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1、HormonesintheBody Uptothebeginningofthetwentiethcentury,thenervoussystemwasthoughttocontrolallcommunicationwithinthebodyandtheresultingintegrationofbehavior.Scientistshaddeterminedthatnervesran,essentially,onelectricalimpulses.Theseimpulseswerethoughttobeth
2、eengineforthought,emotion,movement,andinternalprocessessuchasdigestion.However,experimentsbyWilliamBaylissandErnestStarlingonthechemicalsecretin,whichisproducedinthesmallintestinewhenfoodentersthestomach,eventuallychallengedthatview.Fromthesmallintestine,sec
3、retintravelsthroughthebloodstreamtothepancreas.There,itstimulatesthereleaseofdigestivechemicals.Inthisfashion,theintestinalcellsthatproducesecretinultimatelyregulatetheproductionofdifferentchemicalsinadifferentorgan,thepancreas. Suchacoordinationofprocesses
4、hadbeenthoughttorequirecontrolbythenervoussystem;BaylissandStarlingshowedthatitcouldoccurthroughchemicalsalone.ThisdiscoveryspurredStarlingtocointhetermhormonetorefertosecretin,takingitfromtheGreekwordhormon,meaning“toexcite”or“tosetinmotion.”Ahormoneisachem
5、icalproducedbyonetissuetomakethingshappenelsewhere. Asmorehormoneswerediscovered,theywerecategorized,primarilyaccordingtotheprocessbywhichtheyoperatedonthebody.Someglands(whichmakeuptheendocrinesystem)secretehormonesdirectlyintothebloodstream.Suchglandsincl
6、udethethyroidandthepituitary.Theexocrinesystemconsistsoforgansandglandsthatproducesubstancesthatareusedoutsidethebloodstream,primarilyfordigestion.Thepancreasisonesuchorgan,althoughitsecretessomechemicalsintothebloodandthusisalsopartoftheendocrinesystem. Mu
7、chhasbeenlearnedabouthormonessincetheirdiscovery.Someplaysuchkeyrolesinregulatingbodilyprocessesorbehaviorthattheirabsencewouldcauseimmediatedeath.Themostabundanthormoneshaveeffectsthatarelessobviouslyurgentbutcanbemorefar-reachinganddifficulttotrack:Theymod
8、ifymoodsandaffecthumanbehavior,evensomebehaviorwenormallythinkofasvoluntary.Hormonalsystemsareveryintricate.Evenminuteamountsoftherightchemicalscansuppressappetite,calmaggression,andchangetheatt
