80 THE THYROID AND 



passing through a Berkefeldt filter. It is true that 

 a very few tiny bacteria are filter-passers, but the 

 immense majority are held back. It is easy to 

 cause enlargement of the thyroid by various means ; 

 Bircher shows that food contaminated by the faeces 

 of normal rats causes goitre in other rats. 



There are goitre wells in England. One is known 

 to the writer near Berkeley, in Gloucestershire. 

 Its water is used by only one or two families, but 

 four cases of goitre have resulted. It is usually the 

 growing children who suffer. 



IODOFORM AND THYROIDISM. 



The conclusions which modern physiology has 

 reached with regard to the relation between iodine 

 compounds and the thyroid gland lead us to some 

 further important explanations of obscure problems. 

 We are now able to understand the toxic effects of 

 iodoform, and the beneficial action of iodides on 

 arteriosclerosis, aneurysm, and gummata. 



Iodoform poisoning has become a well-recognized 

 condition, and every text-book on pharmacology or 

 toxicology gives a clear description of the clinical 

 picture, which the writer has verified by consulting 

 the reports on some loo cases scattered through 

 the literature, not including the very numerous 

 records of dermatitis or erythema following its local 

 use. A long list of well-described cases (not always 

 very convincing) is given by Cutler.* 



* Boston Med. Soc. Journal, 1886, li.. pp. 73, loi, 110. 



