THE DUCTLESS GLANDS. 



191 



Its function is still very obscure ; but it appears, in cases of experi- 

 mental thyroidectomy and in disease of the thyroid in the human 

 subject, to enlarge when the function of the thyroid gland is abol- 

 ished and to assume vicariously the duties of that organ. In how 

 far this points to a normal similarity in function of the two organs 

 must, at present, be left undetermined. In cases of enlargement 

 of the pituitary body profound changes in nutrition, characterized 

 chiefly by overgrowth, frequently take place in the bones of the 

 skeleton (acromegaly). 



The nervous supply of the anterior lobe consists of non-medul- 



FIG. 167. 



Section from the glandular lobe of the hypophysis; child six months old. (Lothringer.) 

 The close relations between the epithelial cells and the capillary bloodvessels, and the 

 differences in the cells, are indicated in this figure. The red blood-corpuscles within the 

 capillaries have been stained dark. 



lated fibres, destitute of ganglion-cells, which ramify about the 

 vessels and send some of their terminal twigs between the epithelial 

 cells. 



The posterior lobe consists of tissues resembling those of the 

 central nervous system : ganglion-cells, non-medullated fibrils, and 

 neuroglia-cells. Within its substance there are also peculiar oval 

 bodies surrounded by nervous terminations, to which sensory func- 

 tions have been attributed, and small follicles, lined with cubical 

 epithelium. 



