HORMONES—WHENCE AND WHITHER: Presidential Address*

FELLOW Members of The Endocrine Society and Guests: The entire group here this evening can be divided into two parts: 1) those who are interested in endocrinology, and 2) those who are more interested in endocrinologists. This being so, I shall offer, not heavy scientific data with which many of you are already overstuffed, but some thoughts along a lighter vein. First of all, I should like to take you with me on a flight of fancy. THE ORIGIN OF HORMONES On this flight we shall talk first about life without hormones or, how hormones began. Let us think of life in the most general terms. As Krutch has said in his book, The Great Chain of Life, life can be divided into three parts: protein, love and death. We could begin with a protein, or we could even go back to a time preceding protein—by making an amino acid—but the evening is very short.