THE DUCTLESS GLANDS 417 



is that myxoedema was never induced even in monkeys. This 

 result differs from that obtained by Horsley (20), Murray (21), 

 and Edmunds (22), who state that it is possible by operation 

 to induce myxcedema in monkeys. Our animals were kept at 

 ordinary indoor summer temperature, and showed no symptoms 

 which could be described as myxcedematous. In some cases it 

 was impossible to distinguish the operated monkeys from the 

 controls, and in a photograph of an operated animal and a 

 normal one side by side the operated animal looked the healthier 

 of the two. One monkey, it is true, suffered three days after 

 the operation from slight muscular tremors, but completely 

 recovered. In order to ascertain whether the fatal results, and 

 especially those succeeding to nervous attacks, are due to 

 injuries to surrounding structures and not to the absence of the 

 glands, we performed some few experiments in which injury 

 was done to structures in the neck without removal of either 

 thyroids or parathyroids. No typical symptoms were observed 

 in these cases, but in a later series of experiments one monkey 

 died within twenty-four hours after the operation with what 

 appeared to be typical tetany. It was found, however, post 

 mortem, that the recurrent nerve and other structures had been 

 included in one of the ligatures. There seems still to be a 

 possibility that if a large number of experiments were performed 

 and the necessary conditions were understood, it could be shown 

 that some of the nervous symptoms are not due to glandular 

 defect or insufficiency. This possibility is suggested by the fact 

 that " tetany " may come on at variable periods from five hours 

 to a week after operation. 



Some of the animals suffered from catarrh, and one died 

 from some laryngeal affection ; and it seems probable that, as in 

 the case of other animals, removal of the thyroid gland leaves 

 monkeys in a condition in which they are less capable of 

 resisting infection. We do not claim that all our monkeys were 

 totally unaffected by the operation. They were, as a rule, 

 perhaps somewhat quieter and more subdued than normal ; 

 but we do insist that the striking feature of myxcedema in man 

 — viz. swelling of the subcutaneous tissues — was altogether 

 wanting. 



Of course it is open to insist that somewhere in the body of 

 the above-mentioned animals there were accessory thyroids or 

 parathyroids which sufficed to maintain life after the removal of 



