THE PITUITARY BODY 817 



found to exist postmortem though none of the above symptoms had been 

 recorded during life. In these cases it is probable that the disease from 

 the start had been of such a nature as to produce a tendency to hypo- 

 pituitarism rather than hyperpituitarism, for the symptoms are very like 

 those observed in animals after partial or complete removal of the gland. 

 If the condition commences before adolescence, the body fails to grow, 

 although the child may continue to increase in weight because of the 



Fig. 202. Hand of a person affected with acromegaly. 



remarkable deposition of fat in the tissues. Sexual development is strik- 

 ingly interfered with, and the secondary sexual characteristics fail to 

 show themselves. In boys, for example, the pubic hairs fail to extend up 

 to the umbilicus; and the hairs on the chin do not develop, whereas the 

 hair of the scalp grows profusely. The bones remain of the female type, 

 and a broad pelvis, rounded limbs, small feet and hands are often ob- 

 served. In these cases there is usually excessive tolerance for carbohy- 

 drates, which may explain the adiposity, sugar being converted into fat. 

 In the light of the experimental results, the effect on carbohydrate 



