Internal secretion and the ductless glands / by Swale Vincent ; with a preface by E. A. Schäfer.

  • Swale Vincent
Date:
1912
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Internal secretion and the ductless glands / by Swale Vincent ; with a preface by E. A. Schäfer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    these two sources in such a way as to give an intelligent explanation of the functions of the adrenal bodies, and at the same time to offer a satisfactory explanation of the symptoms of Addison's disease. Addison's disease is characterized by the cardinal symptoms of extreme muscular weakness, nausea and vomiting, and an exaggeration of the normal pigmentation of the skin. Addison (27, 28, 29) attempted to elucidate the nature of a malady which he had styled idiopathic anaemia, from an inability to associate it with any exact pathological condition. He was thus led to the discovery of the diseased state of the adrenal bodies, and the association between this diseased state and the train of symptoms which bears his name. The observations were confirmed but not much extended by Wilks (764, 765, 766, 767), Trousseau (698), and Greenhow (331). It was Trousseau who first used the term Addison's disease. It must be admitted that comparatively little has been added to our knowledge of the clinical aspect of the disease since it was first described by Addison [RoUeston (617, &)]. Addison considered that any lesion of the adrenal bodies which would interfere sufficiently with their function would give rise to the disease. Wilks and Greenhow were, how- ever, of a different opinion—viz., that the true morbus Addisonii has essential peculiarities of its own, that no other disease or degeneration of the adrenal bodies is capable of producing the same associated train of symptoms [Note by editors of Addison's works. New Sydenham Society (29)]. The modern view is entirely in accordance with that first expressed by Addison, that the symptoms are due to an interruption to, or a deficiency of, the functional activity of the adrenal bodies. 2. Symptoms. 1. Pigmentation.—The pigmentation is very variable both as to its period of onset and as to its intensity. Usually it first occurs at a later period of the disease than the general symptoms, such as the muscular prostration. It sometimes occurs only shortly before death, and in some
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