182 DISEASES DUE TO MALADJUSTMENT 



diseases oome under this head, as do symptoms of such 

 diseases as diabetes, to be spoken of shortly. It is prob- 

 able that the various aches and pains which used to be 

 called rheumatism are symptoms belonging to this cate- 

 gory and indicating that the character of the metabolism 

 in some or all of the cells of the body is departing from 

 normality. Numerous symptoms traceable to deficiency 

 in diet in respect to vitamins (Chap. X) also come under 

 this head. 



Impaired Hormone Control. — In Chapter XVI, in 

 which chemical correlation was considered, the normal 

 action of some of the hormones was described, and in con- 

 nection with the description it was pointed out that dis- 

 turbances in hormone production could not fail to bring 

 about alterations in the metabolic activities of some or 

 all of the cells of the body. Diseases of this character 

 are unfortunately fairly prevalent. They are diflScult to 

 deal with because up to the present time almost nothing 

 is known as to the underlying cause of impairment of 

 hormone production. It is known that hormone manu- 

 facturing glands become either under-active or over- 

 active, but why the glands should thus depart from their 

 usual degree of activity, or what regulates that activity 

 in the first place, is for the most part unknown. Evi- 

 dently there is here a great field for further biological and 

 medical investigation. To illustrate how disease is caused 

 by impaired hormone control some examples are cited in 

 paragraphs below. 



Under-Activity of the THYRom. — Sometimes it 

 happens in individuals that the thyroid gland becomes 

 impaired and produces less than the normal amount of 

 thyroxin; the result is to depress the basic metabolism 

 and for the individual to show a series of symptoms which 

 are the direct consequence of this depression; among 

 these symptoms may be mentioned a diminished utiliza- 

 tion of food. Obviously, if there is less metabolism less 

 food is required. Since the individual is quite likely to 



