604 CHEMICAL PATHOLOGY OF THE DUCTLESS GLANDS 



in the iodin; especially is this true of tuberculosis/^ Patients or ani- 

 mals to whom iodin compounds are administered deposit it in the thy- 

 roid in large amounts, especially if the gland is previously defective 

 in iodin, and at times there results even an acute thjToiditis from the 

 iodin administration.^" Iodides are said to increase the amount of 

 thyreoglobulin itself ( Wiener). ^^ The variation in iodin content 

 under various conditions is given in the following table from Jolin,^^ 

 his figures for normal glands being somewhat lower than found in 

 America. 



Number and condition of glands 



Dry wt. 

 gnis. 



Mg. iodin Total 

 per gm. iodin 



r I \ 152 glands from persons over 10 yrs. old (44 notl 



/« normal) i 7 . 04 



.y ** «■ 28 glands from children (1 mon. to 10 yrs.j 0.54 



/k 108 normal glands from adults only (both sexesj .... 5 . 38 



/ ^ «. 67 normal glands from adults (males) 5 . 07 



41 normal glands from adults (females) 5.90 



38 glands from chronic diseases 4.29 



29 glands from acute diseases 5.54 



21 glands from sudden death 6 .88 



10 glands showing marked goiter 23.09 



25 colloid-rich glands ; 8.25 



34 glands from persons receiving iodin 5 . 79 



Chemistry of Goiter 

 In connection with his earliest studies of thjToiodin Baumann ob- 

 served a great difference in the amount of iodin in the thyroid glands 

 of normal individuals living in goitrous districts, as compared with 

 those living in non-goitrous districts. Thus in Freiburg, a goitrous 

 district, the average weight of the dried thyroid was 8.2 grams, each 

 gram containing 0.33 mg. of iodin, a total of 2.5 mg. of iodin to each 

 gland. Glands from Hamburg averaged 4.6 gm. in weight, containing 

 0.83 mg. of iodin per gram, a total of 3.83 mg. per gland. Berlin 

 glands weighed 7.4 grams, and contained 0.9 mg. of iodin per gram, 

 or a total of 6.6 mg. of iodin per gland. Both of the last-named cities 

 are in districts where goiter is not endemic. The thyroids of young 

 children show the same relative paucity of iodin in goitrous districts, 

 as compared with non-goitrous districts. Wells''^ found that the thy- 

 roids throughout the United States contain even larger amounts of 

 iodin than the Berlin glands, averaging 10 to 12 mg. per gland, agree- 

 ing with the fact that goiter is comparatively rare in this country.'''* 



" See Vitrey and Giraud, Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol., 1908 (65), 405. Aesch- 

 bacher, Mitt. Grenz. Med. Chir., 1905 (15), 269; Pellagrini, Arch. sci. Med., 1915 

 (39), 276. 



^0 See Mendel, Med. Klinik, 1906 (2), 833. 



"Arch. e.xp. Path. u. Pliarm., 1909 (61), 297. 



^'^ Festschr. f. O. Ilammarstcn, Upsala I.akarcforen. Forh., 1906, XI, Suppl. 



" Jour. Amcr. Med. Assoc, 1897 (29), 897. 



" It is probable, in view of the higher results obtained by later analyses, that 

 the results of Baumann and of Monerv are somewhat too low. 



