HISTOKY OF ENDOCRINE DOCTRINE Tl 



body had been better understood. On the physiological side, it has been 

 noted, for instance, that excision of the pancreas produces glycosuria, even 

 after thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy, but not after excision of the 

 adrenal bodies ; that partial excision of the thyroid in bitches will produce 

 a, mild myxedema, if pregnancy supervenes, the symptoms disappearing 

 after littering; that the thymus gland is often enlarged in exophthalmic 

 goiter but will atrophy after thyroidectomy ; that castration is followed by 

 enlargement of the thymus, and, conversely, excision of the thymus pro- 

 duces swelling of the ovaries. On the pathological side, the thyroid is often 

 enlarged during puberty, menstruation, excessive venery (e. g., in prosti- 

 tutes) and pregnancy; swelling of the ovary and menstrual disturbances 

 often accompany goiter. Myxedema often comes on at the menopause or 

 in connection with sterility. Acromegaly, as was shown by Edwin Klebs, 

 is often accompanied by enlargement of the thymus. Enlargement of the 

 pituitary often accompanies pregnancy or hibernation, yet castration causes 

 enlargement of the pituitary in the young and acromegaly is often asso- 

 ciated with loss of sexual power. The fact that many of these experi- 

 mental results and pathological findings do not harmonize makes the prob- 

 lem one of extreme complexity. Furthermore, it is known that lesions of 

 different ductless glands will produce isolated identical effects, which over- 

 lap each other in a group of symptoms, making the causal relation dubious 

 when there is a "pluriglandular syndrome." Glycosuria (lowered toler- 

 ance for carbohydrates) may be produced by goiter, by injection of thy- 

 roid extract in acromegaly, or by injection of pituitary extract, by excision 

 of the parathyroid body, by injection of adrenalin, by excision of the pan- 

 creas, or by a lesion of the islands of Langerhans in that organ. On the 

 other hand, an increased tolerance for carbohydrates (obesity) occurs after 

 destruction of the posterior lobe of the pituitary body, as well as in 

 myxedema or after thyroidectomy ; increased blood pressure follows upon 

 injection of the pituitary, adrenal, placental, and kidney extracts; lacta- 

 tion is accelerated by injection of extracts of the thymus, pineal, and 

 pituitary bodies and the corpus luteum (ovary) ; the pupil is dilated by 

 extracts of the thymus, pituitary, pancreas, suprarenals, kidney, sexual 

 glands, liver, and muscle. Effects of this kind are analogous to the mysti- 

 fying "enharmonic cross relations" in modern music, in which the same 

 note (on the piano scale) is so employed that it is brought into relation 

 with two different tonalities. C sharp and D flat, G sharp and A flat pro- 

 duce the same sounds when given on the piano scale, although they can, if 

 necessary, be distinguished on stringed instruments, which render an exact 

 account of the difference in the number of vibrations. Similarly, these 

 apparently identical effects of the different ductless glands indicate that 

 their functions are correlated, that they are somehow concerned in main- 

 taining the hormonic equilibrium of the body. 



Concerning the mechanism of correlation, two prominent theories have 



