292 PROGRESS OF SCIENCE IN THE CENTURY. 



substance; when it is hypertrophied the resulting 

 state is known as goitre. Associated with the enlarge- 

 ment there are often disturbances of the nervous 

 and circulatory system, leading to what is known as 

 cretinism, a state of semi-idiocy. " It is found that 

 even if a minute part of the thyroid gland be left 

 whilst the greater part is removed, the symptoms 

 (which follow complete excision) do not supervene. 

 Indeed, certain contradictory results which have been 

 got by some observers after removal of the thyroid 

 are explained by the fact that in some individuals 

 there are minute detached particles of thyroid gland 

 lying apart from the main organ ; and that after the 

 latter has been removed these detached particles may 

 sufficiently carry on the function of the organ in 

 relation to the blood and the nervous system to pre- 

 vent the supervention of the deleterious symptoms 

 which usually occur after its removal. Here is, then, 

 a notable instance of the enormous influence exerted 

 by a ^ next to nothing ' upon the general organism." * 

 The story does not, however, end here, though there 

 is the usual need for caution in speaking of what 

 is still, so to speak, in the melting pot. It has been 

 shown in many cases that patients whose thyroid has 

 been excised, atrophied, or functionally disordered, 

 can be greatly benefited, or temporarily cured, by 

 utilising the thyroid glands of sheep, etc., either 

 along with the food, or by sub-cutaneous injection of 

 the extract. This goes to show that the thyroid in its 

 normal state forms a potent internal secretion, even 

 small quantities of which are sufficient to keep the 

 blood and the nervous system up to a certain standard 

 of efficiency. 



♦Prof. E. A. Schafer. Address Section I, Report Brit. 

 Ass. for 1894, p. 801. 



