The general adaptation syndrome and the diseases of adaptation

I. INTRODUCTION SINCE the first description of the “alarm reaction,” a decade ago, many publications have dealt with this phenomenon and with the “general adaptation syndrome,” of which it forms a part. It is becoming increasingly more obvious that certain physiologic mechanisms, in which the endocrin system plays a prominent part, help to raise resistance to damage as such, irrespective of the specific nature of the damaging agents. Interest in the general adaptation syndrome has recently received a further impetus as a result of investigations suggesting that some of the most important diseases of human pathology (such as hypertension, nephrosclerosis and the rheumatic diseases) may represent by-products of the endocrine reactions, which are at play in the general adaptation syndrome. It was considered a timely enterprise, therefore, to survey this field now and to supply a guide to the rather scattered and polyglot, pertinent literature. In order to familiarize himself with different points of view, th...