68 INTERNAL SECRETION 



a diminished capacity for ' the assimilation of grape sugar. 

 Eppinger, Falta and Rudinger found, on the contrary, that 

 thyroidectomy never produced glycosuria, and that feeding with 

 large quantities of sugar was not followed by sugar in the urine. 

 They pointed to the remarkable fact that an adrenalin injection 

 which, in normal animals, provokes extreme glycosuria together 

 with an increased metabolism of albumin in the fasting state, 

 does not produce glycosuria in thyroidectomized animals, even 

 where sugar is given at the same time. Moreover, the 

 decomposition of albumin in the fasting state is decreased in such 

 animals after the injection of adrenalin. These authors account for 

 the glycosuria and the diminution of the normal assimilation of 

 sugar in Falkenberg and R. Hirsch's animals, by the fact that 

 in all their experiments the entire thyroid apparatus was removed. 

 After thyroparathyroidectomy, there is a disturbance of the 

 metabolism of the carbohydrates; this, according to Underhill 

 and Tadasu Saiki, is illustrated by the fact that, after the sub- 

 cutaneous injection of 5-7 grm. sugar in 20 per cent, solution for 

 every kilogramme of weight, there is a marked excretion of sugar, 

 which is continued over a considerable period. Eppinger, Falta 

 and Rudinger showed, further, that adrenalin produces in dogs 

 from which the entire thyroid apparatus has been removed, a 

 more marked glycosuria than in normal animals, and that, at 

 the same time, the metabolism of albumin in the fasting state 

 may be augmented. After the extirpation of several parathyroids, 

 there was a more or less marked reduction in the assimilation of 

 sugar, and this applies also to those cases where there were no 

 apparent symptoms of tetany. The effect upon metabolism of the 

 suppression of the parathyroid function is the reverse of that 

 produced by suppression of the thyroid ; for in true athyrosis the 

 assimilation of sugar is increased and the exhibition of adrenalin is 

 not followed by glycosuria. R. Hirsch, however, regards the 

 reduced capacity for the metabolism of sugar and starch after 

 parathyroidectomy as a typical symptom of tetany. The 

 glycosuria makes its appearance in tetany after the nervous 

 symptoms have become manifest, and this led Hirsch to believe 

 that it is due to intervention of the nervous system. 



The experiences of Eppinger, Falta and Rudinger in regard 

 to the absence of glycosuria after the exhibition of adrenalin in 

 thyroidectomized animals, was confirmed by Grey and de Santelle 

 with dogs, and by Pick and Pineles with young goats but not 

 with rabbits ; while Underhill and Hilditch found that there was 

 distinct glycosuria after the exhibition of adrenalin in dogs. 

 Ritzmann found that, in the first two days after thyropara- 

 thyroidectomy, the intravenous infusion of diluted adrenalin solu- 

 tion did not produce glycosuria in cats, even where the quantity 

 used would be considered large in the case of normal animals. The 

 action of adrenalin becomes negative at the maximum development 



