EFFECTS OF FEEDING WITH PINEAL EXTRACTS 427 



other inorganic elements are present in the desiccated epiphysis it is 

 possible that the power to influence growth may be due to the action 

 of these chemical constituents rather than on the supposed action of a 

 hormone. 



Robinson reports further feeding experiments carried out by M'Cord 

 on young animals using fresh pineal glands, with resulting early precocity 

 and adiposity ; Hoskins' results were almost completely negative. Kozelka 

 also obtained negative results with pineal implants in chicks ; whereas 

 increased rate of growth has been claimed by Dobowik ; and in the rat 





i < 



Fig. 283. — A — Control Bird, and B — Experimental Chick nourished with 

 a Desiccated Extract of the Epiphysis, obtained from young Oxen. 



The experimental chick is diminished in size ; feeding with the extract has, 

 therefore, in this instance retarded growth. 



(Redrawn from Calvet, after M'Cord.) 



Lahr found no influence on body-growth in either sex, but retardation 

 of gonadal development in both male and female animals. Robinson 

 further records the experimental work of Hanson on the effects on the 

 offspring of intraperitoneal injections of pineal extracts in successive 

 generations of parent rats. In succeeding generations up to the fifth 

 he obtained increasing retardation of growth, with acceleration in gonadal 

 development, precocity, " dwarfism," and macrogenitalismus precox 

 being the outstanding results. 



Incidentally it may be mentioned here that observations on the human 

 subject seem to indicate that in those cases in which excessive premature 

 growth of the body has been associated with mental and sexual precocity, 

 the ultimate stature and body-weight of those individuals who have lived 

 to adult life is below the average height and weight. 



In an interesting article by H. Lisser in Bedside Diagnosis, 1928, 



