624 CHEMICAL PATHOLOGY OF THE DUCTLESS GLANDS 



much probability that in many if not all of the cases of glycosuria with 

 acromegaly, it is the hypophysis itself that is concerned, and that both 

 the acromegaly and the glycosuria are caused by hyperactivity of the 

 gland. 



In later stages of acromegaly there may develop a hypoactivity 

 because of pressure upon the posterior lobe or infundibular stalk, 

 whereupon the sugar disappears and is replaced by an increased toler- 

 ance for sugar,^ 



Thymus^ and Other Ductless Glands 



From the chemical standpoint little of interest is known concerning this organ. 

 It is frequently used as a source of nucleic acids, in which it is rich, but there is no 

 study of its chemical changes that is of interest in pathology. Numerous reports 

 have indicated that removal of the thymus causes marked changes in ossification and 

 development, but the more recent studies do not indicate that the thymus is 

 essential for life or growth (Park and McClure'). Gudernatsch'" found that 

 feeding thymus to tadpoles causes a great increase in the rate of growth, and de- 

 creases or suppresses the developmental changes, having exactly the opposite 

 effect from thyroid feeding, and Abderhalden'i has found that this property persists 

 after digestion of the thymus tissue. The failure of metamorphosis on thymus 

 diet presumably depends on a lack of some substance rather than on the presence 

 of a specific agent inhibiting metamorphosis.^^ As yet no substance has been iso- 

 lated which can be considered as a specific internal secretion of the thymus, although 

 the frequent concurrence of abnormal conditions in the thyroid and thymus, in the 

 adrenals and thymus, in the hypophysis and thymus, together with the frequency 

 of polyglandular conditions, leaves no question that the thymus is to be considered 

 with the other members of this system, however different its histological structure 

 may be.^^ Thymus administration by mouth is said to counteract the effect of 

 thyroid feeding in stimulating metabolism. ^^ The enlargement of the thymus that 

 occurs in most cases of exophthalmic goiter is accompanied at times by symptoms 

 that suggest an intoxication from this source. ^^ Uhlenhuth'^ considers the thj^mus 

 to be antagonistic to the parathyroids and responsible for tetany parathyreopriva. 



The chemistry of the Pineal Gland can be dismissed practically without con- 

 sideration, since no positive facts have been brought to light. ^' Extracts from the 

 organ show no distinct physiological effects. ^^ Tumors of the pineal gland have 

 been found associated with adiposity and with precocious sexual development, but 

 whether from the action of the gland itself or from the pressure on the brain, 

 cannot be said.^^ Extirpation of the pineal seems to have no noticeable effects ot 



8 Full discussion in Johns Hopkins Hosp. Bull, 1911 (22), 165; 1913 (24), 40. 



^ In addition to Biedl's "Innere Sekretion," see Wiesel, Ergebnisse Physiol., 

 1911 (XV (1) ), 416; Park and McClure, Amer. Jour. Dis. Chil., 1919 (18), 317. 



"Arch. Entwicklgs., 1912 (35), 457; Amer. Jour. Anat., 1914 (15), 431. 



11 Arch. ges. Physiol., 1915 (162), 99. 



1^ Uhlenhuth, Endocrinology, 1919 (3), 284. 



13 Literature given by Basch, Zeit. exp. Path., 1913 (12), 180. 



1^ Halverson ciaZ., Arch. Int. Med., 1916 (18), 800. 



" See review by Halsted, Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp., 1914 (25), 223; Eddy, 

 Canad. Med. Assoc. Jour. March, 1919. 



i« Jour. Gen. Physiol., 1918 (1), 23; Endocrinology, 1919 (3), 285. 



1' Bibliography by McCord, Trans. Amer. Gyn. 8oc., 1917 (43), 109; Gord on, 

 Endocrinology, 1919 \3), 437. 



1* Jordan and Eyster, Amer. Jour. Physiol., 1911 (29), 115; Dixon and Halli- 

 burton, (^lart. Jour. Exper. Physiol., 1909 (2), 283. Dana and Berkeley, Med. 

 Record, 1913 (83), No. 19. 



19 aee Pappenheimer, Virchow's Arch., 1910 (200), 122. 



