PROBLEMS OF MODERN SCIENCE 



ductless glands the processes of bone-formation 

 run riot, and the bones, especially those of the 

 head and face, assume monstrous size and shape. 



One of the most interesting discoveries is that 

 both unusual shortness, or dwarfism, and unusual 

 tallness, or giantism, may be accounted for by 

 disorder of these little glands. This discovery 

 has a definite bearing upon the present theme, as 

 in giantism not only must the building processes 

 in the thigh-bone, as well as in the other bones of 

 the skeleton, take place more rapidly, the excessive 

 growth of the body as a whole being manifest long 

 before the period at which full stature is usually 

 attained, but, further, they must persist for a longer 

 time than is normally the case, as the time during 

 which the body is growing is usually prolonged. 

 In dwarfism, on the other hand, the building 

 processes must take place less rapidly, and come 

 to an end at an earlier period of life. 



So far as the thigh-bone is concerned, the 

 growth in length is mainly dependent on the 

 growth and expansion of the cartilage at its two 

 extremities, and it is conceivable that in giantism 

 the internal secretions circulating in the blood have 

 a specially stimulating effect on the growth of 

 the cartilage, the result being that not only does it 

 expand more rapidly, but, maintaining the struggle 

 for existence for a longer time, does not succumb 

 so easily to the invasion of the bone-forming tissue. 

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