THE ESSENTIAL DUCTLESS GLANDS Zot 
one of the most valuable things in the human body. It 
is indeed very small in size, less than one gram in 
weight, and apparently somewhat heavier in females, 
especially during pregnancy. Like most precious jew- 
els it is hidden away in the intracranial locker of the 
body, where, secure from outside attack, it sets rough- 
rider-like, in the saddle (sella turcica) and through 
the innumerable hormonic reins that connect it with 
the other endocrine glands, exerts a most powerful in- 
fluence over the whole organism. 
It is composed of two parts, the anterior and pos- 
terior lobes, whose active principles differ considerably 
from each other. As with all the other ductless glands, 
there are two conditions of dysfunction to be consid- 
ered—the overactivity of the gland, or hyperpituitar- 
ism; and its lowered or lessened activity—hypopituitar- 
ism. Of course, due to the different physiological char- 
acteristics and relationships of the anterior and pos- 
terior lobes of the gland, there is some confusion yet 
as to the source of symptoms produced, though the 
work of Engelbach, of St. Louis, has clarified the 
matter. 
As a type of hyperpituitarism, we will consider the 
disease known in childhood as gigantism, and in adults 
as acromegaly, or Marie’s Disease, Marie (9) having 
been the first (in 1886) to give a full description of it. 
Gigantism, or the excessive growth of the skeletal 
bones, results when hyperpituitarism occurs in a period 
before the epiphyses have joined, while acromegaly is 
the result of the same conditions occurring in the sub- 
sequent period of adolescent life, or to be more correct, 
gigantism may be regarded as the prodromic stage 
of acromegaly (10). It is possible, as Cushing (1) 
thinks, that the hyperfunctional symptoms in acrome- 
galy are due to the hyperactivity of the anterior part of 
the pituitary, while the symptoms ascribed to hypopit- 
