraveled. + +Inevitably, customs, morals, codes of procedure and practice, +institutions, all those expressions of opinion which make conduct, +all the currents which contrive the infinite variety of life, will be +transmitted into another set of values. + +A remoulding, a remodeling will take place all along the line. +Manifestly an unstable thymocentric should not be treated as a +criminal, but treated in a sanitarium. A masculinoid woman needs +satisfactions not vouchsafed in the old "love, honor and obey" home. +How absurd it is to found codes of morality upon sermons or even the +latest psychologies. During the nineteenth century progress in physics +and mechanics overturned traditions thousands of years had painfully +toiled to erect. What is to happen when man comes at last to +experiment upon himself like a god, dealing not only with the +materials without, but also with the very constituents of his +innermost being? Will he not then indeed become a god? If he does not +destroy himself before, that is surely his destiny. For better or for +worse, we possess now in the endocrines new instruments for swaying +the individual as individual, and as related to other individuals, as +a member of a type, family, nation, species and genus. + +THE BASIS OF VARIATION + +The sense of likeness and the sense of unlikeness plays a decisive +role in the diurnal schedule of the individual. His sense of +resemblance to his father and mother, his kin and clan, mark him and +them off against the cosmos as an alliance of defense and offense. Yet +no matter how closely he is like them and they like him, he differs +and varies, they differ and vary, with a sort of mutual forgiveness, +because the amount of resemblance overtops the degree of variation. In +a paper on the "Rediscovery of the Unique," H.G. Wells emphasized the +unique quality of the individual, and how, in spite of the cleverest +devices of classification, living things ultimately escaped the +classifying net by virtue of their tendency forever to vary. + +The individual is unique. Yet when all is said and done, the fact +remains that between individuals there is resemblance, and among them +variation. What is the reason for their resemblances and what is the +cause of their variation? + +The conception of a particular chemical make-up of the individual, +statable and relatively controllable in terms of the internal +secretions, supplies a more rational and satisfactory method +of approach to the problem than any so far suggested as far as +vertebrates are concerned at any rate. In effect, the differences +between individuals may fundamentally thus be grouped among the +differences which distinguish other chemical substances. The +difference between water, technically known as hydrogen monoxide, +and the antiseptic fluid labeled hydrogen dioxide lies wholly in the +possession by the latter of an extra atom of oxygen in its molecules. +All the peculiarities and qualities by which hydrogen peroxide is +separated from water are referred to that additional quantum of +oxygen. So the diversity of constitution and appearance of two +brothers, alike in that they have inherited the same internal +secretion trends, may be traced to the superiority of the pituitary of +the one over the other. + +Variation and resemblance are large issues, crucial material of the +science of biology upon which much has been thought and written. That +the proportion of the endocrines determines variation and resemblance, +heredity and evolution is a hypothesis advanced, supported by a large +amount of facts, and capable of the most interesting experimental +verification and observation. If a child resembles particularly either +of its parents, grandparents or relatives, there is good reason for +believing that it is because their endocrine formulas are very much +alike. When people apparently not blood-related at all resemble +one other, the same law must hold. Resemblances may be partial or +complete, and the degree will depend upon the amount and ratio of the +internal secretions involved. + +The same endocrine constitutions will produce corresponding physiques, +physiognomies, abilities and characters. Deviations in endocrine type +from that of the original stock, more of one endocrine and less of +another, is at the bottom of the phenomenon of variation, basic for +the origin of new species as well as the extinction of the old. In +short, viewing the internal secretions as determinants, by their +quantitative variations, of a host of biologic phenomena furnishes a +concrete and detailed foundation for Darwin's theory of pangenesis. + +INHERITANCE OF ACQUIRED CHARACTERS + +Darwin's theory of pangenesis was an attempt to harmonize everything +known in his time about heredity. It supposed that the various +organs of the body gave off into the blood substances, themselves +in miniature, which were taken up by the sex cells, and so became +responsible for the development of their mother-organ in the newly +forming individual. Modern knowledge cannot accept all this as a +whole. But in a modified version, it has become the germ of a theory +of heredity of which J.T. Cunningham, of Oxford, is the chief backer. + +Beginning with the traits and qualities which distinguish the sexes, +grouped as the secondary sex characters, he showed that they are +correlated with the special sexual function of the species in which +they occur. These traits appear only when the hormones occur which +are present in one sex and that only when the gonads of that sex are +mature. In some cases they appear only at the period of the year +when reproduction takes place, disappearing again after the breeding +season. Their presence makes certain cells develop in excessive +numbers at a particular spot in the organism (as in the growth of +breasts from a few sweat glands) or causes them to specialize (to make +hair on the face in man, or to grow antlers on the head of a stag). +After castration, the hormones being absent, all these points of +contrast between the sexes fail to appear. So by analogy we may +explain all somatic and psychic differentiation as functions of the +glands of internal secretion. Contemplated from the angle of the +effect of environment upon the endocrines, and a reflected action +upon the germ cells, we may outline a mechanism of the inheritance of +acquired characters at certain times and consequent adaptation. The +cycle of events would be as follows: + +1. A state of lability of cells at a point because of increased or +decreased use. + +2. An increased or decreased appropriation by them of the hormone +controlling their function. + +3. A corresponding increase or decrease in function of the gland of +internal secretion and so, + +4. An increased or decreased representation of it in the reproductive +sex cells in the gonads. + +To take a classic illustration, the long neck of the giraffe. The neck +of certain animals living in a district populated by trees with high +branches would be in state of instability. If at the same time the +pituitary, for some reason, was unstable and reacted with an extra +supply of its secretion, it would stimulate the neck cells to +reproduce themselves. In turn the pituitary would become stabilized +in the direction of increased secretion, and hand on the component of +increased secretion to the sex cells. That component, in conjunction +with other factors, would therefore determine the emergence of a +definite species character. In other words, the glands of internal +secretion, as intermediaries between the environment and body, and +between the body and the reproductive sex cells or germplasm, tender +the clue to a phase of the puzzle of heredity, adaptation and +evolution. It is only a dotted outline of an explanation to be sure, +but one certainly capable of being filled in. + +THE BEARING ON BREEDING + +Since the endocrine glands are so subtly sensitive and responsive to +environment, and are at the same time so intimately concerned in the +process of inheritance--a law which sums up their influence upon +resemblance and variation in animals--there is no need to stress +their importance for the practical science and art of good breeding, +eugenics. Another mode of approach to its problems is opened up, and +fresh enthusiasm instilled into its hopes and aspirations. A method +of analysis of the factors involved, together with rules for the +prediction of the outcome of certain matings, when finally worked out, +will elevate its procedure to the level of the more exact sciences. + +A man's chief gift to his children is his internal secretion +composition. The endocrines are truly the matter of breeding as +they are of growth. They are the material carriers of the inherited +physical and psychic dispositions, powers, abilities and disabilities +from the soma to the germplasm and back from the germplasm to the +soma. All kinds of questions arise as soon as one attempts to consider +the bearing of this underlying principle upon concrete situations. +What happens, say, when a pituitocentric mates with a thyrocentric? +Or when a pituitocentric marries a pituitocentric? Is there a +reinforcement or a cancellation of the dominant endocrine? Is there +a quantitative addition of internal glandular tendencies in the +germplasm, or a more complex rearrangement dependent upon reactions +between all the internal secretions? + +The term endocrine dominants brings up the inquiries of Mendelism, and +the relation of Mendelian conceptions of dominant and recessive to the +internal secretions. The Mendelians have emphasized the role of the +unit factor in heredity, and the conservation of the unit factor as +an entity through all the adventures of matings. Also, that when unit +factors, say of the color of the eyes, come into conflict, brown or +black being mixed with blue or grey, one, the recessive, is submerged +and overlaid but not destroyed by the other, the dominant. So brown or +black eyes, dark hair, curly hair, dark skin, and so on, are dominant, +while blue or grey eyes, light or straight hair, light skin are +recessives. A nervous temperament is dominant to the phlegmatic. A +number of psychic qualities have been declared to be Mendelian unit +factors: memory, mechanical instinct, mathematical ability, literary +ability, musical ability, and even handwriting. + +As architects of human qualities the endocrines must be involved +in the Mendelian unit factors. Moreover, they seem to act upon a +particular locale in different degrees, which is the strongest +argument against the resolution of a number of structural traits into +Mendelian unit characters. Most characters, somatic or psychic, are +the products not of the action of one internal secretion alone, but of +the interlinked activities of all of them. The amount of fat deposited +under the skin, for instance, is influenced by the pituitary, the +thyroid, the pancreas, the liver, the adrenals and the sex glands. +Other qualities, likewise, are resultants of a compromise between all +the endocrine factors comprising the equation of the individual. If +we are to look for unit factors at all in endocrine heredity, we must +look more deeply into constitution, and measure the hormone potentials +and their mobilization or suppression. + +It will, in all probability, be found that the stability or +instability of an endocrine will have a good deal to do with the part +played by it in inheritance as well as in the life of the individual +An unstable pituitocentric marrying another unstable pituitocentric +will have children either exceptionally small or tall, or abnormally +bright or stupid. The instability tends to right itself in the next +generation, or that following. Genius as a sport, as well as sudden +degeneration of family stock, the whole problem of mutation, may be +closely connected with this tendency. + +It has been noted that the extinction of species has been preceded by +a great increase in their size, for example, the case of the great +reptilia of prehistoric time. That possibly represented pituitary +stabilization, and so an abeyance of the ability to vary, necessary +for fresh adaptation to a changing environment. Indeed, endocrine +instability appears the fundamental condition of the tendency to vary, +endocrine stability the opposite. + +Certain endocrine facts in relation to heredity should be mentioned. +The daughters of mothers who menstruated early, themselves menstruate +early. Animals fed upon thyroid during pregnancy, comparable to the +thyrocentric, give birth to offspring with a very large thymus, +comparable to the thymocentric. Women with partial thyroid deficiency, +or myxedema, bear cretins. These are suggestive of what the internal +secretions may do to an individual in inheritance and development. +Inherited endocrine potential is the maximum reaction of which a gland +is capable. This matter of potential is comparable to the factor of +reserve power or margin of safety demonstrated up to the hilt for +such organs as the heart and kidney as varying from individual to +individual. A low potential, like instability of an internal secretion +gland, may be latent, and not made manifest until the proper stimulus, +the maximum amount of stress and strain, like accident, disease, shock +or war, arrives. + +When the individual is tested the effects may be purely local because +there is always in the organism a point of least resistance. Physical +changes alone may be prominent. Or because somatic changes are minor, +the psychic will dominate the picture. An attack of the "blues," +unaccompanied by any demonstrable transformation of the bodily +processes, may be the sole symptom of an endocrine failure somewhere +in the chain due to hereditary weakness or low potential. + +So we may account for family trends and streaks, for varieties +and strains among individuals, upon more precise lines based upon +endocrine analysis. Family disturbances of the internal secretions of +the extreme sort denominated disease are well known. Indeed, a number +of family diseases or predispositions to diseases, have been traced +to them. Predisposition in any direction will probably be shown to be +caused by them, within limits. Research here has its opportunity. + +THE IMPROVEMENT OF RACIAL STOCK + +A vast new territory of inquiry and achievement, as yet totally +unexplored, is opened by the endocrines to the eugenists, and those +idealists whose most earnest aspiration is the improvement of racial +stock as a necessary preliminary to improvement of racial life. +Beginning with Galton, they have brought to light a great collection +of data to prove that human traits and faculties, good and bad, are +inherited. Ability has been shown to run in certain families and +degeneracy in others. Yet all of the practical net result has been +summed up in the term "negative eugenics," the eugenics of prohibition +and warning. + +Now the concept of personality, as woven around a system of chemical +reflexes, handed on from generation to generation, is bound to change +all that, and to create a structure of positive eugenics. It has been +said that what radium is to chemistry, the internal secretions are to +physiology. Just as radium enlightens the chemist about the history of +matter, and the integrations and disintegrations constituting the life +of an element--the internal secretions illuminate the history of the +individual as part of the life of the race, and of its integrations +and disintegrations. Seeing the individual as a system of chemical +substances interacting will assist enormously to predict the nature, +character and constitution of his descendants, which is essentially +what the eugenist is after. + +The study of matings, the heart of the matter, will concern itself +with the investigation and comparison of the kind of endocrine +personalities that mate, the internal secretion predominances that +cross, and the consequent endocrine personality of the offspring. +Data bearing upon physique and physiognomy, details of anatomy and +function, mind and behaviour will so be co-ordinated as no eugenist +has hitherto succeeded in doing. Laws of endocrine inheritance will +emerge that will bring the control of heredity within measurable +distance. Standards and norms of a new kind would be obtained. + +A beginning of this study of endocrine inheritance, on the pathologic +side, has been made. Some of these have been along Mendelian lines. +Following up abnormal growth (making giants and dwarfs) and abnormal +metabolism (goitre, diabetes, and so on), it has been stated that it +would seem that abnormal growth is dominant in the male, and recessive +in the female, while abnormal metabolism is dominant in the female and +recessive in the male. If an endocrine abnormality like a goitre, +or cretinism, or a dwarf or giant appear in a family as a sign of +endocrine instability, other members of that family will very likely +show internal secretion abnormalities. + +If one gland of internal secretion acts as the centre of the system +and the others as satellites, we should be able to trace what happens +to it in the different generations. Does it maintain its supremacy? Or +will it be ousted by another member of the group? The time will come +when we shall thus be able to advise prospective parents of the +consequences of procreation and to forecast the meaning for the race +of a particular marriage. Internal glandular analysis may become +legally compulsory for those about to mate before the end of the +present century. + +What are desirable and undesirable matings? The general law followed +by nature in her helterskelter way seems to be the production of the +greatest number of hybrids and variations possible, whether for +good or evil does not matter. Certain endocrine types appear to be +specially attracted to others belonging to the same group. Thus +thymus-centered types frequently marry. The ante-pituitary type of +male, the strongly masculine, mates often with the post-pituitary type +of female, the markedly feminine. The children exhibit the lineaments +of the pituitary-centered type. The general trend seems to be the +establishment of a better balanced, equilibrated type. Yet the +children often are apt to segregate into pituitary dominants or +pituitary deficients. Happiness and unhappiness in marriage should +be examined from the standpoint of endocrine compatibility or +incompatibility. Likewise those divorced or about to be divorced. + +The correction of endocrine defects, disturbances, imbalances and +instabilities, before mating, presents another field. It remains to be +seen whether we shall thereby, in one generation, be able to affect +at all the germplasm, hitherto revered by all pious biologists as an +environment-proof holy of holies. No one can deny, in the face of the +multitude of evidence available, that internal secretion disturbances +occur in the mother, which, when grave, offer in the infant gross +proof of their significance, and therefore when slight must more +subtly work upon it. Endocrine disturbances in infancy have been +traced to endocrine disturbances in the mother during pregnancy. +Pregnant animals fed on thyroid give birth to young with large thymus +glands. The diet of the mother has been proved conclusively to +influence the development and constitution of the child. As the +internal secretions influence the history of the food in the body, +they affect development in the womb indirectly as well as directly. +Certainly, whether or no we learn how to change the nature of +germplasm within a short time, we have in the endocrines the means at +hand for affecting _the whole individual that is born and sees the +light of day_. + +THE CONTROL OF MUTATIONS + +The true physical and intellectual evolution of man depends upon the +production of mutations of a desirable kind that can survive. The +information furnished by the study of the endocrines concerning +the genesis of personality provides the foundations for a positive +eugenics, a eugenics of the encouragement of desirable matings, with +the proper legal and social procedures. Selective breeding for the +production of the best endocrine types should become practicable. + +But the biologist should be able to go farther. If the eugenist is to +limit himself to the method of the animal breeder he will have to rest +satisfied with the characters or hereditary factors given, that turn +up spontaneously in an individual. But with the internal secretions +as the controllable controllers of mutations, the outlook changes. +It should become possible to produce new mutations, good and bad, to +speed up their production at any rate. The feeding of thyroid to +a gifted father before procreation might enhance immeasurably the +chances of transmission of his gift as well as of its intensification +in his offspring. A field of investigation is opened that would +embrace in due time the deliberate control of human evolution. + +All the physical traits, stature, color, muscle function, and so on, +offer themselves for improvement, as well as brain size, and the +intellectual and emotional factors which have dominated man's social +evolution. The general prevalence of nervous disorders in civilized +countries, visible even in the nervous infants the specialist in +children's diseases is called upon to treat, shows that the nervous +system of the better part of mankind is in a state of unstable +equilibrium. It may be another example of the curious coincidences +that have been called the Fitness of the Environment that the +investigation of the endocrines promises to put into our hands the +instruments of the control of the future of the nervous system. In +general, meanwhile, the eugenist should strive for raising the level +of the endocrine potential, and discourage its lowering. That means +the encouragement of matings in which all the internal secretion +activities are reinforced. On the other hand, those internal secretion +combinations, generally leading to a deficiency of all of them which +produce types of mental defectives, delinquency and crime should not +be allowed to occur. + +THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT + +What suggestions now are there for the euthenist who would control +the influence of environment upon child culture. There are certain +pertinent facts and leads that are worth considering. + +In analyzing environment, one must distinguish sharply in the jungle, +the non-living factors from the living. For while the nonliving act +upon the endocrines directly, the living act upon the vegetative +system, as a whole. The non-living factors are those with the intimate +scrutiny of which physics and chemistry have busied themselves: food, +water, air, light, heat, electricity, magnetism. The living are the +animals that prowl all over the planet, the predatories spreading the +gospel of fear. + +The dietetic habits of a person, for instance, are known to have an +influence upon the glands of internal secretion. Meat-eating produces +a greater call upon the thyroid than any other form of food. In time +this ought to produce a degree of hyperthyroidism in the carniverous +populations. Pre-war statistics concerning meat-eating in different +countries show the greatest meat-eating among the English-speaking +groups, who all in all must be admitted the most energetic. + + _Meat per Day per_ + _Countries_ _Capita in Grams_ + + Australia 306 + U.S. of America 149 + Great Britain 130 + France 92 + Belgium and Holland 86 + Austria-Hungary 79 + Russia 59 + Spain 61 + Italy 29 + Japan 25 + +Sea-water contains iodine. People living in contact with sea-water +would be apt to get more iodine in their systems, and so a greater +degree of thyroid activity. On the other hand, certain bodies and +sources of inland water hold something deleterious to the thyroid, so +that whole populations in Europe, Asia and America drinking such water +have become goitrous and cretinous, and a large percentage straight +imbeciles. Endemic cretinism is the name given to the condition. In +parts of Switzerland, Savoy, Tyrol and the Pyrenees, in America +around some of the Great Lakes, there are still such foci. Marco Polo +described similar areas he encountered in his travels through Asia. + +Certain foods with aphrodisiac qualities may act by stimulating the +internal secretion of the sex glands. A type of pituitocentric has an +almost uncontrollable craving for sweets. Alcohol and the endocrines +remain to be studied. + +Light, heat and humidity stand in some special relation to the +adrenals. Pigment deposit in the skin as protection against light +is controlled by the adrenal cortex. The reaction of the skin blood +vessels to heat and humidity is regulated by the adrenal medulla. A +change in the adrenal as a response to changes of temperature and +humidity in an environment would result in a number of concomitant +transformations throughout the body. So variation and adaptation are +probably connected. Most Europeans living for a sufficiently long time +in the tropics suffer from a combination of symptoms spoken of as +"Punjab head" or "Bengal head." The condition is probably the result +of excessive adrenal stimulation by the excessive heat and light of +the tropical sun, followed by a reaction of exhaustion and failure, +with the consequent phenomena of a form of neurasthenia. In the +section on the pineal gland there was mentioned the relation between +light and the pineal gland in growing animals, and how it serves to +keep in check the sex-stimulating action of light. The earlier puberty +and menstruation of the warmer climates may be explained as due to an +earlier regression of the pineal under the pressure of a great amount +of light playing upon the skin. + +All these, and many more could be cited, are instances of the direct +influence of environmental factors upon one or more of the endocrines, +and so upon the organism as a whole. Indeed, stimuli may be considered +to modify an organism only in so far as they modify the glands of +internal secretion. Consequently, climatic factors will tend to make a +population possess certain points of resemblance in common. + +Varieties of the human race exist as do varieties of dogs. The +pekingese and the fox terrier are as different as the Slav and Latin +are different: because of differences in internal secretion make-up. +The Slav peasant is definitely subthyroid in his general effect: +round head, coarse features, stubby hands, and his stolid, brooding +intellectual and emotional reaction. The Latin shows a pronounced +adrenal streak in his coloration, his emotivity, his susceptibility to +neurosis and psychosis. H. Laing Gordon, a Scot physician, reported +that of 700 cases he studied, more than twice as many of duplex eyed +individuals (brown or black, i.e., adrenal-centered most often), were +susceptible to the mental disturbances of war as the simplex (blue or +gray-eyed, i.e., thyroid-centered most often). He also pointed out +that such individuals tend to have a narrow and abnormally arched +palate. The Anglo-Saxon tends to be more sharply pituitarized, his +features are more clean-cut, his mentality more stable. The Frenchman +is rather a cross between the Anglo-Saxon pituitary-centered and the +Italian or Spanish adrenal-centered. + +So national resemblances, traceable to climatic influences being +repeated from generation to generation upon the endocrines, may be +explained physiologically. The physiologic interpretation of history +will indeed be found the broadest, including as complementary Buckle's +climatic theory, Hegel's ideas on the influence of ideas, and Marx's +on the superiority of the economic motives and forces. + +THE RACES OF MANKIND + +Arthur Keith, conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of +Surgeons of England, was the first to apply the principle of endocrine +differentiation to the problem of the color-lines--the lines which +have divided mankind crudely into the yellow, the red, the white and +the brown, the Negro, the Mongol, the Caucasian, the copper tinted +American. It has long been recognized by anthropologists that the +differences of color march with differences in every comparable trait. +Thus the ideal Negro is built upon a pattern in which all the elements +are specific and singular. When the looms revolve that make him, +there is produced a gleaming black skin, kinky black hair, squat +wide-nostriled nose, thick protruding lips, large striking teeth, +prominent jaws, and staring eyes. As his upright carriage and +bone-muscle-fat proportions are distinctive, so are his musical voice +and his easily wrought upon nerves. In contrast the Caucasian has a +good deal of hair on his body, his skin is a pale tan-pink, his lips +are thin, and his nose especially has the definite bridge which +narrows it. The Mongol, like the Negro, has the hairless body and the +beardless face, but unlike him has lank straight hair on his head, +while his features are flattened and fore-shortened. + +Upon the basis of these structural, functional and mental differences, +the qualitative and quantitative evolution of which in the race as in +the individual is guided by the glands of internal secretion, Keith +presents a very good case for the view that the white man is an +example of relative excess of the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal and +gonad endocrines. "The sharp and pronounced nasalization of the +face, the tendency to strong eyebrow ridges, the prominent chin, the +tendency to bulk of body, and height of stature in the majority of +Europeans" are the signs of pituitary dominance. Keith is also of the +opinion that "the sexual differentiation, the robust manifestations of +the male characters, is more emphatic in the Caucasian than in +either the Mongol or Negro racial types ... in certain negro types, +especially in Nilotic tribes, with their long stork-like legs, we seem +to have a manifestation of abeyance in the action of the interstitial +glands." As for the adrenal superiority of the white man, "it is 150 +years since John Hunter came to the conclusion ... that the original +color of man's skin was black, and all the knowledge that we have +gathered since his supports the inference he drew. From the fact that +pigment begins to collect and thus darken the skin when the adrenal +bodies become the seat of a destructive disease we infer that they +have to do with the clearing away of pigment, and that we Europeans +owe the fairness of our skins to some particular virtue resident in +the adrenal bodies." Finally, as regards the thyroid, a comparison of +the face of a cretin with that of the Negro or Mongol tells the story. +A certain variety of idiocy, Mongolian idiocy, in which the face +simulates cretinism so closely as to deceive practised clinical +observers, is characterized by a Chinese cast of the features and +eyes, hence the name. And in the Bushman of South Africa, the cretin's +face is even more startlingly recalled. + +There is every reason then for believing that the white man possesses +more of pituitary, adrenal, gonad, and thyroid internal secretions as +compared with the yellow man or black man. And since these endocrines +control not only physique and physiognomy, anatomic and functional +minutiae, but also mind and behaviour, we are justified in putting +down the white man's predominance on the planet to a greater +all-around concentration in his blood of the omnipotent hormones. +While the Negro is relatively subadrenal, the Mongol is relatively +subthyroid. Their relative deficiency in internal secretions +constitutes the essence of the White Man's Burden. + +MAN'S ATTITUDE TOWARD HIMSELF + +A last, but by no means least, application we may consider of the +developing knowledge of the internal secretions in relation to human +evolution is its effect upon Man's attitude toward himself and so +toward his fellow men. Whatever else he is, man is a land animal with +ideas. That makes him a thought-adventurer among materials. In a word, +he is the last word of mind working upon matter. But persistently he +has refused to recognize himself as matter and as subject to the laws, +to the physics and chemistry of matter. + +History consists of the protocols that record the high lights of the +interactions of materials and ideas which is the adventure of man in +time and space. Materials and ideas have reacted, the record shows; +materials come upon have begotten strange fantasies. Ideas that +flashed from nowhere into a consciousness have transformed utterly the +face of the earth. The herd-brute, agglutinated with his fellows by a +magnetism beyond his ken, could be infected with thought, and so cast +in the heroic mould. The possibility of communion,--that possibility +of possibilities, for without it none other could be possible--has +rendered man the heir of a divine destiny. For the progressive +education of the race, a single discoverer here, an inventor there, +and thinkers everywhere have been inspired. In due time their +inspiration becomes the possession of even the lowest brain but +capable of grasping it. + +Man's attitude toward himself, his self-consciousness, and his +attitude toward his fellow creatures has grown and varied and +evolved with his education about himself. According to the theory he +formulated concerning his being, his why and wherefore, he directed +and governed, punished and mutilated himself and them. But the +pressure of his curiosity, and the inexorable quality of the truth +would not let him stand still. The poetic genius within him, as Blake +called it, struggled on from one dogma concerning his nature to +another. Behaviour malignant or beneficent, horrible in its tragedy +and pitiable in its comedy, flowed inevitably on. Witchcraft trials +and the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition belong among the more +mentionable consequences of some of man's theories about his own +nature and its requirements. + +Heretofore the imaginative spirit has had its day in the matter. And, +curiously enough, an obsession to subjugate the natural has made it +exalt the supernatural. Visions, dreams, portents, revelations, all +symptomatic of an order of things above nature, are the stuff of what +more than ninety-nine per cent of the millions of the race believe +about themselves and their fate. Man's cruelty to man, through the +ages, is a comment upon how vast and ramifying may be the consequences +of a delusion. + +But now for a couple of centuries the critical spirit, which is the +spirit of science, has been invading the affairs of men. Humble but +persistent corrosive of delusion, it has infiltrated the furthest +bounds of ignorance and superstition. It has not dared to assert the +supremacy of its fundamental views upon the everyday problems of human +life because it was without concrete means of vindicating its claims. +That lack is now supplied by the growing understanding of the chemical +factors as the controllers and dictators of all the legion aspects of +life. + +The profoundest achievement of the physiologist will be the change his +teachings and discoveries will bring about in man's attitude toward +himself. When he comes to realize himself as a chemical machine that +can, within limits, be remodeled, overhauled and repaired, as an +automobile can be, within limits, when he becomes saturated with the +significance of his endocrine-vegetative system at every turn and move +of his life, and when sympathy and pity informed by knowledge and +understanding will come to regulate his relationships with the lowest +and most despised of the men, women and children about him, the era of +the first real civilization will properly be said to be born. + +Morality, as society's code of conduct for its members, will have +to change in the direction of a greater flexibility with the +establishment of organic differences in human types. There is nothing +that is more emphasized to the pathologist than that one man's meat is +another man's poison. In the family, as nature's laboratory for +the manufacture of fresh combinations of the internal secretions, +allowances will be made for divergences in capacity and deportment +from a new angle altogether. Schools will function as the developers, +stimulators and inhibitors of the endocrines, as well as investigators +of the individuals who have not enough or too much of one or some of +them. Prisons will have the same function, only they will be named +detention hospitals. The raising of the general level of intelligence +by the judicious use of endocrine extracts will mean a good deal to +the sincere statesman. The average duration of life will be prolonged +for an enormous mass of the population. If the prevention of war +depends upon the burning into the imagination of the electorates +what the consequences of war are, a high intelligence quotient and +revaluation of life will count for a good deal. + +Man is the animal that wants Utopia. So long as human nature was +looked upon as fixed constant in the ebb and flow of life, a Utopia of +fine minds could be conceived only by the dreamer and poet. The desire +for such a Utopia could only be regarded as a tragic aspiration for an +impossibility. The physiology of the internal secretions teaches that +human nature does change and can be changed. A relative control of its +properties is already in view. The absolute control will come. + +Nor need anyone fear that the science of the internal secretions in +its maturity will signify the abolition of the marvelous differences +between human beings that create the unique personalities of history. +A derangement of the endocrines has been responsible for masterpieces +of the human species in the past and will be responsible for them in +the future. The equality of Utopia can be the equality of the highest +and fullest development possible for each of its inhabitants. The +applications of endocrine control will not necessarily interfere +with the life of the individual. There will be breeding of the best +mixtures of glands of internal secretion possible. And there will +be treatment for those born with a handicap, or who have become +handicapped in the life struggle. There will be a stimulation of +capacity to the limit. But beyond that, compulsory equalization is a +theorist's bogey. + +The internal secretions are the most hopeful and promising of the +reagents for control yet come upon by the human mind. They open up +limitless prospects for the improvement of the race. A few hundreds of +investigators are engaged upon their study throughout the world. That +is one of the ironies of our contemporary civilization. A concerted +effort at the task of understanding them, backed by the labors of tens +of thousands of workers, would, without a doubt, accomplish as much +for humanity as the vast armies and navies that consume the substance +of mankind. If we could not obtain Utopia then, we might, at least by +abolishing the subnormals and abnormals who constitute the slaves and +careerists of society, render the human race less contemptible and +more divine. + + + + +INDEX + + + Ability, natural + Acquired characters, inheritance of + Acromegaly + Addison + Addison's disease + Adolescence, period of + Adrenal glands + and anger + and courage + and emergencies + and emotions + and fatigue + and fear + and neuroses + and pseudo-hermaphroditism + and puberty + blood pressure and + brain cells and + chromaffin cells of + cortex of + excess of secretion + failure of secretion + function of + glands of combat and fight + hair and + influence of in hermaphroditism + insufficiency of secretion + medulla of + pigment cells and + relation to pineal gland + relation to pituitary + secretion of + sexuality and + skin and + Adrenal-centered type + Adrenal face + Adrenal personalities, or types + compensated + insufficient + in pregnancy + of brain work + of girl + of hair + of skin + of teeth + Adrenal personalities, or types of women + reactions to modernism in + Adrenalin + Alcoholism and endocrine types + Analysis, endocrine + Anger + and adrenals + Antagonisms + Anti-Fate + Antitoxic function of thyroid gland + Ape-parvenu, the + Applications of endocrinology + Autonomic system + + Backgrounds of personality + Baldness and the thyroid + Baumann + Bayliss + Beard + Beard's neurasthenia + von Bechterew + Behavior + Bell, Blair + Bernard, Claude + Berthold + Black races, endocrine control in + Blood pressure, and adrenals + Body, influence of glands upon + Body-mind complex + Bones + long, development of + Bordeau + Bossi + Brain cells and adrenals + Brain, growth of + Brainwork, adrenal type of + Breakdown, nervous + Breeding, bearing of endocrine glands on + Brown-Sequard + + Caesar, Julius, an epileptic + pituitary in + Capacity + Careerist + as abnormals + feminine + instincts of + masculine + super- + Carlson + Castration + effects of + effects of, on thymus + Character + Charcot + Charging of wishes, endocrine + Check and drive system + Chemistry of the soul + Child--bearing, transfigurations of + Childhood, epoch of the pineal + Chromaffin cells of adrenals + Chromosomes + Climacteric + Color, endocrine control of, in races + Combat, adrenals and + Combinations of types of personality + Conduct + Constitutions, endocrine + Cooperation + Corpus luteum + and mammary glands + Courage and the adrenals + Cretinism + a thyroid deficiency + effect of feeding thyroid in + Cretinoid type + Cretin + Crime, treatment of + Criminals and endocrine types + Critical ages + Curling + Cushing, Harvey + + Dangerous age, the + Darwin, Charles + as a neurasthenic genius + his "Descent of Man" + his theory of Pangenesis + Davenport + Deficiency, mental + Development + Diabetes, and the pancreas + Diet, effect of on the endocrine glands + Directorate, endocrine glands as a + Diseases and endocrine types + Division of labor + Drug addiction and endocrine types + Dwarfs + + Education, of vegetative-system + vocational + Egomania + Elixir of life + Emergencies, adrenals glands of + Emotions, adrenals glands of + Endocrine + analysis + charging of wishes + constitutions + control in color of races + corporation + deficiency in old age + epochs of life + glands + and feeblemindedness + and insanity + as an interlocking directorate + bases of variation + bearing on breeding + discovery of + effect of diet on + influence upon body + influence upon mind + inferiority + neurosis + personality + sex traits + types + alcoholism and + criminals and + diseases and + drug addiction and + narcotism and + Endocrines, evolution of + Endocrinology, applications of + possibilities of + Energy + and thyroid + Enthusiasm and thyroid + Environment, influence of + Epilepsy, in genius + Epochs of life, endocrine + Eugenics, negative + positive + promises of + Eunuchoid face + personality + Eunuchoidism + Eunuchs + Evolution, human, effect of internal secretions upon + Exhibitionism + Expressionism + Eyes + + Face, adrenal + eunuchoid + hyperpituitary + hyperthyroid + Facial types + Family, and mixed sex + Fat, distribution of + Fat people + Fate and Anti-Fate + Fatigue and industry + as an endocrine deficiency + relation of adrenals to + relation of thymus to + Fear + mechanism of + relation of adrenals to + Feeblemindedness and the endocrine glands + Feminine pituitary type + Feminine precocity + Feminoid complex + constitution and personality + Fertilization + Fight, relation of adrenals to + Fingers, pituitary and + thyroid and + Forgetting + Freedom + Freud + Freudianism + Freudians + Friedleben + + Galli + Galton + Genius, epilepsy in + migraine in + neurasthenic + treatment of + Giants + Girl, endocrine types of + Glands, definition of + endocrine, as an interlocking directorate + discovery of + influence on body + influence on mind + Goitre, relation of iodine to + Gonads + and libido + and sexuality + and thymus + Gonads and thyroid + function + secretion + Gonad-centric personalities + homosexuality and + Growth + relation of thymus to + Guilford + Gull + + Hair + and adrenals + and pineal + and thymus + and thyroid + Hands, and pituitary + and thyroid + Henle + Hermaphrodite + Hermaphroditism + functional + influence of adrenals in + influence of pituitary in + Hibernation + and the pituitary + Historic personages + Darwin, Charles + Julius Caesar + Napoleon + Nietzsche + Nightingale, Florence + Wilde, Oscar + History, internal secretions in + von Hochwart + Homosexuality, and gonad-centric type + and thymus type + Hormones + harmony of the + Horsley + Howitz + Human nature + attitudes towards + case against + science and + Hunger + Hunter, John + Hygiene of the internal secretions + Hyperpituitary face + skin + Hyperpituitrism, + Hyperthyroid face + skin + type + of girl + pregnancy in + premenstrual molimina in + Hyperthyroidism + Hysteria + + Imagination, an endocrine gift + Improvement of racial stock + Industry, and fatigue + relation of endocrines to + Infancy, epoch of the thymus + Infantilism + Infantiloid constitution or personality + Inferiority, breeding of + Inheritance of acquired characters + Insanity, and the endocrine glands + Instinct + Instincts, pituitary + thyroid + Insuline + Intellectuality, and the pituitary + Internal secretions, determinants of vegetative pressures + effect of, upon human evolution + hygiene of + in history + Interstitial glands, see Gonads + type of teeth + Iodine, in thyroxin + relation of to goitre + + Janet + Judgment + Julius Caesar, an epileptic + pituitary in + + Keith + Kendall + Kinetic chain + drive + system + Kocher + + Laennec + Lanugo + Larey + Libido and gonads + sex + Life, well-springs of + Lime salts, and sex + Lincoln, Abraham + Lutein + + MacDougallians + Malthusian law of slavery + Mammary glands + corpus luteum and + placenta and + Man, a transient + attitude of towards himself + a product of glands of internal secretion + critical age in + secondary sex characteristics of + Manic depressive psychoses + Mankind, races of + Marie, Pierre + Masculine, the secret of the + Masculine and feminine, mechanics of, and see Sex + Masculine pituitary type + Masculinoid women + Masochism + Maternal instinct + different from sex instinct + relation of the pituitary to + Matings, desirable and undesirable + Megalomania + Memory + Mendelism + Menopause + Menstruation + and ovaries + cycle of + Mental deficiency + Migraine in genius + Mind, influence of glands on + oldest part of + Mitchell, Weir + Mixed sex and the family + Mixed types + Moebius + Modernism, reactions to in adrenal types + Moods, and the organic outlook + Moral irresponsibility and thymus type + Mujerados + Mueller, Johann, + Murray + Muscles + Mutations, control of + Myxedema + operative + + Napoleon, case of + Narcotism, and endocrine types + Nature's experiments _vs_. Man's + "Nerves" + Nervous breakdowns + Neurasthenia + Neurosis + adrenals and + endocrine + war + Nietzsche, case of + Nightingale, Florence, legend of + Normal, what is + + Obesity + Operative myxedema + Ord, William + Ovaries, internal secretion of + relation of to menstruation + removal of, effect of + role of + Oversecretion + + Pancreas + diabetes and + function of + removal of + secretion of + Pangenesis, Darwin's theory of + Parathyroids + function of + secretion of + Paulesco + Pawlov + Permutations, of types of personality, + Perry, Caleb + Personality, background of + combinations of types of + determined by the endocrines + endocrine + eunuchoid + types of + adrenal + combinations of + gonad-centric + nature's experiments _vs_. man's + permutations of + pituitary of + Philosophers, prejudices of + Physics of the wish + Physiologists, attitude of + role of + Pigment cells and the adrenals + in skin of various races + Pineal gland + and hair + and childhood + feeding of to children + function of + muscle function of + Pineal gland, obesity and + puberty and + relation of to adrenals + to progressive muscular atrophy + secretion of + type of muscles + Pituitary gland + action of + and fingers + and toes + compared with thyroid + diminished action of + extirpation of + function of + in Julius Caesar + in Oscar Wilde + instincts + overaction of + personalities + regulator of organic rhythms + relation to adrenals + to growth + to hair + to hermaphroditism + to hibernation + to imagination + to intellectuality + to judgment + to maternal instincts + to memory + to puberty + to rejuvenation + to sex difficulties + to sexual glands + to stature + to thymus + secretion of + secretion, characteristics of inferior + characteristics of sufficient + type + feminine + masculine + of eyes + of hands + of muscles + pregnancy in + premenstrual molimina in + Pituitary-centered type + Pituitocentrics, Caesar + Darwin + Napoleon + Nietzsche + Nightingale + Pituitrin + function of + Placenta + and mammary glands + Placental gland + Plater, Felix + Plummer + Poise + Popielski + Possibilities of endocrinology + Postpituitary type of girl + Precocity, feminine + male + Pregnancy, in various endocrine types + Premenstrual molimina, in various endocrine types + Progressive muscular dystrophy and the pineal gland + Prostate + Pseudo-hermaphroditism and the adrenals + Psychanalyst, as a therapeutist + Psychology, new + Psychopathology of every day life + Puberty + glands, see Gonads + in female + significance of + Public health, prospects of + Pure types + Puericulture, science of + + Races of mankind + Reactions to modernism in adrenal types + Rejuvenation, possibilities of + Religion of science + Repression + Resilience of skin + Restelli + Reverdin, J.L. + Rhythms of sex + Robertson + + Sadism + Schiff, Moritz + Science, and human nature + origin of + religion of + Secondary sex traits + Secretin + Secretion + Sella turcica + Semon, Sir Felix + Senility, epoch of endocrine deficiency + interpretation of + Sensitivity + Sex + and lime salts + attitudes towards questions of + cause of + chemistry of + characteristics, secondary + conflict + crises + difficulties, pituitary and + glands, see Gonads + and hair + and puberty + and muscles + centered + chain + index + instinct + different from maternal instinct + libido + life, determining factors of + mixed, and the family + rhythms of + traits, or characteristics + endocrine + origin of + primary + secondary + Sexual cravings + glands, see Gonads, and Sex glands + and pituitary gland + Sexuality, and gonads + and adrenal glands + Shaw, G.B. + Shell-shock + Skeletal types + Skin + adrenal type + and adrenals + hyperpituitary type + hyperthyroid type + pigmentation + subadrenal type + subpituitary type + subthyroid type + Slavery, Malthusian law of + origin of + Soul, chemistry of the + Starling + Statesman, problems of + why he fails + Stature, pituitary and + Status lymphaticus, and thymus type + Steinach + Stirner, Max + Subadrenal skin + Subpituitary skin + Subpituitary type of women + premenstrual molimina in + Subpituitism + Subthyroid face + skin + type + of eyes + of women, pregnancy in + Subthyroidism + Sugar metabolism + Super-Careerist + Susceptibility + Sympathetic system + + Teeth + Tethelin + action of + function of + Thymic face + Thymo-centric personalities + Thymo-centric type + Oscar Wilde + Thymus + and gonads + and pituitary + and puberty + and sexual glands + and thyroid + effect of castration on + effect of feeding thymus to animals + extirpation of + function of + hair and + hyperactivity of + infancy, epoch of the + persistent, skin of + relation of fatigue to + relation of growth to + relation of weight to + removal of, effect on gonads + secretion + type of teeth + Thymus type + homosexuality and + moral irresponsibility and + status lymphaticus and + Thyroid gland + and adrenals + and baldness + and energy + and enthusiasm + and intersitial glands + and judgment + and memory + and pancreas + and pituitary + Thyroid gland and puberty + and rejuvenation + and skin + and thymus + antitoxic function of + as an accelerator + as a catalyser + as a differentiator + as an energiser + compared with pituitary + creator of land animals + deficiency + effect of feeding the gland + excess + functions of + hair and + instincts + personalities + secretion of, and see Thyroxin + type, of eyes + of hands + of muscles + of teeth + Thyroid-centered type + Thyrotoxin + Thyroxin + and energy mobilization + and energy production + and speed of living + Toes + pituitary and + thyroid and + Tonus + Types + endocrine + adrenal + adrenal-centered + alcoholism and + combinations of + cretinoid + criminals and + diseases and + drug addiction and + facial + hyperthyroid + mixed + narcotism and + of girls + pituitary, + pituitary-centered + pure + skeletal, + subthyroid + thyroid-centered + Unconscious, the + and the viscera + physical basis of + Undersecretion + Variation + endocrine glands as basis of + Varieties of internal secretions + Vegetative apparatus + Vegetative pressures + internal secretions + determinants of + Vegetative system + education of + Virilism + Viscera + the unconscious and + Vocational education + + War neurosis + Weight relation of thymus to + White races + endocrine control in + Wilde, Oscar + explanation of + Wishes + endocrine charging of + physics of + Women + adrenal type of + masculinoid + secondary sex characteristics in + + X-chromosome + + Yellow races + endocrine control in + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Glands Regulating Personality +by Louis Berman, M.D. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY *** + +***** This file should be named 10266.txt or 10266.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/6/10266/ + +Produced by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock, Josephine Paolucci 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