HISTOEY OF ENDOCRINE DOCTRINE 



61 



dema" is produced in man by complete excision of the thyroid (1882) . This 

 was confirmed by Kocher (&), who found that total thyroidectomy is fol- 

 lowed by a "cachexia strumipriva" or "cachexia thyreopriva" (1883). Here- 

 upon Schiff (b) returned to the charge and, in 1884, published the results 

 of 60 thyroidectomies in dogs, all fatal, with such significant symptoms as 

 tremor, spasms, and convulsions, What is more to the purpose, Schiff 

 demonstrated that these symptoms could be prevented by a previous graft 

 of a portion of the thyroid gland beneath the skin or into the peritoneal 

 cavity of the animal, or by the 

 injection of thyroid juice into a 

 vein or under the skin, or by the 

 ingestion of thyroid juice or 

 raw thyroid by the mouth. These 

 experiments, which were con- 

 firmed by Horsley, von Eisels- 

 berg, and a host of other observ- 

 ers, led in time to the remark- 

 ably successful treatment of 

 myxedema by means of thyroid 

 extract. In 1800, Pinsuti pro- 

 posed administration of the thy- 

 roid juice, which was tried out 

 on dogs by Vassale and Grley in 



1891. In the same year G. R. 

 Murray (a) (b), of London, 

 showed that myxedema can be 

 prevented by subcutaneous in- 

 jections of thyroid juice. In 



1892, Sir Hector MacKenzie 

 (a) (b) (London) and Frantz 

 Howitz (Copenhagen) demon- 

 strated the efficacy of oral inges- 

 tion of the dried thyroid gland in myxedema, which was immediately taken 

 up in the clinics and soon became established in general practice. In 1884, 

 Sir Victor Horsley (a) produced an experimental myxedema by removal of 

 the thyroid in monkeys, which were found to survive much longer than 

 dogs. It was also found by Allara (1885), Eward (1890), and others, that 

 experimental thyroidectomy is negative in birds, rodents, and herbivorous 

 animals, and that, both in animals and man, operative myxedema is pro- 

 duced less frequently as age advances. In 1888, Sir Felix Semon, in an 

 important collective investigation, maintained that etiologically cretinism, 

 myxedema and operative myxedema (cachexia thyropriva) are one and the 

 same, although clinically the congenital, idiopathic, and operative myxe- 

 demas, endemic and sporadic cretinism, as well as dwarfism, mongolism, 



Fig. 8. Moritz Schiff 

 (1823-1896) 



