SECRETION OF THE DUCTLESS GLANDS. 891 



action of this secretion is not revealed by the method of injection. 

 Robertson has isolated a substance from this lobe which he desig- 

 nates as tethelin. It contains nitrogen and phosphorus in the 

 ratio of 4 to 1, and is soluble in alcohol, ether, and chloroform, 

 although it may be precipitated from alcoholic solution by the 

 addition of ether. The author states that administration of this 

 material to mice, like the use of extracts of the entire lobe, has 

 a stimulating effect on growth. 



Removal of the Pituitary > Body. Very contradictory reports 

 were made by the earlier observers upon the result of the complete 

 removal of the pituitary body, but since the work of Paulesco it 

 has been generally accepted that hypophysectomy is essentially a 

 fatal operation. * The animal dies in a few days after exhibiting 

 a series of premonitory symptoms, such as a fall in temperature, 

 unsteady gait, rapid emaciation, and diarrhea. Further examina- 

 tion has shown that this fatal outcome happens when the anterior 

 lobe alone is removed, and we may conclude, therefore, that the 

 secretion of this gland exercises some profoundly important influ- 

 ence upon metabolism, although the nature of this influence is not 

 as yet understood. Removal of the posterior lobe alone is not 

 fatal, but it is followed by characteristic effects. The animal 

 exhibits a greater tolerance to carbohydrate food, that is to say, a 

 larger quantity of carbohydrate can be taken without causing 

 alimentary glycosuria. There is also a marked increase in the 

 processes of fat formation, so that a tendency to obesity is one 

 indication of a diminished activity of the posterior lobe. When the 

 operation is performed upon young animals the development of the 

 sexual glands is arrested, and the animal later exhibits a eunuchoid 

 condition. On the clinical side observations have been collected 

 which corroborate and extend the conclusions that might be drawn 

 from the results of animal experimentation, although in such cases 

 it has been more difficult to separate the effects due to the anterior 

 and the posterior lobes respectively. When the hypophysis is 

 hypertrophied and is presumably in a condition of hyperactivity, 

 the resulting effects are exhibited chiefly in the matter of the 

 growth of the skeleton. In early life such an effect leads to marked 

 overgrowth or gigantism, while in later life it occasions an enlarge- 

 ment of the bones of the face and extremities, a condition known as 

 acromegaly. It is assumed that in such cases there is a hyperseore- 

 tion of the anterior lobe. On the other hand, when there is reason 

 to believe that there is a diminished activity of the pituitary body, 

 for example, from pathological growths pressing upon the gland, 

 the effects usually observed are the production of obesity and sexual 



* See Gushing, "The Pituitary Body and Its Disorders," 1912; also Goetsch, 

 "The Quarterly Journal of Medicine," January, 1914. 



