THE THYROID GLAND 49 



intake. The oxygen consumed and the nitrogen 

 excreted are both much below the normal ; there 

 is also a diminished excretion of calcium salts 

 and an increased tolerance for sugar. The 

 general conclusions arrived at by Biedl, Eppinger, 

 and others seem to be " that the thyroid and 

 chromaffine system, together with the infundi- 

 bular portion of the hypophysis (i.e. posterior 

 pituitary), constitute a group of vascular glands 

 which augment and accelerate the processes of 

 metabolism ; that the balance is maintained by 

 the antagonistic activity of those vascular glands, 

 like the pancreas and the parathyroids, which 

 exercise a restraining influence on metabolism. 

 These two groups of glands possess physiological 

 interrelationship with one another : the extir- 

 pation of one of these glands is followed by differ- 

 ing sets of phenomena. Firstly, there are the 

 direct results, due to suppression of its specific 

 secretion ; secondly, there are the indirect 

 results, due to derangement of other glands, the 

 functions of which were either stimulated or 

 inhibited by the secretion of the suppressed gland. 

 That the thyroid is believed to promote the 

 activity of the chromafnne system and to inhibit 

 that of the pancreas. The direct results of thyroid 

 removal are the metabolism changes and failures 



4 



