686 LEWELLYS F. BAEKER 



ox parathyroid, ground up with sugar of milk. J". J. Putnam also re- 

 ported a case of postoperative tetany in which the same preparation gave 

 relief. 



Berkeley and Beehe (a) in 1909 discovered that the active principle of 

 the parathyroid gland lies in its nucleoproteid fraction and that it is de- 

 stroyed by heating to 80 C. for half an hour. This nucleoproteid is most 

 active when freshly prepared. It rapidly deteriorates when kept i ; solution, 

 or in suspension, in the refrigerator. Freezing also destroys its activity. It 

 is injured, too, by the juices of the digestive tract. 



These experiments that show that the nucleoproteid is injured by heat, 

 by cold and by digestion, made Berkeley and Beebe believe that the active 

 principle of the parathyroid glands is a ferment. 



Berkeley and Beebe asserted that their nucleoproteid relieves tetany, if 

 given by the mouth, but that it acts much more quickly and effectively 

 when administered subcutaneously or intraperitoneally. The globulin of 

 the parathyroid glands contains, they maintained, no substances that com- 

 bat tetany. 



Since the above observations were made, numerous papers have ap- 

 peared in the literature commenting upon the effects of parathyroid ex- 

 tracts in the treatment of tetany. Though relief seems to have followed 

 their administration in the hands of some observers, others report having 

 seen no benefit whatever. It must be remembered, of course, that tetany, 

 left to itself, often disappears quickly, and it may be that some of the 

 favorable reports following treatment with parathyroid extract, like those 

 in which improvement has been said to have followed the administration 

 of thyroid extract, can be accounted for simply by differences in the course 

 of an extremely variable disease. 



ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION IN TETANY. The unsatisfactory results ob- 

 tainable by administration of parathyroid gland substance and extracts 

 of parathyroid glands led experimental physiologists and surgeons to try 

 the effects of transplantation of the parathyroid glands themselves on the 

 symptoms and course of tetany. 



Some of these transplantations appear to have been made unwittingly 

 before the relation of the parathyroid glands to tetany was known (Schiff, 

 1884; von Eiselsberg, 1892). These surgeons transplanted fresh thyroid 

 gland into the peritoneal cavity, or into the abdominal fascia after thy- 

 roidectomy, and found that tetany was thus prevented. Removal of the 

 transplanted tissue later was followed by fatal tetany. 



Biedl transplanted isolated parathyroid glands of the dog and of the 

 cat into the spleen and asserted that, after successful autotransplantation, 

 the removal of the thyroid gland with all the adjacent parathyroid glands 

 could he borne without fatal consequences. Though tetany sometimes ap- 

 peared, it was but temporary. From one dog that for four months after 

 the transplantation of parathyroids into the spleen had remained free from 



