June 25, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



969 



periment with a goitre-patient, otherwise 

 healthy, Roos observed on feeding thyroid 

 glands a similar tendency towards increased 

 excretion of nitrogen and chlorine with a 

 marked increase in the output of phos- 

 phoric acid. Mendel, Napier, Ord and 

 others, making observations on myxoe- 

 dema patients, likewise noted that the use 

 of thyroid preparations by subcutaneous in- 

 jection, by glycerin extracts, etc., as a rule, 

 not only led to a betterment of the symp- 

 toms, but gave rise to a marked diuresis, 

 loss of body-weight and increased excre- 

 tion of nitrogen or urea. Denning,* 

 likewise, found that while different indi- 

 viduals reacted somewhat differently under 

 thyroid feeding, yet there was a general 

 tendency toward increased excretion of 

 nitrogen as well as a loss of body-weight. 

 It was also noted that the excretion of 

 nitrogen and urea was not always parallel. 

 Occasionally albumin and sugar appeared 

 in the urine. In one case the volume of 

 urine excreted rose at once 200 cc. per day, 

 the pulse rate increased 22 per cent., while 

 the nitrogen excreted rose 15 per. cent dur- 

 ing the feeding period. Similarly, in 

 Basedow's disease, Scholz f observed under 

 the influence of thyroid feeding in a patient 

 29 years old diuresis, increased excretion of 

 nitrogen and sodium chloride with a marked 

 decrease in the excretion of phosphoric acid. 

 Magnus Levy % likewise records that a 

 healthy individual taking thyroid tablets 

 for 19 days lost 7 pounds body-weight with 



*Ueber das Verhalten des StofEwechsels bei der 

 Schilddriisentherapie. Miincliener med. Woclienschr. 

 1895. No. 17. Also No. 20. 



t Ueber den Einfluss der Schilddriisenbehandlung 

 anf den Stoffwechsel des Slenschen insbesondere bei 

 Morbus Basedowii. Centralbl f. innere Med. Band 

 16, p. 1041 and p. 1069. 



X Ueber den respiratorischen Gaswechsel unter dem 

 Einfluss der Thyreoidea, sowie unter verschiedenen 

 pathologischen Zustanden. Berliner klin. Wocb- 

 enscbr. 1895, p. 650. See also Riobter : Zur Frage 

 des Eiweisszerfalles nacb Scbilddriisenfiitterung. 



some increase in O^, and Co^ exchange. In 

 three cases of Basedow's disease, on the 

 other hand, oxygen consumed and carbonic 

 acid excreted were greatly in excess of the 

 normal. Fritz Voit, * by carefully con- 

 ducted experiments on healthy dogs, found 

 that the feeding of fresh thyroid glands 

 produced a marked increase in the output 

 of carbonic acid as well as of nitrogen. 

 Michaelson f found after extirpation of the 

 thyroid in hungry cats the Co^ excretion in- 

 creased, while J. L. Smith % has observed 

 that when thyroidectomy is performed on 

 cats there is a marked disturbance of the 

 heat-regulating mechanism. 



From these and other observations that 

 cannot be recorded here it is very plain 

 that the administration of thyroid gland 

 and thyroid extracts to normal individuals, 

 and especially to thyroidectomized animals 

 and individuals in whom the thyroid glands 

 are diseased, produces a very noticeable effect 

 upon the metabolism of the body, leading to 

 a marked loss of body-weight, an increased 

 excretion of water, nitrogen and carbonic 

 acid, and also of sodium chloride. This 

 great diminution of body-weight is by no 

 means due wholly to loss of water nor to 

 removal of fat, for if a healthy individual 

 is fed upon a diet rich in fats and carbo- 

 hydrates the well-known proteid-sparing 

 power of the latter foods is not able to keep 

 down the loss of nitrogen when thyroids 

 are administered. Proteid material is still 

 broken down in increased quantity, and not 

 from any individuality of the person ex- 

 perimented upon, but plainly under the ex- 



Centralbl. f. Pbysiol. Band 10, p. 49. Also Duo- 

 cescbi : Beitrag zur Erforscbung der Stoffwechselvor- 

 giinge bei thyroidectomirten Thieren. Ibid. Band 10, 

 p. 217. 



*Stoff wechseluntersuchungen am Hund mit f riscber 

 Schilddriise und Jodotbyrin. Zeitschr. f. Biol. Band 

 35, p. 116. 



t Jabresbericbt f. Tbierchemie. Band 19, p. 335. 



X On some effects of Tbyroideotomy in animals. 

 Journal of Pbysiol. vol. 16, p. 378. 



