77//; l'Mr\TII )!,'() IDS 



597 



ainoiiiit of tliyi-('()<i-l()l)uliii itself (Wiener).'" The variation in iodin 

 content under various conditions is given in tlie following table from 

 Jolin,^'' his tigures for normal glands being somewhat lower than 

 found ill America. 



THE PARATHYROIDS 36 



"Whether the thyroid has anj- other function than the formation 

 of thyroiodin is as yet unknown. ^INIany claim that the th3'reoglobulin 

 does not produce the same physiologic and therapeutic effects as does 

 the entire gland substance, but even that is not definitely decided. 

 Furthermore, much of the difficulty comes from the failure of earlier 

 observers to distinguish between the effects produced by the para- 

 thyroid glands and those due to the thyroid itself. The parathyroids 

 were originally considered as but a form of undeveloped accessory- 

 thyroids (a view still held by some), but they are now generally be- 

 lieved to be independent organs of fully as great importance as the 

 thyroid. Their independence is conclusively shown by the cases of 

 cretinoid children in Avhom the thyroid proper has failed to develop, 

 while the parathyroids are found to be normal,^' thus proving their 

 distinct origin, the inability of parathyroid tissue to change into thy- 

 roid ti.ssue,^* and their inability to prevent the changes of cretinism.^* 

 Parathyroids contain no appreciable amounts of iodin (Estes and 

 Cecil V^" although 14 per cent, of parathyroids obtained at autopsy 

 contain a colloid material (Thompson and Harris).*^ Glycogen is 

 demonstrable in the epithelium. To their removal are ascribed by 



34 Arch. exp. Path. u. Pliarm., 1909 (01). 297. 



33 Festsehr. f. O. Ilammarsten, Upsala Lakarefiiren. Fr>rh., 190G. XI, Sujipl. 



s" An excellent review of tliis subject is given by Thom})son in "The Surgery 

 and PathologT of the Thyroid and Parathyroid Giands." bv A. J. Ochsner and 

 R. L. Thompson, St. Louis, 1910. See also MacCallum, Ergeb. inn. :\Ied., 1913 

 (11), 509. 



37 Roussy and C'lunet, Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol. 



38 See Edmunds, Jour. Path, and Pact., 1910 



39 See ^MacCallum, Johns Hopkins Hosp. Pull., 



io fhid., 1907 (18), 331: also Cameron, J.mr. Biol. Clu-in.. 1914 (10), 465. 

 41 Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., 1908 (19), 135. 



1910 (68), 818. 

 14). 288. 

 1907 (IS). 341. 

 Biol. Cliein.. 1914 



