124 INTERNAL SECRETION 



and smooth ovaries, menstrual anomalies and frequently 

 anomalies of pregnancy ; in the male, deficient growth of pubic 

 hair and smallness of the external sexual organs. 



Out of 15 cases of Addison's disease, Hedinger found 7 with 

 marked status thymicolymphaticus, 5 in whom the condition was 

 not so marked, and 3 in whom it was uncertain. 



The pathological significance of the constitutional anomalies 

 presented by the status thymicolymphaticus is shown, in the first 

 place, by the greater sensitiveness of such individuals to harmful 

 disturbances of all kinds (Laub). Their greater vulnerability is 

 shown by the fact that more than half of these subjects die early 

 in life (14 to 25) of infective diseases. Of these the most frequent 

 is tuberculosis, but nephritis, eclampsia and diabetes are all to 

 be met with ; and suicide is a not infrequent termination to these 

 lives (Bartel). 



The older pathologists regarded this condition as a pre- 

 disposition to tuberculosis and to certain other infective diseases ; 

 this view is confirmed by the results of modern investigators 

 (Kundrat, Ort, Bartel). 



THE SUPRARENAL SYSTEM. 



THE INTERRENAL AND ADRENAL SYSTEMS. 



HISTORICAL. 



THE suprarenal capsules were first recognized as separate 

 organs by Bartholomeus Eustachius Sanctoseverinatus, the great 

 anatomist of the Renaissance, in the year 1563. It is commonly 

 believed that these organs are mentioned in different passages in 

 the Bible, but the notion is an erroneous one arising, as Blanchard 

 points out, from incorrect translation of the Vulgate. 



The manner in which our knowledge of the suprarenals has 

 grown is interesting from many points of view. This is fully 

 described in another place, the present intention being to give 

 only a very brief summary of the more important historical data. 



The work of Eustachius was followed up by a number of 

 authors, who made exhaustive investigations into the anatomy and 

 functions of the suprarenal capsules. It is nevertheless curious 

 to find that many anatomical and medical works of the iyth and 

 i8th centuries contain no mention of these organs (Vesalius, 

 Fallopius, Fabricius, Aquapendente and van Swieten). 



In 1716, the Academic des Sciences of Bordeaux offered a 

 prize for an answer to the question : " Quel est Tusage des glands 

 surrenales?" The judge was Montesquieu, then 29 years of age, 

 who found himself unable to award the prize to any of the con- 

 flicting and, in some instances, very extraordinary theories offered 

 in solution of the problem. He closed his searching criticism of 

 these theories with the words : " Le hazard fera peut-etre quelque 

 jour ce que tous les soins n'ont pu faire." 



