BIOLOGICAL ACTIONS OF SEX HORMONES

Abstract

DR. H. BURROWS' volume provides a comprehensive summary of literature on the sex-hormones up to the period 1941-42. It is divided into six parts, which deal, respectively, with the gonadotrophic factors of the pituitary ; the gonadal hormones in general ; the androgens ; the œstrogens ; the progestational hormones ; and the sex hormones of the adrenal cortex. The author has not excluded any material of importance, and because of the length of the book and his method of presentation, it has necessarily assumed more the character of a summary of what has been written on different topics than a review, the specific purpose of which would be to demonstrate the most fruitful trends of current research and a general synthesis of the subject. As Dr. Burrows himself states, his purpose was to produce “a co-ordinated summary of experimental enquiries” carried out in the laboratory. In this he has undoubtedly succeeded, even though one regrets that he has stopped short of providing the reader with his own general, or special, conclusions about the matters which he has treated.

Biological Actions of Sex Hormones

By Dr. Harold Burrows. Pp. x + 514. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1945.) 42s. net.