112 ENDOCRINE GLANDS 



tain observers have not found any lesions of the para- 

 thyroids in children dying from tetany (Thiemisch, 

 Ravenna, etc.). 



(6) MATERNAL TETANY. Vassale and his pupils have 

 established in classical experiments the influence of preg- 

 nancy and lactation on the appearance of symptoms of 

 tetany. Animals having had a well tolerated partial 

 parathyroidectomy (a state of relative parathyroid 

 insufficiency), presented in a subsequent pregnancy a 

 severe or fatal tetany . Lactation had an analogous effect. A 

 few autopsies of pregnant women dying from the eclamptic 

 form of tetany have shown the presence of anomalies on 

 lesions of the parathyroids (Pepere, Haberfeld). Finally, 

 Vassale claims to have obtained excellent results by 

 parathyroid organo therapy in certain cases of tetany. 



These facts have allow r ed us to conclude that certain 

 pregnant women have a latent or even relative parathyroid 

 insufficiency, capable of becoming more pronounced dur- 

 ing pregnancy (under the influence of some endogenous 

 intoxication; hepatic insufficiency for instance), at time of 

 delivery (due to extra muscular fatigue), and during lacta- 

 tion (by depletion of minerals). The remarkable likeness 

 between experimental parathyroid eclampsia of the preg- 

 nant female and the spontaneous eclampsia of the pregnant 

 woman have caused certain writers to believe, as does 

 Vassale, that eclampsia is of parathyroid origin. This 

 theory cannot be accepted without a certain reserve; it is 

 very probable that all cases of eclampsia are not due to 

 parathyroid insufficiency. 



(c) GASTRO INTESTINAL TETANY. It has not been 

 possible to reproduce it experimentally. The anatomical 

 reports on the condition of these glands in this type of 

 tetany are rare and not very convincing. It is possible, 

 furthermore, that the action of the toxic substances on the 



