IN RECENT years, the pituitary-adrenocortical system has been shown experimentally and clinically to have an important and sometimes dominant role in the regulation of electrolyte,1 carbohydrate,2 protein,3 and fat4 metabolism, of hematopoiesis,5 of tissue cellular reaction,6 and of the enzymatic7 and antigenic8 systems of the body. Much evidence has also been produced that while the physiological integrity of the body is at all times dependent on the normal functioning of the pituitary-adrenocortical system, the adrenocorticotropic and adrenocortical hormones serve a purpose of particular importance in the defense of the body against noxious stimuli of all varieties.9 The well-known hypothesis of the adaptation syndrome of Selye10 endeavors to integrate this interplay of the manifold functions of the pituitary-adrenocortical system and the effects of nonspecific stimuli, or "stress," into a rational chain of physiological events.
On a priori grounds alone, one would