608 CHEMICAL PATHOLOdY OF THE DUCTLESS GLAXDS 



tissue or extract has had no significant effect on the disease. (3) Xo 

 considerable or characteristic anatomical changes occur in the para.- 

 thyroids in exophthalmic goiter,"^ while the great majorit}' of all cases 

 show changes in the thyroid. (4) Tlic parathyroids seem to have but 

 slight influence on metabolism (MacC'allum), while metabolic abnor- 

 malities are very marked in exopiithalmie goiter.'-'"' 



THE ADRENALS AND ADDISONS DISEASE 03 



Like the hypophysis, the adrenals are essentially double organs, 

 containing nervous and glandular tissues. The medulla is of sym- 

 pathetic nervous system origin, a part of the chromaffin system, 

 which in mo'st animals is enclosed in a layer of entirely different na- 

 ture and origin : the cortex being an epithelial structure, derived from 

 the urogenital anlage, and resembling niost closely in structure (and 

 perhaps in function) the corpus luteum of the ovary. In some marine 

 animals, indeed (eels, sharks, etc.), the sympathetic tissue portion and 

 the cortical tissue exist as separate organs. 



The adrenal cortex seems to be related especially to the generative 

 system,'-"* as shown by the following facts : 



1. The embryologic origin in the urogenital anlage, and the histo- 

 logic structure which is similar to the corpus luteum. 



2. In many animals there occurs hypertrophy of the cortex during 

 the breeding season, and there are histological ditt'erences in the glands 

 of males and females (Kolmer). 



3. Many cases of sexual precocity have been observed in association 

 with tumors or hypertrophy of the adrenal cortex ; and defective sex- 

 ual development has been found associated with atrophj^ of this tis- 

 sue.^^ 



4. The medulla increases relatively little in size after birth, while 

 the cortex increases with the development of the individual. 



Whether the cortex has other functions or not is not yet known."''' 

 Biedl has found evidence that cortical substance is essential for life.'''*' 

 Animals with accessory adrenals, which contain only cortical substance, 

 withstand ablation of the adrenals proper, presumably because the rest 

 of the chromaffin substance remains to compensate.""'' Chemically the 

 cortex is characterizetl by not containing the specific vaso-constrictor 



»3 MacCallum, JoJms Hopkins ITosp. T^ull.. 1005 (Ifl), 2S7. 



94 The calcium excretion in exophtlialmic >;oit('r ])aralh'ls tlic nitro^icn (Towles. 

 Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., 1!)10 (140), 100). 



"•'■'Literature <fiven l)v Uaver, Kr^^ehnisse Patliol., 1!U() (XIN'.t, 1. 



!>'■• See Kolmer, lMlfi->er"s .\rcli., ]!H2 (144), .'Itil. 



97 See (JIvnii, Quart, .lour. Med., litl'i I.")), 157; .lump ct al.. Amer. .lour. Med. 

 Sci., 1014 (147), 5(iS. 



f»7a It does not liave a marked ell'ect on tlie development of tadpoles, lience dif- 

 ferinj,' from thyroid and tiiymus ( (Judernatseli ) . 



'J"i> See also Crowe and \\"ish)cki. Bull, .lohns Hopkins llosp., 1!)14 ('25). 287. 



"7c See Fulk and MacLeod (Amer. .liMir. i'iiysiol., lilHl (40), 21) wlio found 

 that the active j)rinci])le of otlier cliromallin tissues lias tlie same physiok)fricaI 

 efTect as tliat of the adrenal medulla. 



