

PHYSIOLOGY OF THE POSTERIOR PITUITARY. 513 



and suicidal, and refused her food. . . . Only the anterior 

 lobe was involved, the posterior presenting no change either 

 in volume or structure." This typifies the irritability or stimu- 

 lation induced by pressure without organic change. 



The phenomena produced are of another kind when both 

 organs are involved in the morbid process, as appears to be 

 the case in the following instance reported by Johnston and 

 Monro 18 : The patient, a woman, "was taciturn and intellect- 

 ually obtuse, and her memory was bad. Her utterance was 

 thick and indistinct, as if her tongue were too big for her 

 mouth. Her gait was slow and shuffling; her expression partly 

 melancholic, partly demented. . . . The skin of the face 

 is of a dull-yellowish tint; the mucous surfaces are pale. 

 . . . Hearing is somewhat impaired. Eeflexes are dimin- 

 ished. The subject of these notes remained in hospital for 

 about four weeks. She scarcely ever spoke, took no interest 

 in anything, and slept about sixteen hours daily. . . . She 

 was readmitted in September blind, more deaf, more drowsy, 

 very feeble in muscular power. She could no longer rise with- 

 out assistance. Control over the sphincters was lost. . . . 

 Paralyzed. For a couple of months before death there was a 

 discharge of clear fluid from the nose. . . . The pituitary 

 body is represented by a large, red mass, almost diffluent 

 much softer than brain-substance." The entire organ being 

 destroyed, the posterior lobe had obviously followed the fate 

 of its mate. 



In a case described by Pirie 19 the history of the nervous 

 symptoms is very clearly defined, though the author was un- 

 fortunately unable to obtain an autopsy. "The disease first 

 manifested itself in 1886, when menstruation finally ceased. 

 Pains and parsesthesia of the arms and legs were felt, and 

 the patient noticed that her hands and feet were getting larger 

 and more awkward. . . . Along with the development of 

 physical symptoms a peculiar alteration of mental condition 

 took place. Attacks of narcolepsy overcame her, she became 

 sluggish and irritable, and she suffered much from the ennui 

 of life. . . . Breathlessness on the slightest exertion ap- 



18 Johnston and Monro: Glasgow Medical Journal, August, 1898. 

 "Pirie: London Lancet, Oct. 5, 1901. 



