DUCTLESS GLANDS 99 



ing, Gull and Ord was termed " hvpothyroidism " (diminished secretion 

 or insufficiency). But it was found that^ in many cases the two condi- 

 tions may be blended, as Paracelsus had originally surmised in the 

 Salzburg region, producing an overlapping of the cardinal symptoms of 

 either. For this condition, the term "dysthyroidism" was proposed 

 by Marie for both. In like manner, states of over activity in the 

 pituitary (hyperpituitarism) or of under activity (hypopituitarism) 

 may be superimposed, one upon the other, making the term "dyspi- 

 tuitarism " most appropriate in the majority of cases. As a goitrous 

 mother may have a cretinous infant, so, as originally observed by 

 Crookshank and confirmed by Gushing, a big, bony acromegalic woman 

 may have a son afflicted with pituitary infantilism or obesity. Gushing 

 has also shown that there is evidence of pituitary activity in pregnancy 

 and hibernation (1912) and his experiments upon its relationship to the 

 sympathetic nervous system (1913) have led him to the conclusion 

 that a lesion of the posterior lobe is the principal cause of the increase 

 of normal urine (polyuria) otherwise known as diabetes insipidus. 

 Finally, he had devised a standard surgical procedure for approaching 

 the almost inaccessible pituitary gland, which was first operated upon 

 in man with success by H. Schloffer in 1907. Gushing's work is thus a 

 brilliant contribution to physiological or Hunterian surgery which had 

 almost fallen into abeyance until the twentieth century and which has 

 been the principal means of elucidating the obscure physiology of the 

 ductless glands. 



In this connection, it is interesting to note that the first experiment 

 in physiological surgery upon human beings was performed by the 

 gynecologist Eobert Battey, of Georgia, who on August 27, 1872, excised 

 the normal ovaries for the relief of a neurotic condition. The physio- 

 logical basis of this operation, a supposed internal secretion from a 

 specialized set of ovarian cells, has been indicated in many ways. 

 Ovariotomy has been found to have a beneficial effect upon osteomalacia 

 in women. Glass (1899), Morris (1901), Marshall and Jolly (1905) 

 have shown that grafting or transplantation of the ovaries in previously 

 ovariotomized women will reestablish menstruation, sexual desire and 

 general well-being. The experiments of Starling and Lane-Claypole 

 (1906) demonstrated that the inhibitory effect upon pregnancy and 

 lactation of a Battey's operation in rabbits will not be produced by 

 section of the mammary nerves or of the spinal cord. Similarly, the 

 experiments of Brown-Sequard and Poehl on spermin and the fact that 

 ligation of the vas deferens in young animals will abolish the power of 

 reproduction, while permitting full development of the sexual char- 

 acters and the sexual appetite, go to show that the sexual gonads in the 

 male have an internal secretion, which is supposed to arise from the 

 interstitial cells of Leydig, in the seminal tubules. 



(To he concluded) 



