ENDOCRINOLOGY IN PEDIATRICS 195 



tion with or without parathyroid. A large thymus is 

 responsible for myasthenia gravis, undeveloped geni- 

 tals and hypogonadism. This gland is small or absent 

 in mentally-deficient and marasmic children. 



Many children regarded as wayward, incorrigible, 

 uncontrollable, irritable, precocious, masturbators, sex- 

 ual perverts, and who have perverse tendencies, mani- 

 fest congenital psychoses, psychophatic personalities 

 and show signs of mild or severe forms of mental de- 

 rangement, belong to the great group of endocrino- 

 pathies or pluriglandular dyscrinisms. We should 

 group them according to their physical signs, whether 

 they are of thyroid, pineal, pituitary, adrenal, thymic 

 or gonad types, or a combination of these, and treat 

 them accordingly. We must also include in the the- 

 rapy the proper environment, proper diet, good habits, 

 sex hygiene, and when necessary, drug adjuvants. 



CONCLUSIONS 



It appears that the ductless glands, which have com- 

 mon origin, are related in function, thus adrenalin and 

 the posterior pituitary principle have a similar action ; 

 the anterior lobe of the pituitary body and thyroid ex- 

 tract are related in function and origin as also are the 

 adrenal cortex and the gonads. 



Metabolic control is governed almost entirely by the 

 internal secretaions and, therefore, it plays such an 

 important role in children's disorders during the grow- 

 ing period in infancy, childhood and especially at pu- 

 berty. The carbohydrate metabolism is primarily reg- 

 ulated by the pancreas and adrenals, the former regu- 

 lates glycogenic function and the latter glycogenic fixa- 

 tion. Protein metabolism is controlled by the thyroid 

 gland and the destruction of purin bodies by the hypo- 

 physis, epiphysis and the thyroid. Calcium, phosphor- 

 ous and mineral metabolism is influenced by the thymus 

 and parathyroid. The thyroid, hypophysis and para- 



