THE PITUITARY GLAND 57 



neutral or normal condition will result just because 

 the two lobes pull in opposite directions. If we 

 bear these factors in mind and they probably 

 apply to the thyroid and to other ductless glands 

 we shall appreciate the tasks of the physiologist 

 and the physician. 



Professor Cushing's opinion of the problem. 

 Professor Gushing in a recent (June, 1921) article 

 on the disorders of the pituitary gland, has this 

 to say : "In the case of pituitary disorders we are 

 not far beyond the stage of the tumor. One may 

 recognize outspoken acromegaly without a roent- 

 genogram of the sella (the place where the pitui- 

 tary is situated), just as one may recognize ex- 

 ophthalmic goiter without seeing the neck. But in 

 the absence of neighboring pressure signs, to say 

 that a child who is undersized, or fat, or whose 

 dentition or adolescence is delayed, or that an adult 

 who has the texture and color of skin, the adiposity, 

 impotence, subnormal temperature, and so on, 

 known to characterize certain individuals with hy- 

 pophyseal adenomas (pituitary tumors), is really a 

 subject of pituitary want, is purely a matter of 

 guesswork. If this admission must be made regard- 

 ing these fairly characteristic symptoms, what is 

 there to say of a pluriglandular (affecting several 

 glands) complex except to acknowledge an abysmal 

 ignorance? . . . Only of late with the development 

 of roentgenology and the more extended use of the 



