HISTORY OF ENDOCRINE DOCTRINE 55 



had observed in cases of the latter disorder certain local symptoms, which pointed 

 somewhat significantly to the suprarenal capsules; whilst the bloodless and waxy 

 appearance of certain chlorotic females bore so close a resemblance to the anemia de- 

 scribed that it was difficult not to suspect the existence of something common to both." 



In his monograph of 1855, after referring to "an ill denned impres- 

 sion" that the suprarenals, in common with the spleen, thymus, and thy- 

 roid body, "in some way or other minister to the elaboration of the blood," 

 and after a modest reference to the "curious facts" upon which he had 

 "stumbled," Addison proceeds to develop the symptoms of what is now 

 called Addison's disease anemia, general languor and debility, feeble 

 heart action, irritable stomach, with a dingy or smoky discoloration of the 

 whole surface of the body, sometimes reaching a, deep amber or chestnut 

 brown and elucidates its pathology in eleven cases, accompanied by strik- 

 ing and lifelike colored plates. From these records, which contain what 

 Barker calls the "typical triad" of symptoms of Addison's disease (asthe- 

 nia, disturbance of digestion, and melanoderma) , it appears that the earli- 

 est known case was reported by his great colleague at Guy's, Richard 

 Bright (of Bright's disease), in 1829. In another, reported by Addison 

 himself, the post-mortem section was furnished "by my distinguished 

 friend, Dr. Hodgkin" (of Hodgkin's disease). While developing his sub- 

 ject with the firm hand of the master in descriptive pathology, Addison 

 draws no such striking conclusions in this memoir as we find in his paper 

 of 1849, or as are indicated in the preface to the memoir itself. He does, 

 however, draw attention to the important fact that even malignant dis- 

 ease may exist in both capsules without giving rise to the Addisonian dis- 

 coloration of the skin. It was this memoir which led Brown-Sequard (a) 

 to reproduce the fatal disease experimentally by excising the suprarenal 

 capsules in animals (1856). The pouring out of the thyroidal and adrenal 

 secretions during surgical shock or under the passion of fear (psychic 

 shock) was emphasized long after by Walter B. Cannon, (a) and George W. 

 Crile. 



In 1830 Johann Heinrich Kopp again drew attention to "asthma 

 thymicum" and "thymus death" in childhood, already noted by Felix 

 Plater. In 1889, Arnold Paltauf established the frequent combination of 

 an enlarged thymus with hyperplasia of the lymphatic tissues, spleen, and 

 bone marrow and aplasia of the cardiovascular system (status thymico- 

 lymphaticus) to which the status thymicus of Felix Plater, the status 

 hypoplasticus of Julius Bartels (1908), the lymphatism of Heubner, the 

 exudative diathesis of Adalbert Czerny, and the infantile arthritism of 

 Comby are related. A classical study of the thymus gland was made by 

 Alexander Friedleben in 1858. 



There remains one other affection which, on account of its present 

 importance, may be briefly considered, before passing to the experimental 

 phases of the subject. The disease of acromegaly or gigantism was, as we 



