were poured out upon some surface of the body. Either an exterior
surface like the skin, or some interior surface, the various mucous
membranes. This was supported by the discovery of canal-like passage
ways leading from the gland to the particular surface where its
secretion was to act. These corridors, the secretory or excretory
ducts, are present, for example, in the liver, conducting the bile
to the small intestine. Devices of transportation fit happily into
a comparison of a gland to a chemical factory, corresponding thus
closely to the tramways and railroads of our industrial centers.

Little more than a hundred years ago, it was observed that certain
organs, like the thyroid body in the neck, and the adrenal capsules in
the abdomen, hitherto neglected because their function was hopelessly
obscure, had a glandular structure. As in so much scientific advance,
the discovery or improvement of a new instrument or method, a fresh
tool of research, was responsible. The perfection of the microscope
was the reason this time.

If one wishes to trace the idea of internal secretion by cells to an
individual, it is convenient, if not pedantic, to give the credit to
Theophile de Bordeu, a famous physician of Paris in the eighteenth
century. Bordeu came to Paris as a brilliant provincial in his early
twenties and by the charm of his manner and daring therapy fought
his way to the most exclusive aristocratic practice of the court.
Naturally a courtier, taking to the intrigues of the royal court like
a duck to water, making enemies on every hand as well as friends, and
with a fastidious and impatient clientele, he yet found time to dabble
in the wonders of the newly perfected microscope and to speculate upon
the meaning of the novelties revealed by it in the tissues. _He coined
the thought of a gland secretion into the blood_.