PINEAL GLANDS 91 



INJECTION OF EXTRACTS OF PITUITARY GLAND. 

 PITUITARY FEEDING. 



Injection of extracts of the anterior lobe causes 

 no evident results. Injection of extracts of the 

 posterior or nervous lobe causes quite constantly a 

 prolonged rise of blood-pressure. Not only the blood- 

 vessels, but all varieties of unstriped muscle are 

 stimulated to contract. Peristaltic movements are 

 set up in the bowel, and the bladder and uterus, 

 whether pregnant or not, also contract. 



Prolonged pituitary feeding in animals leads to 

 great emaciation. It was originally stated by 

 Schafer that young rats showed an exaggeration of 

 growth when fed with this gland, but repetition of 

 the experiment by himself and others does not con- 

 firm this. 



Pituitary extract also stimulates the secretion of 

 milk in animals, but it is not yet proven that it does 

 so in the human subject. 



CLINICAL RESULTS OF LESIONS OF THE 

 PITUITARY GLAND. 



It is well known that the somewhat rare diseases 

 acromegaly and gigantism are generally but not 

 quite invariably associated with enlargement of 

 the pituitary gland, which has usually been a simple 

 overgrowth, although later adenoma or fibrosis may 

 have developed. Whether acromegaly or gigantism 

 will result appears to be principally a question of 

 the age at which symptoms commence. If they 

 have their onset before growth ceases, gigantism will 

 result. The skulls of most of the classical cases of 



