". . . [T]he explorations of pharmacology are discovering many remarkable effects of chemical substances. Out of coal the pharmacologist can prepare acetanilide which will bring down the temperature; with other substances he can send the temperature up. Out of raw liver he gets a substance that will build blood; out of a Mexican cactus he can extract a drug which will promote the strength of visual imagery in thinking and will make some people hallucinate; he can manufacture out of ordinary materials in his laboratory the thyroxin with which the thyroid gland stimulates the body to new activity; he can reduce or increase the blood pressure at will. But again, the results have solely been applied to set right something which has gone wrong, not to open new doors."
Julian Huxley
No comments:
Post a Comment