A POSTAL SYSTEM 227 



manufactured and posted in the general circulation by 

 the small pituitary gland attached to the base of the brain. 

 We became aware of its peculiar action quite unexpectedly. 

 In 1886, Dr Pierre Marie of Paris, while still a young 

 medical man, was consulted by two women who complained 

 of headache and mentioned incidentally that they had 

 become so changed in appearance in recent years that 

 even those to whom they ought to be best known could 

 scarcely recognise them. Their faces, particularly their 

 jaws and noses, had become enormous ; their hands and 

 feet had become thick, clumsy, and overgrown, as if they 

 had been intended for the limbs of huge labouring men. 

 Dr Marie named the disorder or disease Acromegaly ; 

 very soon after he published an account of these two 

 cases, and thus drew attention to the condition, many 

 instances were seen and investigated by medical men in 

 Europe and America. The disease proved to be quite 

 common, although it was never noticed until Dr Marie 

 sensitised our eyesight. Very soon it was discovered 

 that every one in whom this disorder was well marked 

 had a pituitary gland which was irregularly overgrown ; 

 it was during the period of its overgrowth that the con- 

 figuration of the patient's body underwent the remarkable 

 changes just mentioned. Then a further discovery was 

 made. It was found that those men and women who 

 on approaching their twentieth year suddenly shoot up 

 into giants or giantesses — men or women over seven 

 feet in height — were also the subjects of a riotous over- 

 growth of the pituitary gland. Giantism and acrome- 

 galy are closely related conditions. Almost all giants 

 are not only tall but also suffer from acromegaly. In 

 this way light was thrown on an unknown and unsuspected 

 growth-regulating mechanism of the body. It is only 

 now becoming apparent what the true nature of this 

 mechanism is. We all knew that the blacksmith's biceps 

 becomes a big and strong muscle. We thought that a 

 sufficient explanation of that fact was merely to say that 

 overwork gave rise to overgrowth. That kind of answer 

 served to cloak our ignorance. The real question we 



