586 INTERNAL SECRETION 



rapid since the publication of Oliver and Schafer's work, yet 

 much, remains to be explained. How does the adrenalin act, and 

 what are the chemical conditions which underlie its property of 

 stimulating muscle fibres and glands which are, or have been, 

 supplied by the sympathetic nervous system ? This is a question 

 of fundamental importance, and time alone can show whether 

 its solution is beyond the combined efforts of physiologists and 

 chemists. 



Note. There is probably a connection between the suprarenal glands and the 

 sexual system. In the frog there are seasonal variations in the structure of the 

 gland corresponding to the period of pairing (Stilling). In the case of rabbits 

 the suprarenal capsules undergo changes in volume during pregnancy, the outer 

 zone of the cortex becoming twice the normal thickness at the expense of the 

 medulla and inner cortex (Gottschom). Several cases have been recorded of 

 extraordinary precocity of sexual development in children associated with 

 hypertrophy of the suprarenal capsules. Atrophy is associated with non- 

 development of the pubic hair and genital organs. The cortex is, therefore, 

 probably connected with the growth of the body and the development of 

 puberty and sexual maturity. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Numerous references to the literature of the subject are given in the 

 works marked with a star. 



THYROID GLAND 



Horsley, Die Function der Schilddriise. Virchow's Festschrift, i. S. 367. 



*Schafer, Internal Secretions. Text-Book of Physiology, edited by Schafer, 

 vol. i. p. 937. 



*Jeandelize, Insuffisance thyroidienne et parathgroidiemie. fitude experi- 

 mentale et cliiiique, Paris (1903). 



Hurthle, Ueber den Secretionsvorgang in der Schilddriise. Deut. Med. 

 Woch., Marz 22 (1894). 



Lorrain Smith, On Some Eft'ects of Thyroidectomy in Animals. Journ. 

 Physiol. (1894), vol. xvi. p. 378. 



Hutchison, The Chemistry of the Thyroid Gland and the Nature of its 

 Active Constituent, ibid. (1896), vol. xx. p. 474. Further Observations on 

 the Chemistry and Action of the Thyroid Gland, ibid. (1898-1899), vol. 

 xxiii. p. 178. 



Swale Vincent and Jolly, Some Observations upon the Functions of the 

 Thyroid and Parathyroid Glands. Ibid. (1904), vol. xxxii. p. 65. 



Edmunds, Observations on the Thyroid and Parathyroid of the Dog, Proc. 

 Physiol. Soc., Journ. Physiol. (1896), vol. xx. Observations and Experiments 

 on the Pathology of Graves' Disease, Journ. Path, and Bacteriol. (1896), vol. 

 iii. p. 488. 



