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.