50 GLANDS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE 



to life, and that the anterior portion is more essen- 

 tial than the posterior. 



Partial removal of the gland, giving rise to hypo- 

 pituitarism, does not as a rule end fatally, but 

 brings about changes in the animal that in some 

 respects resemble hypo-thyroidism ; it becomes fat, 

 it looks dull, and the sexual organs are very im- 

 perfectly developed. The animal also shows a 

 greater tolerance for sugars (see the chapter on 

 the pancreas), so that more than the normal quan- 

 tity of carbohydrate can be taken care of ; and the 

 animal converts it into fat and stores it as such. 

 But more characteristic still is the effect on growth. 

 If two pups of the same age and from the same 

 litter are taken, and one has part of its pituitary 

 removed, at the end of twelve months the experi- 

 mental animal will look less than one-half the size 

 of the control one. This remarkable influence that 

 the pituitary has on the growth of an animal can 

 best be shown with young pups. In the mature 

 animal the other features alone become dominant. 



In man, as in the animal, the growth factor is 

 more involved if hypo-pituitarism shows itself be- 

 fore adolescence. The individual remains small 

 and fat; his sex organs show little development; 

 and such secondary sexual features as the forma- 

 tion of hair on the face fails to appear. The tem- 

 perature is subnormal, the pulse slow. He exhibits 

 a drowsiness and torpidity "like an animal about 



