Neuroendocrinology

Abstract

A THREAD of neuroendocrine theory runs through much of the history of medical science: emotional states were once identified with the Galenic humors, choler, bile and phlegm; Vesalius viewed the third ventricle, infundibulum ("funnel") of the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland as the pathway by which animal spirits drained to form nasal mucus ("pituita"); and the Cartesian interpretation of the mind-body problem centered upon a pineal soul. These early speculations provide a literary if not rigorous approach to the subject. Modern views of neuroendocrine relations had to await modern ideas of endocrine function dominated by the pituitary gland as "conductor . . .