DIGESTIVE ORGANS AND THEIR ANATOMY. 297 



the life of the body and which is so indispensable to its ex- 

 istence, should be so poorly understood. Investigators have 

 not, however, abandoned the research, and it is possible 

 that the development of the next few years may throw hope- 

 ful light on this subject.* 



1 Sometimes there are found in the immediate neighbor- 

 hood of the thyroids small nodules of similar tissue which 

 are called para-thyroids. These are no doubt identical with 

 the regular thyroid glands in structure and function. When 

 in certain animals the removal of the main thyroid does not 

 produce immediate death, these para- thyroids may be, no 

 doubt, under such circumstances fulfilling the same function. 



2. The Spleen. Lying on the left side of the body 

 in a position corresponding somewhat to the liver on the 



* With the permission of Dr. Robert Hessler, the Pathologist of the Central Indiana 

 Hospital for Insane, at Indianapolis, extracts from a recent clinical report of his are 

 here added. These extracts are reports of cases of Thyroid Medication. 



CASE) I. This is the case mentioned in my former paper; a young man who had 

 lain immovable in bed for over three years, and who could not be aroused by any means; 

 was fed twice a day by means of a stomach-tube. Under constantly increasing doses of 

 thyroid gland he gradually returned to life, but showed a tendency to relapse on with- 

 holding the remedy. Under very large doses symptoms of exopthalmic goitre appeared. 

 He has received thyroids since November 1, 1895, and still requires moderate daily doses 

 to enable him to move about. He is in the best ward in the hospital, goes out to his 

 meals, and takes walks about the grounds. Mentally he is sluggish, and is not inclined 

 to exert himself; there is some mental impairment. Whether he will ever fully recover 

 is still a question. 



CASE) II. A middle-aged German, cataleptic for three years, retained for a long 

 time any position in which he was placed, even the most awkward. He promptly re- 

 sponded to the thyroid treatment, and in a few weeks was able to be about, and the rem- 

 edy was discontinued. After gaining strength and regaining the use of his extremities 

 he had been practically bedfast for three years he for several months assisted the florist 

 in all sorts of work about the grounds, and ultimately returned home well in body and in 

 mind. He remembered the condition he had been in, and fully appreciated what had 

 been done for him. A long account which he wrote about himself, on recovering, is 

 worthy a psychologist's study. He had realized more or less fully at all times what went 

 on about him, but his actions were dominated by delusions. 



CASE) IV. This was a man approaching middle age who had been in the hospital 

 several years before, in a cataleptic condition, but since nothing could be done for him at 

 that time, his relatives had taken him home. He was re-admitted to the hospital early in 

 May, 18%, in a stuporous condition, as if asleep ; no mental reactions could be obtained with 

 stimuli of any kind. Sensitiveness to painful stimuli greatly diminished. In poor bodily 

 condition; weight 88 pounds; his normal weight had been about 150. Extremities 

 wasted; little motion of them; in fact, they were almost anchylosed from non-use. 

 Hands and fingers contracted; attempts to straighten them brought on symptoms of pain. 

 After a few days of observation in the hospital he was placed on desiccated thyroids in in- 

 creasing doses. After a month's treatment, signs of awakening appeared, and in three 

 months there was some activity, both bodily and mental. Massage was actively applied. 

 At the end of September, under a daily dose of thirty-five grains, vomiting and diarrhoea 



