508 THE CHEMISTRY OF TUMORS 



material from metastatic thyroid tissue in the vertebral column about 

 5 mg. of iodin, which was a trifle larger proportion than was present 

 in the thyroid itself. Carlson and WoelfeP^ found much iodin in 

 the metastases of a thyroid carcinoma of a dog, while in another dog 

 whose cancerous thyroid contained no iodin the secondary tumors 

 were also devoid of this element. I have also analyzed metastases 

 from a carcinoma of the thyroid which contained no demonstrable 

 iodin, despite the presence of colloid. Marine and Johnson^^ found 

 that in two cases of cancer of the thyroid in man, and one in the dog, 

 the cancer tissue showed no ability to retain iodin given by mouth, in 

 contrast to normal thyroid and simple adenomas. Meyer-Hiirlimann 

 and Oswald^'* have described a remarkable case of cystic carcinoma of 

 the thyroid, from which in six weeks 2840 c.c. of secretion was obtained 

 by puncture. It contained 0.077 mg. iodin per 10 c.c. (the patient 

 having previously been given Kl) as compared with normal thyroid 

 'which contains 0.4 to 4 mg. per 10 gm. It contained both globuhn and 

 albumin, the former corresponding to true thyroglobulin, even to in- 

 creasing vagus irritability experimentally. The "adenomatous" 

 nodules of the thyroid often show evidence of active secretion, Goetsch^^ 

 having found their cells rich in mitochondria, while Graham'^*^ found 

 that they take up iodin and metabolize it so that the adenomatous 

 tissue produces the typical thyroid effect on the development of tad- 

 poles. Adrenal cancers do not usually cause Addison's disease, per- 

 haps because they functionate in the place of the destroyed gland 

 (Lubarsch). 



In the characteristic production of cachexia, often apparently out 

 of all proportion to the amount of tumor tissue, there would seem to 

 be evidence that a peculiar and abnormal product of metabohsm is 

 formed by cancer-cells, and extracts from cancers have been found 

 toxic for protozoa." As yet, however, it has been impossible to demon- 

 strate any characteristic toxic substance in cancers.^** Girard- 

 Mangin^^ claims that malignant tumors contain colloidal poisonous 

 substances in proportion to their softness, extracts causing paralysis 

 and fall of blood pressure; but others have failed to substantiate this.^ 

 Because of the constant disintegration of the tumor tissues, products 

 of autolysis are formed, and undoubtedly enter the circulation in 

 small quantities; possibly they are a factor in the systemic mani- 

 festations of malignant growths, analogous to the action of cleavage 



" Amer. Jour. Physiol, 1910 (26), 32. 



"3 Arch. Int. Med., 1913 (11), 288. 



»* Korr.-Bl. Schweizer Aerzte, 1913 (43), 1468. 



»» Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp., 1916 (27), 129. 



" Jour. Exp. Med., 1916 (24), 345. 



"Woodruff and Underhill, Jour. Biol. Chcin., 1913 (15), 401; Calkins. Jour. 

 Cancer Res., 1916 (1), 205 and 399. 



"* See Blumenthal, Fcstschr. f. Salkowski, Berlin, 1904; Ilanseinann, Zrit. 

 Krebsforsch., 1906 (4), 565. 



»» Presse M6d., 1906, p. 17)9; Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol., 1909 (67), 117. 

 1 See Bruschettini and Barlocco, Cent. f. Bakt., 1907 (43), 664. 



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