1924 



DISEASES OF THE DUCTLESS GLANDS 



should weigh 37-52 grammes according to Hammar, after which it 

 decreases, until after sixty-six years it only weighs 6«o grammes, 

 and is then principally composed of adipose tissue. In 1858 

 Friedleben published the only monograph on this gland in health 

 and disease. The gland is supposed in some unknown way to be 

 associatedwith certain cases of sudden desith{morsthymia),es-peciaJiy 

 when there is the so-called status thymicolymphaticus, in which a 

 much enlarged thymus is associated with hyperplasia in the lymph 

 glands and lymphoid tissues all over the body. 



Only once have we encountered a persistent thymus gland with 

 some enlargement of the lymphatic glands, and this was in a case of 

 sudden death. 



OTHER DUCTLESS GLANDS. 



We are not acquainted with observations referring to the other 

 internal secretions in the human diseases of the tropics. 



DIABETES. 



This disease is extremely common in the tropics, but more 

 e pecially in Asia, and particularly in Ceylon, though we have met 

 with it in Africa. 



In India, according to Waters, it has been known since the days 

 of the Susruta Samhita, where it is called ' madhumeha.' It was 

 said to be unknown among the Chinese and Japanese, but Reid has 

 collected 207 cases in China, and in Korea the complaint is called 

 ' Lweet water disease.' 



West says that it is rare in Hindu women, but that it does occur 

 even in Hindu widows, and in general it may be said to be much 

 more common in men than in women, and is most frequently met 

 with in the better or educated classes. 



The disease is the same as in the Temperate Zone, and will not 

 be further considered here, except to point out the frequency of 

 boils and carbuncles due to it, and also the occurrence of Kussmaul's 

 coma, which may be induced by a malarial infection. 



Pentosuria. 



As in the Temperate Zone, so in the tropics, pentosuria may occur, 

 but is rare, though it is necessary to bear in mind the possibility 

 of its occurrence when the diagnosis of diabetes is made on the 

 reduction of Fehling's solution. A simple method of diagnosis is by 

 using Castellani and Taylor's mycological method of examination 

 of the urine (see Chapter LXXXV., p. 1934). 



MACIES PERNICIOSA. 



Dr. Ernest Black gives the following account of this disease, which occurs 

 among the aboriginal natives in the north of the State of Western Australia. 

 It has also been reported among the tribes of the Northern Territory of the 

 Commonwealth, where it is called ' living skeleton ' disease. 



