(Organotherapy).

The striking fact that various excretions and tissues of the living organism, when administered under certain conditions, possess a peculiar therapeutic value is now well ascertained. The idea, although generally considered an innovation in therapeusis, has long been the subject of studious attention, yet only in recent years has the practical application of organotherapy claimed professional recognition, and the nature and operation of its curative properties acquired unprecedented significance. Extracts derived from almost every portion of the human system, together with many animal secretions, have been prepared, and their efficacy tested by searching experiment. It was reserved for the noted investigator, Brown-Sequard. and his associates to inaugurate, as late as 1889, the system of organotherapeusis as known to-day and promulgate the theory resulting in the now-established medicinal potency of glandular extracts.

Among the earliest and most original essays prompted by the new procedure was Brown-Sequard's hypodermic injection of an extract from the recent testicles of mammals, in the treatment of senile debility. It should be noted, in passing, that, curiously enough, as there is no new thing under the sun, this special employment of organic extract for the relief of morbid conditions finds an analogue in a custom of very ancient origin, the high authority of Pliny, the historian, attesting that the Grecian and Roman debauches were wont to consume the testicles of asses to restore their dissipated energies.

While it must be admitted that the benefits derived from the administration of testicular juice have failed to realize the ardent anticipations of its earlier advocates, we may cheerfully concede that the experimental impetus imparted by it to clinical and therapeutic investigation has added considerably to our scientific knowledge in the realm of medicine and gone far to alleviate the ills of suffering humanity.

The study of the internal secretions threatens to revolutionize physiology; and we must remember the position in which this matter stood, and still stands, in relation to our knowledge of the cell and of cell action. The conclusions reached by Dr. Sajous bid fair to change the entire basis of our conception of physiologic function, and consequently of therapeutics.

The profundity of Sajous's work necessarily impedes its speedy acceptance, for the number of those capable of comprehending it, and even giving the requisite time to it, is small. But the least that can be said by any capable observer who has examined his theory is that Sajous has earned the right to a hearing; and this insures the acceptance of what is assimilable in due time.