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Anterior Pituitary Neural Control Concepts

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Endocrinology

Part of the book series: People and Ideas ((PEOPL))

Abstract

Although the early Greeks and Romans were totally ignorant of endocrinology, their culture was rich in humors. In his 1971 Dale Lecture, Harris (23) described Galen’s concept of the conversion of intra-arterial “vital spirit” to “animal spirit” in the brain. The waste products of this reaction funneled down the infundibular stalk to the pituitary gland, which then dispersed them through ducts in the sphenoid and ethmoid bones to the nasopharynx, where they appeared as nasal mucus or pituita. This view of pituitary function persisted through the Dark Ages and Renaissance and even through Vesalius’ scrutiny, until Schneider of Wittenburg showed in 1655 that the foramina in the cribriform plate of the ethmoid transmitted olfactory nerves rather than ducts and Lower of Oxford noted in 1670 that intracerebral fluids reaching the pituitary under pressure did not penetrate the nasal mucosa but must be poured back into the blood. This was an astute observation for the state of science 300 years ago. Other observations of biological phenomena that can now be explained by neuroendocrine mechanisms have been credited to Aristotle: e.g., the relation of the changing size of sea urchin gonads with the phases of the moon (12).

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  1. Charles H. Sawyer
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S. M. McCann

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© 1988 American Physiological Society

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Sawyer, C.H. (1988). Anterior Pituitary Neural Control Concepts. In: McCann, S.M. (eds) Endocrinology. People and Ideas. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7436-4_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7436-4_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7436-4

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