Die Erkrankungen Der Blutdrusen. [Diseases of the Bloodglands]. by FALTA, Wilhelm (1875-1950) - 1913

Berlin:: Julius Springer, 1913., 1913. 8vo. (245 x 164 mm) xii, 550, [2] pp. 103 illustrations (one folding plate). Original half black calf over charcoal cloth, gilt-stamped spine title; joints cracked but tight. FIRST EDITION of the first attempt to organize and synthesize glandular diseases with internal secretion into one system. Falta attempted to correlate glucose tolerance with insulin sensitivity. The work also reports for the first time on the rise of bodily heat production with acromegaly. The additional topics discussed in this text cover: cretinism, eunuchoidism, chondrodystrophia, mongoloidism, adiposis dolorosa, and diabetes as related to the pancreas. Falta, a native of Carlsbad, was a professor for internal medicine in Vienna, where he was also an executive committee member at the Empress Elizabeth Hospital. The first English translation of this work appeared in 1915. "Falta argued that the 'clinical definition of a number of those disease entities which we call today "Diseases of the Bloodglands" is - to a certain extent - much older than the concept of internal secretion, obtained from experimental pathology.' He pointed to the effect of human castration, known in antiquity, when eunuchs played an important role." [Medvei]. In his introductory remarks, Falta says: "One may define the sum total of all cell complexes, which are capable of internal secretion, as the hormopoietic system. There are, however, a number of organs (of the body), the specific function of which we have to regard as the production of especially important hormones, which possess powerful physiological characteristics. These organs have in common, that they yield their specific secretion directly into the blood circulation. they are, therefore, called 'Bloodglands', and their total expanse, the 'Boodgland System.'" References: Garrison-Morton 3795; Medvei, The History of Clinical Endocrinology, 1993; Waller 2944.