32O INTERNAL SECRETION 



within a few days, or at latest a few weeks, by symptoms character- 

 istic of cachexia hypophysopriva, terminating in death. 



After extirpation of the posterior nervous lobe, the inter- 

 mediate portion being generally removed with it, animals usually 

 survive and show no pathological signs. Partial extirpation of 

 the anterior lobe is consistent with the continuance of life. In 

 isolated cases, however, it leads to remarkable symptoms, such as 

 increased deposition of fat, polyuria, transitory glycosuria, and 

 falling of the hair. The most striking result, however, was the 

 reduction in sexual activity, shown anatomically by atrophy of 

 the testicles and ovaries. Acute thyroid hypertrophy was also an 

 occasional sequel to hypophysectomy. 



Judging by Cushing's experiments, the anterior hypophysal 

 lobe represents the vital portion of the organ, the complete extirpa- 

 tion of which is followed by death, its partial extirpation by dis- 

 turbances of growth and of metabolism and by derangement of 

 the activity of the sexual organs. 



From the results of my own experiments I am able emphatic- 

 ally to confirm Cushing's views. We found that complete 

 extirpation of the hypophysis was rapidly followed in both adult 

 and young growing animals by death ; the post-mortem findings 

 were negative. Where the posterior lobe only was removed, the 

 animals lived without symptoms for months, ultimately dying of 

 intercurrent disease. Where extirpation was performed only on 

 the anterior lobe, a portion of the tissue being left in situ, the 

 animals lived for weeks and months, the autopsy showing, how- 

 ever, a remarkable deposition of fat in the omentum and retro- 

 peritoneal space, together with pronounced atrophy of the entire 

 sexual apparatus. The ovaries and uterus of a 3-year-old bitch 

 presented appearances similar to those of an animal of a few 

 weeks old. 



Quite recently (December 3, 1909), B. Aschner described extir- 

 pation experiments with dogs, in which he employed' the older 

 method of reaching the organ, namely, by way of the oral cavity. 

 He succeeded in removing the complete hypophysis by this means. 

 A proportion of his animals died within the first eight days, and 

 he ascribes this to the removal, with the hypophysis, of too large a 

 portion of the infundibulum. Other animals survived operation 

 for several months. In full grown animals the results were 

 practically nil ; there was a certain change in the metabolism of 

 the carbohydrates, similar to that seen in thyroidless dogs. The 

 effects of adrenalin in producing glycosuria and symptoms of 

 stimulation of the sympathetic were much less marked in these 

 dogs than in normal dogs, and the different phases of alimentary 

 glycosuria were much reduced. 



The suppression of the hypophysis was followed, in young 

 animals, by profound disturbances. These animals were very 

 backward in growth and weight as compared W 7 ith control 



