Date of Award

6-1951

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (BS)

Department

Medical

First Advisor

Hermann L. Karl

Second Advisor

Virgil Roach

Abstract

Hormones, as we understand them, are of many types and have many functions. To the average layman, the term hormone implies a relationship to reproduction and growth. To the chemist however, this expression immediately brings to mind the internal secretions of the ductless glands which are of the utmost importance to the animal body because of the action of hormones in controlling and integrating the manifold activities of the body. In fact, certain of these secretions seem to be indispensible to life. However the only common characteristic of these compounds is that they are all carried by the blood stream, for each hormone has a specific activity or function.

Under such conditions, the problem of classifying and studying such products seems to be insurmountable. Nevertheless, once one has isolated a single hormone and has studied the action and effects of that one compound, an order of clarity rises out of the chaos. A direct result of the orderly study of the hormones found in nature has been the discovery of organic compounds possessing hormone-like activity. An example of such a compound possessing estrogenic activity is diethylstilbestrol. The mere fact that diethylstilbestrol is an estrogenic compound does not arouse any great passion of inquiry oh the part of the average person. However, as one traces the development and activity of this compound, he cannot fail to be impressed by the importance of such products and by the possibilities for further developments.

Comments

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Undergraduate School Marquette University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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