820 



PETEK BASSOE 



At 35 he measured 6 ft. 6 in. and weighed 269 Ibs. The blood pres- 

 sure was low 75 to 100 mm. The X-ray showed greatly enlarged sella, 

 3.5 cm. long and 2.8 cm. deep. There was bilateral primary optic 

 atrophy, with blindness of the left eye and superior hemianopsia in 

 the right eye with two remaining patches of the lower field. A bilateral 

 exophthalmos was ascribed more to change in the shape of the orbits 

 than to venous stasis. The intelligence remained good but he was very 

 drowsy. The circumference of the head was 64 cm. The lips, tongue 



and nose were very large and 

 the lower jaw prominent, with 

 spacing of the lower teeth. The 

 hands were large, rontgenogram 

 of the fingers showing charac- 

 teristic tufts, exoxtoses and 

 widened phalangeal shafts. The 

 feet and toes were extremely 

 large. The skin was smooth and 

 velvety, with considerable boggy 

 edema. There was practically 

 no beard and only scant pubic 

 hair of feminine distribution. 

 The carbohydrate tolerance was 

 estimated at over 300 gm. of 

 glucose. Polyuria was no 

 longer present. The thyroid 

 was very small and the testes 

 were soft and atrophied. 



Sellar decompression was 

 performed in December, 1910: 

 a piece of tumor removed 

 showed masses of chromophobe 

 cells separated by greatly dilated 

 sinusoidal spaces. There was 



some improvement after the operation, the fields became larger and vision 

 better and he was less nervous and drowsy than before. 



Ettore Levi and Guiseppi Franchini relate a case of acromegalic 

 gigantism in a man 66 years old, 199 cm. (6 ft. 6% i n -) tall, probably 

 the victim of hereditary syphilis, with positive Wassermann reaction, 

 Argyll-Robertson pupils, slight optic atrophy and loss of knee and ankle 

 reflexes ; in other words he had also tabes. His father probably has suf- 

 fered from tabes. The patient began to grow rapidly at the age of 8 

 or 10 years. He was of a low grade of intelligence and while his sexual 

 organs were of normal appearance he never developed sexual desire or 

 power. He was obese but quite well proportioned as regards develop- 



Fig. 5. Giant, Maclinow, with Professor 

 Luschan. (In the picture may be seen skele- 

 tons of a Patagonian and Bushman. ) 



