56 GLANDS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE 



in the gland, and then sterilizing the remainder. 

 The fact that sterilization does not destroy the 

 activity of the hormone is further evidence that 

 hormones and vitamines (and enzymes) are prob- 

 ably not very closely related (see also under secre- 

 tin). The suggestion that the active principle of 

 the posterior lobe is none other than histidine, an 

 amino-acid familiar enough to the organic and 

 physiological chemists 1 (suggested by Professor 

 Abel, of Johns Hopkins, in 1919) has not been 

 confirmed. 



Difficulty in interpreting data. While in a sense 

 our knowledge of the properties of the posterior 

 and anterior lobes of the pituitary is increasing, our 

 difficulty in interpreting data is not diminishing. 

 If the anterior lobe is affected and not the posterior 

 one, we get diminished size and little else. If both 

 are affected, we get a combination of symptoms. 



And still another complication arises. As we 

 shall see in a minute, it does not always follow 

 that when the pituitary is affected we get hypo- 

 pituitarism. It may result in hyper-pituitarism 

 in an excessive formation of pituitary hormone or 

 hormones. Now it is quite conceivable that when 

 one lobe shows such a tendency, another may show 

 the opposite tendency; and yet, since the function 

 of each lobe is different, this does not mean that a 



a See the chapter on Amino- Acids in the author's book on 

 Vitamines. 



