THE PITUITARY BODY 



815 



a temporary glycosuria, which is said to be as pronounced as -that fol- 

 lowing puncture of the diabetic center (page 704), provided glycogen is 

 present in the liver. The production of this carbohydrate autacoid would 

 appear to be under the control of the sympathetic nervous system, for it 

 has been found by Gushing and others that stimulation of the superior 

 cervical ganglion, which has been known for many years to be fre- 

 quently followed by glycosuria, has this effect only provided the posterior 

 lobe of the pituitary is intact. Even surgical manipulation of the pitui- 

 tary may excite a hypersecretion of pituitrin, which would account for 

 the glycosuria often observed after experimental excision or partial 



A. 



B. 



Fig. 201. A, To show the appearance before the onset of acromegalic symptoms; B, The ap- 

 pearance after seventeen years of the disease. (After Campbell Geddes.) 



destruction of the pituitary. A similar irritation may be set up in disease 

 of the gland. 



The glycosuria which is usually observed after partial hypophysectomy 

 soon passes off, to be followed by a permanent condition of increased 

 tolerance for sugar, because now less pituitrin is being produced. It is 

 said that during the stage of increased tolerance diabetes can not be pro- 

 duced even by excision of the pancreas. The glycosuria produced by 

 irritation of the posterior lobe is accompanied by a marked polyuria (dia- 

 betes insipidus), which may outlast the glycosuria. 



The extract of the pars intermedia has an action similar to but not 

 identical with that of the posterior lobe, some of the effects of which it 

 lacks, for example, it possesses no pressor action or influence upon the 

 kidney, and, though it exhibits galactogogue and oxytocic qualities, these 



