The Adrenal Cortex.

Abstract

One of the spectacular advances in physiology can be dated from 1930, when the endocrine nature of the adrenal cortex was proved. In that year the preparation of reliable adrenal cortex extracts ended the confusion and arguments and opened up a new area for physiologic and clinical observation. These historical aspects are the basis of Gaunt and Eversole's paper which introduces the symposium on the adrenal cortex held jointly by the New York Academy of Sciences and the New York Academy of Medicine, March 21 and 22, 1948. Taken with the 1937 Symposium at Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., these fourteen papers might be said to record the modern history of the adrenal cortex. Sayers and Sayers report on the effect of the administration of cortical hormone in cases in which environmental stresses, such as heat, cold and trauma, are usually associated with increased elaboration of (pituitary) adrenocortical activity. They