]i)\i:in:\i\ AM) r/.7;77\ /M/ 



603 



anee; from the cut .surfae*e a sticky, ylaiiy fiuid exudes. Apparently 

 the parotid becomes transformed into a mucous gland ; likewise the mu- 

 cous membrane of the alimentary tract is swollen and transparent." 

 Fetal tissues contain normally more mucin than those of adults (0.76 

 per cent, as against 0.37 per cent, in the subcutaneous tissues, accord- 

 ing to Halliburton), and in the early stages of the formation of ex- 

 cessive subcutaneous tissue in myxedema such an increase of mucin 

 may be present. But, under ordinary conditions, the term myxedema 

 seems to be entirely a misnomer, for Halliburton's analyses showed 

 that the skin of myxedematous patients contains (juite the same amount 

 of mucin as is present in normal skin."^ When the condition is of 

 long standing, the amount of mucin may even be much reduced, be- 

 cause of the development of a fibroid character in the connective tissue. 

 However, in monkeys upon which thyroidectomy had been perfonned, 

 Halliburton "** found a decided increase in the mucin in the tissues 

 throughout the body, especially in the salivary glands, but also in the 

 skin, subcutaneous tissues, and tendons ; and mucin was found in the 

 blood, as shown by the following table : 



It has been suggested that the thyroid produces an enzyme which 

 destroys mucin, but that such is the case has never been demon- 

 strated.*'^'^ Levin "^ states that mucin is toxic for thyroidectomized 

 rabbits, but this is not substantiated by Nefedietf."'^ 



That the thyroid is connected with general growth is shown not 

 only by the thyroid abnormalities present in cretinism, but also by 

 the frequent observation of thyroid defects in conditions of delayed 

 growth and development of less extreme degree {infantilism), and the 

 favorable eifeets of thyroid feeding in many such cases. Also in cer- 

 tain types of short-limbed dwarfs {chondrodijsirophia fatalis) some 

 thyroid anomaly may have an etiologic bearing, for in such a case, in 



•■w Jour, of Patliol. and Bact., 18!)3 ( 1 ) , 90. 



08 Quoted by Horsley, loc. cit. Later experimenters, however, liave had difli- 

 culty in producing experimental myxedema as described by Horsley, or have 

 failed entirely. 



Gsa See Parhon, Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol., 1910 (79). 504. 



09 Med. Record, 1900 (57), 184. 

 ToVratch, 1901 (22), Oct. 27. 



