ADENOLOGY. THE ENDOCRINOUS GLANDS AND THEIR EXTRACTS 289 



development and begins to dwindle at the end of the second year, having 

 almost entirely disappeared at the age of puberty. It lies in the neck on 

 the front and sides of the trachea, consisting of two lobes. The chief 

 function of this gland appears to be the stimulation of embryonal and 

 early infantile development. Occasionally this gland persists during 

 adult life, in which cases it is accompanied by excessive lymphoid develop- 

 ment, known as myxcedema. Thymus gland extract has been used 

 empirically in the treatment of hyperthyroidism, in hemophilia, in rickets, 

 in tuberculosis, and in infantile marasmus and atrophy. It has also been 

 recommended in cancer. 



5. The Thyroid Glands. — This gland consists of two lobes situated in 

 the neck in front of the trachea. This is perhaps the best known of the 

 ductless glands and has received a great deal of attention on the part 

 of special investigators and clinicians. The congenital absence of this 

 gland or an arrested development in infancy, is followed by defective 

 mental as well as physical development. The body is small and more or 

 less irregular in contour, the face appears swollen, the eyelids puffy, nose 

 broad and flat, protruding tongue (or tendency to protrude), abdomen 

 swollen, short extremities, mental dullness and stupidity amounting to 

 idiocy in many cases. 



Degeneration of the thyroids in the adult is followed by a complex 

 group of symptoms, the most prominent of which are thickening of the 

 skin due to hyperplasia of the subcutaneous connective tissues of an 

 embryonic type rich in mucinoid material, to which the term myxcedema 

 is applied. As the result of these changes in the skin, the face becomes 

 broadened, swollen and puffy. The features become irregular, coarse 

 and expressionless. The mind becomes clouded, memory is defective, 

 dementia follows terminating in idiocy. 



The general conditions due to hypothyroidism are designated by the 

 terms myxcedema, cretinism and cachexia strumipriva. The numerous 

 cases of mental and physical degeneracy in Crete are due to the inter- 

 marriage . of those afflicted with hypothyroidism, and from which the 

 term cretinism is derived. Both the cretins as well as the form of degen- 

 erates designated as mongols (Mongolian and Lorain types of degeneracy) 

 are due to inherited or early hypothyroidism. 



In excessive secretion of the thyroids (hyperthyroidism) there arise 

 the symptoms designated under goiter and exophthalmic goiter (Graves's 

 disease, Basedow's disease), represented by rapid action of the heart 

 (tachycardfa), active pulsation of the arteries at the base of the neck, 

 protrusion of the eyeballs, fine tremors of the hands, and a more or less 

 changed mental state or condition. The excessive enlargement of the 

 thyroid glands resulting in the symptom complex laid to hyperthyroidism, 



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