THE PAKATHYROID GLANDS 529 



lar action, or a result of the parathyroidectomy as such, it is difficult to say. 

 I do not recollect to have seen marked acceleration of respiration in the 

 absence of muscular twitching. 



The rectal temperature is raised during the fit I have seen it 109 F. 

 in a dog and about 111 F. in a lamb and this may also be the result of 

 the intensified muscular activity. 



Exhaustion may supervene after a greater or less duration, the con- 

 vulsions become less violent, respirations reduced, and the dog may remain 

 quiet some time bef ore' death ; or it may succumb at the .height of the seiz- 

 ure, sometimes probably as the result of hyperpyrexia. Not infrequently 

 the animal will recover from one of these acute attacks and remain appar- 

 ently well for a few hours, or it may be a day or more, until the next 

 attack. 



One of the chief characteristics of the condition is its variability from 

 time to time. The animal may be well, to all outward appearance, and in 

 less than half an hour it may be at the height of one of these acute attacks, 

 which may end fatally, or from which it may make a temporary recovery. 

 As pointed out by Paton and Findlay, this extraordinary variability in the 

 severity of the symptoms makes the estimation of the value of curative 

 agents very difficult and uncertain. Even in the middle of a violent 

 attack, if the animal be fully anesthetized, the symptoms disappear, and, 

 when it recovers consciousness, it may seem to be perfectly well. If, dur- 

 ing anesthesia, a drug had been administered, or any operative procedure 

 adopted, to this might be attributed curative or ameliorative qualities, and 

 possibly quite erroneously. 



In addition to the cardinal features described above, Paton and Find- 

 lay (b) (1916), from their extensive research, give some further points 

 of interest. The symptoms show less marked variations and are generally 

 less acute in cats than in dogs. In the monkey they are usually slighter 

 still and more chronic, unless in exceptional cases. These observers say 

 that the most marked and constant change in the animal, and this is espe- 

 cially true of the cat, is an alteration in its disposition. It invariably be- 

 comes depressed and sluggish, tends to sit drawn up in a corner, and is not 

 easily induced to move. In dogs this depression is, as a rule, much less 

 marked, and between fits it may be almost entirely absent. In the mon- 

 key this symptom varies, and its onset may be long delayed, but when the 

 other symptoms manifest themselves it is always present in some degree. 

 Emaciation is another constant feature; the animal generally refuses food 

 and loses weight until death. However, I have seen dogs eat heartily be- 

 tween attacks and drink copiously immediately after one. "These two 

 symptoms, along with the increased excitability of the peripheral nerves, 

 may be considered as the invariable results of the removal of sufficient 

 parathyroid tissue, and they alone may be present up till the time of 

 death." 



