Kamongo and Anabolone

In the remarkable and complex system of checks and balances with which biological nature controls metabolism, many specific components have been biochemically identified, and some have been synthesized. We describe confidently specific enzymes, and enzyme "ases." We speak of diuretic and antidiuretic hormones. We think in terms of anabolism and catabolism. In the last instance, however, we have identified to date only one of the antagonists. The hormone of the thyroid gland, thyroxin, clearly speeds catabolism, presumably because of a generic widespread effect on the rate of metabolism of any and all cells. It catalyzes, somehow, the energy expenditure of the metabolic furnace, and it is not phylogenetically choosey. It works in any species. The target organ of the hormone is the complex of oxidative processes normally found in the biological activity of the cell's biochemical mechanics. But what of "anti-thyroid"? Who has identified it, this mysterious anabolic hormone? ("Anabolone.")