BASEDOW S DISEASE 91 



an operative procedure on the thyroid was necessary on account of pro- 

 nounced symptoms of Basedow's. According to E. Bircher, implantation 

 into the abdominal cavity of dogs of thymus gland that came from an indi- 

 vidual who died from thymic death at operation called forth temporary 

 tachycardia, conditions of excitement, and tremor, and also a struma. 

 Present clinical and experimental contributions to this subject seem to 

 me far inadequate to ascribe to the thymus gland so great a significance as 

 to warrant the delimitation of a thymogenic Basedow's. 



Just a few words as to the place of iodine in the physiology and pathology 

 of the thyroid gland. Iodine is found in very many organs, as in the skin, 

 the lungs, the ovaries, the small intestines, the blood, the liver, the bile, the 

 hairs, and in the glandular part of the hypophysis (Blum, Bourget, Hejfter, 

 Drechsler and others}. The iodine-contents of the thyroid gland is, how- 

 ever, much larger (according to Justus eight to ten times) than that of the 

 other organs relatively rich in iodine. The normal thyroid gland of man 

 contains according to Magnus-Levy about 0.3-0.9 mg. of iodine for i kg. of dry 

 substance. The entire gland contains about 2-9 mg. (Baumann, Oswald). 

 The thyroid glands of fetuses and new-born children are iodine-free. The 

 thyroid glands of herbivora have very high iodine-contents, while the thyroid 

 glands of carnivora have the lowest iodine-contents (Baumann, Roos, 

 Oswald}. Copious feeding of meats to dogs makes the thyroid gland very 

 poor in iodine. The activity of the thyroid glandular substance is bound 

 with its iodine-contents and parallels these. As is known, all the symptoms 

 of deprivation after extirpation of the thyroid gland may be alleviated by 

 the administration of iodine-containing thyroid glandular substance. The 

 iodine-containing albuminous substances obtained by Oswald from the 

 thyroid gland, iodthyroglobulin, contains about 1.75 per cent, of iodine. 

 The.iodothyrin obtained by Baumann by splitting with acids contains about 

 9.3 per cent. Oswald obtained from thyroglobulin by splitting with acid a 

 still richer iodothyrin with 14.29 per cent, of iodine. While the iodthy- 

 roglobulin seems to possess the complete action of dried thyroid-gland sub- 

 stance, iodothyrin is less active, even though it possesses a greater height- 

 ening power on metabolism and a greater action on the cardiovascular 

 apparatus than artificially iodized albuminous bodies. Its action is, how- 

 ever, much less than that of dried thyroid glandular substance. While, for 

 example, we could obtain with 2.7 gm. of Bourrough, Wellcome, and Co.'s 

 tablets distinct tachycardia and other slight symptoms of thyroidism in three 

 days, later twenty-one Bayer's iodothyrin tablets daily, administered for a 

 long time, were without effect (experiment of Dr. Fleming) . The iodothyrin 

 is also incapable of alleviating the manifestations of deprivation that occur 

 in youthful animals after thyroidectomy (Pick and Pineles}. Just as after 

 splitting with acids, the thyroid-gland substance, after exposure to digestive 

 ferments, loses in activity. Exposure of short duration to peptic and tryp- 



