62 GLANDS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE 



the name "aeromegaly" (enlargement of the ex- 

 tremities) to that disease which produces an en- 

 largement of bones, soft part of hands and feet, and 

 face, and in which the individual assumes giant- 

 like proportions. He rightly diagnosed such cases 

 as being due to some pituitary disorder, but for 

 some time he was of the opinion that aeromegaly 

 was due to lack of secretion in the gland. When, 

 however, experiments on animals showed that the 

 partial removal of the gland gave rise not to giants 

 but to dwarfs, the view was adopted that aerome- 

 galy was a disease resulting from a hyper-, rather 

 than a hypo-secretion; that is to say, then, to an 

 excessive secretion of pituitary hormone. It is un- 

 fortunate in the extreme that so far all attempts to 

 simulate aeromegaly by feeding animals with large 

 quantities of pituitary extract have failed ; so that 

 our evidence at best is somewhat unsatisfactory. 

 The reader will remember that in this respect thy- 

 roid therapy stands on firmer footing; for hyper- 

 thyroidism can be fairly closely imitated in the ani- 

 mal by feeding it with sufficient quantities of thy- 

 roid extract. 



Symptoms in aeromegaly. The symptoms in 

 aeromegaly do not make their appearance sud- 

 denly; the changes in the individual are quite 

 gradual, as with many of the diseases involving 

 the ductless glands. At first the person may notice 

 nothing more than eye strain and dimmed vision. 



