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On examination of the state of nutrition in these persons, it may often be found to be below the normal. It is certain that such a condition in young people is abnormal, and, therefore, a pathological condition.

The question now arises: In which category of diseases is this condition to be classified?

In typical cases of this class there is a diminution of metabolism, i.e., of the assimilation and conversion of food into energy. We shall have to think of the possibility of alterations in those organs which govern the process of metabolism.

These organs are the glands with internal secretion (especially the thyroid gland, testicles, ovaries, the adrenals and pituitary body), according to recent researches, among which those of the author of this book may be mentioned. He was among the first to show the fact that glands with internal secretion control all the processes of oxidation,^[2] and that the diseases of metabolism: diabetes, obesity, gout, etc., are the direct consequence of alterations in these important glands. This is further sustained by the labors of Sajous^[3] who was the first to describe the mechanism through which these organs govern oxidation and metabolism, and to explain how they produce the disorders just enumerated.