EFFECTS ON THE THYROID AND PARATHYROID GLANDS 445 



below normal during the first 9 days, above normal in the second week, and 

 markedly atrophied in the third and fourth weeks. 



Scurvy.— Rondoni and Montagnani ('15) described hemorrhagic lesions of 

 the thyroid gland as characteristic in scorbutic guinea pigs. McCarrison 

 ('20a, '21) likewise found enlargement and hemorrhages. Aschoff and Koch 

 ('19) observed no changes in the thyroid gland in necropsies of human adults 

 with scurvy. Bessesen ('23) found an irregular enlargement of the thyroid in 

 the various stages of experimental scurvy in guinea pigs (Table 1 2) . 



Aqueous Inanition. — In a dog on a dry diet with loss of about 21 per cent 

 in body weight, Falck and Scheffer ('54) noted an apparent loss of 30 per cent 

 in the weight of the thyroid gland. 



In adult albino rats on relatively dry diets, Kudo ('21) found in the acute 

 thirst series (with loss of 36 per cent in body weight) a loss of 23.9 per cent in 

 thyroid weight; in the chronic thirst series (body loss of 52 per cent) a loss of 

 33.1 per cent in thyroid weight; while in total inanition (body loss of 47 per 

 cent) the thyroid loss was 41.7 per cent (Table 9). In young albino rats held at 

 constant body weight by a relatively dry diet for various periods, beginning 

 at about 4 weeks of age, Kudo ('21a) found a variable loss in thyroid weight 

 (8-26 per cent) in all but the longest test, in which it was slightly above normal 

 (Table 10). 



2. THE PARATHYROID GLANDS 



The comparatively few data on the effects of inanition upon the parathyroid 

 glands will be considered in the usual order: first the effects of total inanition 

 in man (adult and infant) and animals, followed by the effects of partial 

 inanition. 



In the human parathyroid cells, Erdheim ('03) found small fatty (singly 

 refractive) granules, which, like those in the thyroid gland, appear uninfluenced 

 by the general nutritive condition of the body. 



Pepere ('06) in his extensive monograph on the parathyroids mentioned 

 briefly the effects of inanition in dogs starved 9-27 days and in 2 human 

 cases of death from inanition following esophageal stricture. In the dog, there 

 was atrophy of the parenchyma, especially of the cytoplasm, with vacuolation 

 and loss of the characteristic granules, and deeply staining nuclei. In the 

 human parathyroid, the effects were similar. 



In a man who died from starvation, Meyer ('17) found the parathyroid 

 parenchyma somewhat atrophic in appearance, containing much colloid in 

 some places. Other portions showed faintly-staining acidophile cells in various 

 stages of degeneration. 



In atrophic infants, Thompson ('07) described parathyroid atrophy of two 

 types: (a) degenerative and (b) sclerotic. In type (a) there is marked conges- 

 tion. The epithelial cells are extensively degenerated, larger and more ir- 

 regular; nuclei swollen; cell boundaries usually thickened or syncytial. In 

 the more common type (b), there is sclerosis, with increase of the interstitial 

 stroma. Mast cells occur frequently in the connective tissue. There are 



