146 GLANDS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE 



KIDNEY 



Experiments to prove that the kidney elaborates 

 an internal secretion have been of so conflicting a 

 kind, that references to them would yield little in- 

 formation and much confusion. The curious- 

 minded may be referred to BiedFs book (see Bibli- 

 ography). 1 



1 Skin. Lately Dr. Doege, writing in the Wisconsin Medical 

 Journal (August, 1921), discusses the evidence in favor of the 

 view that the skin has an internal as well as an external secretory 

 function. There seems to be an intimate connection between 

 the ductless glands and the skin. "Perhaps the most familiar 

 examples are the appearance of myxedema with the loss of 

 thyroid function; the dependence of certain skin eruptions or 

 pigmentations on the sex glands, pregnancy, puberty and the 

 climacteric period; the appearance of the bluish discoloration of 

 the skin in Addison's disease, an affection of the adrenals. 

 Again, the fact that many infectious diseases, such as measles, 

 diphtheria, smallpox, spotted fever, and syphilis run their course 

 with an essential involvement of the skin is certainly not without 

 deeper significance, and points to the probable fact that the skin 

 performs an important function in the overcoming of these 

 affections. . . ." 



