96 The Endocrine Organs 



the blood. It is, moreover, well known that its secretion is not directly under the 

 influence of the nervous system. Excitation of its nerves produces no effect on the 

 secretion, which continues normal after all nerves are cut (Eckard). Even a 

 gland which has been transplanted to a totally different situation will secrete milk 

 (Ribbert). The case of the pyophagus twins, Rosa-Josepha Blazek, who are united 

 by a common sacrum, with anus and vulva in common but with two uteri and 

 vagina?, is particularly interesting in connexion with this question. For when one 

 of the twins became pregnant the mammary glands in both underwent hypertrophy 

 and eventually secreted milk. The well-known effects of nervous conditions 

 (emotions and the like) upon milk secretion must therefore be produced through 

 the internal secretions of organs such as the pituitary. 



Effects on Metabolism and in Disease 

 It is found, as with adrenalin, that the autacoids of the posterior lobe of 

 the pituitary have an important influence upon carbohydrate storage. When 

 injected either into a vessel or subcutaneously they cause disappearance of 

 glycogen from the liver. They also facilitate the production of alimentary 

 glycosuria by lowering the limit of assimilation of sugar (Borchardt). 



Subcutaneous and intramuscular injections — especially the latter — 

 produce effects similar to those caused by intravenous administration, 

 although less rapidly. 1 On the other hand, buccal administration has little 

 or no effect on the blood-vessels, heart, and plain muscle. This is not due 

 to destruction of the active material by the gastric juice, but probably to 

 its slow rate of absorption from the alimentary canal. Addition of the 

 gland substance to the food of growing animals, or its administration by 

 subcutaneous injection, has been stated to check growth and delay ossifica- 

 tion (especially in males), but this statement appears not to be of general 

 application. In white rats the growth is not obviously affected by the 

 addition of small amounts of pituitary to the ordinary food, nor is any 

 obvious effect produced upon nitrogenous metabolism. In animals in which 

 the gland has previously been experimentally removed or injured (see below), 

 Cushing has described amelioration of the symptoms as the result of adding 

 large amounts of the gland substance tc the food. Pituitary extracts and 

 derivatives from them have been administered in a variety of disorders, 

 including surgical shock, intestinal inertia, uterine inertia, amenorrhcea, 

 vesicular inertia, deficiencies milk secretion, haemoptysis, exophthalmic 

 goitre, hay fever, rheumato^.* arthritis, rickets, and osteomalacia, but it is 

 only in the first three that they have proved of distinct value. 



Are the Various Effects obtained from Extracts of the Posterior 

 Lobe due to only One or to more than One Autacoid ? 



Whether all these effects are produced by one and the same active 

 principle has not yet been definitely d^\ermined. For example, in the case 



1 Large doses administered subcutaneously r £'. fatal to rabbits, the symptoms being 

 similar to those caused by adrenalin (see p. 65). 



