CLINICAL ASPECTS OF ENDOCRINOLOGY 31 



whereas somatic fibres have a connection in the brain 

 cortex. 



This intimate relationship with the cerebrum and the 

 emotional life is found in many types of disorders the 

 individual leading purely a vegetative existence, as seen 

 in the mentally defective child, the adult in a state of 

 mental deterioration. The profound epileptic shows 

 the loss of control of such impulses as inhibit the func- 

 tion of the salivary glands, the sweat glands, the intes- 

 tinal tonus and vascular stability. The sweating and 

 drooling, the low-tensioned pulse, the intestinal spas- 

 ticity are not uncommon symptoms in the praecox, the 

 defective, the epileptic. In the praecox there is an emo- 

 tional blunting, in the defective a lack of development 

 of normal emotion, and in the epileptic an instability 

 of the emotion. In lesions of the caudate and lenticular 

 nuclei, among the most prominent symptoms are the 

 emotional outbursts (Mills 24 ), Wilson 25 ). This would 

 seem to point towards a disturbance in the passage of 

 impulses from the cerebrum via the basal ganglia and 

 probably through the sympathetic system. 



EMOTIONAL ASPECTS OF ENDOCRINOLOGY 



Disturbances in the threshold of emotion are not un- 

 common in the quantitative disorders of the endocrine 

 glands the stolid, non-responsive hypothyroid ; the ex- 

 citable, unstable hyperthyroid ; the sensitive and touchy 

 adrenal; and the apprehensive and depressed ovarian 

 type. In these individuals their emotional life plays an 

 important part in enhancing the visceral symptoms. 

 They have a weak, affective tone, and do not respond or 

 adjust themselves to the ordinary problems of life. 

 When unavoidable experiences occur one must expect a 

 profound visceral reaction, the type depending upon the 

 system so-called "conditioned." Nervous reactions will 

 become manifest through dermal activity, digestive 

 upsets and cardiovascular disturbances. That these in- 



