Chemico-Functional Integration 117 



this being of the earthy, yellow-spotted hue peculiar to 

 cretins. 



"The respiratory rhythm is ahnost ahvays normal ; tlie 

 digestive apparatus functions well, as also the urinary 

 system. The spleen is not enlarged." ^ 



This complex (syndrome in medical terminology) of 

 manifestations is known technically as cachexia thyreo- 



priva. 



Later experience by other surgeons with the same opera- 

 tion discovered that in some cases the effects are much more 

 acute and rapid, and may be replaced by what has been 

 called "tetany" (though having little in common with ordi- 

 nary tetanus), ending in death more often than otherwise. 



Experimental Thyroid Excision in Normal Lower Animals 



No sooner had the far-reaching influence of the thyroid 

 for tlie human organism begun to be recognized in this way 

 than experimentation on inferior mammals was invoked for 

 further light on the subject. Moritz Schiff, the ground- 

 breaker in this field, published in 188-i the results of the 

 removal of the thyroid from a large number of dogs. In 

 all cases where the whole thyroid apparatus was excised 

 the dogs soon died after a run of such symptoms as tremor, 

 spasms, and convulsions. Nor did SchifF rest content with 

 merely ascertaining the effects of removal, complete and 

 partial, of the thyroid apparatus. He found that these 

 effects could be entirely prevented by grafting a portion of 

 the gland under the skin or into the body cavity of tlu' 

 animal before the thyroid operation, or by injecting thyroid 

 juice into the blood or lymphatic systems, or by feeding raw 

 thyroid to the dogs. The story of how these experiments 

 led to the now widely practiced treatment of myxo^lema with 

 thyroid or thyroid extract would be out of ])lace here, 

 though it should not be passed wholly unnoticed. 



