58 THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY 



crime, with no inherent flair for criminality, but because of a 

 lack of independent judgment and inability to resist suggestion, 

 and a desire to please friends. He is simply an overgrown child 

 who still loves to play with toys, laughs and cries, becomes angry 

 or afraid, unreasonably and ridiculously, and yells for mamma 

 when thwarted or scared. 



So much for what happens when there is not sufficient of the 

 thyroid secretion in the blood and tissues. Now to consider the 

 effects of an excess of it, the condition called hyperthyroidism, 

 as the insufficiency of it is labelled subthyroidism. Too much 

 thyroxin can be introduced into the system of a normal indi- 

 vidual, or even a cretin by the simple administration of too 

 large doses or over too long a time. Also a train of symptoms 

 similar to those evoked by an oversecretion of the thyroid may 

 be mobilized by the taking of too much iodine. Great sorrow, 

 great joy, a sudden severe jolt to the nervous equilibrium, sexual 

 excitement, an overwhelming anger or grief may leave in their 

 wake a permanent hyperthyroidism. The symptoms are the 

 reverse of cretinism and myxedema. There is an over-excitability 

 of the nerves in place of sluggishness, and an over-reactivity of 

 the whole organism to its environment. The heart's action is 

 too fast, and under the slightest stimulus gets faster to the point 

 of obtruding itself into the conscious mind as a palpitation. In- 

 stead of the lowered temperature and coldness of the cretin, there 

 is a heightened temperature, one or two degrees above the normal, 

 and a feeling of heat. The individual has a high warm color, 

 does not sleep well, becomes or remains thin no matter how much 

 he or she eats, is abnormally susceptible sexually, may suffer from 

 a definite insomnia, is emotional, and perspires freely. Alert, 

 neurotic or high-strung, magnetic, and imaginative are some of 

 the descriptive adjectives applicable. The eyes are bright and 

 prominent, large and beautiful, when they have not reached the 

 stage entitled "pop-eyed." Or they may even become so pro- 

 tuberant and bulging as to develop the expression of one staring 

 aghast at some ineffable horror. The latter is the feature of only 

 the severest types, when there is an associated goitre, the com- 

 bination designated as exopthalmic goitre. 



There are, too, individuals in whom hyperthyroidism and 



hypothyroidism are mixed, or rather alternate. At one time they 



nt the phenomena of the one, at another of the other. They 



are the people who complain of the cyclic quality of their moods 



and purposes. Their mood will be a heaven of exaltation and 



