JULY 9, 1897. ] 
_used therapeutically in cases of acromegalia, 
and, according to some reports, benefits have 
followed the treatment to the extent that 
some of the disagreeable features have 
shown amelioration. The evidence from 
this side, however, is not satisfactory, and 
the nature of the connection between 
acromegalia and disturbance of the function 
of hypophysis, if any exists, needs more com- 
plete investigation. 
The experiments made by the physiolo- 
gists are also meagre and inconclusive. 
Gley* reports a set of experiments made 
upon rabbits, in which he attempted to de- 
stroy the gland by an operation from above. 
The experiments were made upon rabbits 
from which the thyroid lobes had been re- 
moved previously, with the idea of demon- 
strating that a similarity in function exists 
between the thyroid and hypophysis. All 
but one of the animals died, owing to the 
severity of the operation. In the single 
survivor it was noted that the animal ex- 
hibited at times spasmodic muscular con- 
tractions and some degree of paresis, and 
that it died about a year after the operation. 
On the assumption that the animal would 
have lived if the thyroid lobes alone had 
been removed, Gley concluded that the re- 
moval of the hypophysis had prevented the 
parathyroids from replacing completely the 
loss of the thyroid, and that, therefore, the 
hypophysis is related in function to the 
thyroid tissue. Naturally but little im- 
portance can be attached to a single ex- 
periment of this kind, and, so far as I know, 
the author has not repeated the investiga- 
tion. Vassale and Sacchi; claim to have 
removed the hypophysis partially or com- 
pletely in a number of animals by an opera- 
tion through the base of the skull. In cases 
of complete removal the animal died within 
*Gley: Archives de Physiologie normale et patho- 
logique, 1892, 311. 
fVassale and Sacchi: Archives ital. de Biologie, 
XXIT., CXXXIII., 1895; also XVIII., 1893. 
SCIENCE. 
AT 
a short time—fourteen days or less—after 
exhibiting a number of symptoms similar 
to those caused by thyroidectomy, such as 
muscular tremors and spasms and the de- 
velopment of a cachectie condition. Most 
physiologists, I fancy, will accept these ex- 
periments also with some hesitation until 
they have been confirmed by other observ- 
ers. The very severe character of the opera- 
tion necessary to reach the gland makes it 
questionable whether the results reported 
were due to its removal alone, although 
the experiments were evidently made with 
great care. 
Szymonowicz and also Oliver and Schafer 
report experiments upon the effects of in- 
jections of extracts of hypophysis into the 
circulation of normalanimals. Szymonowicz 
states that in two experiments he obtained 
a slight fall pressure and a quickening of 
the heart-beat. He concludes, therefore, 
that the physiological action of these ex- 
tracts is opposed to that caused by extracts 
of the suprarenals. Oliver and Schafer, on 
the contrary, report that extracts of hy- 
pophysis exert an effect very similar in some 
ways to that shown by suprarenal extracts. 
For instance, they cause a marked rise of 
blood pressure, together with an augmenta- 
tion of the heart-beat. Unlike the suprare- 
nal extracts, however, they do not produce 
a slowing of the heart-rate when the vagi 
are intact. Upon the basis of these incom- 
plete experiments they draw the somewhat 
hasty conclusion that the hypophysis and 
the thyroid are not similar in function, and 
that the hypophysis is not capable of assum- 
ing vicariously the activities of the thyroid. 
I have recently made a number of ex- 
periments upon this organ, the results of 
which have been quite uniform and in many 
respects very different from those obtained 
by the authors just quoted. My experi- 
ments were made with the hypophysis of 
sheep mainly, although at first the gland of 
the dog was also used. The extracts were 
