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

  • Vincent, Swale, 1868-1934.
Date:
1922
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

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

    47/452 (page 23)
    Feeding with fresh tissues, or with tissue extracts prepared in various ways, has been very extensively employed. The therapeutic method called “opotherapy” is based upon the principle that the active substance, the “ hormone,” or the “ internal secretion,” is absorbed unaltered into the circulation. This is apparently a matter for discussion in some cases, as, for example, in the case of the adrenals (vide infra, p. 211). On the other hand, feeding with thyroid glands or thyroid extracts (or even with the so-called active principle, iodothyrin or thyroiodin or thyroxin [Kendall ]) has proved a most valuable mode of treatment in cases of cretinism and of myxcedema, and has, besides, been used by physiologists for experimental purposes. But our knowledge of the functions and internal secretions of most of the glands, and especially of their true and intimate relationships to morbid processes and pathological conditions, is still so limited and inexact that it can hardly be expected to furnish guidance in treatment. More especially is this true in regard to the pituitary body, the thymus, and even the pancreas. Among the tissues which have been con¬ sidered from the standpoint of opotherapy or organotherapy are, in addition to the thyroid apparatus and the adrenals, the glands of the alimentary tract, the ovary, the testis, the pituitary body, the thymus, the spleen, the bone-marrow, the lymphatic glands, muscle, nerve, and the placenta. In feeding experiments the effects produced upon metabolism have been carefully studied in many cases. Thus the addition of thyroid substance to the normal dietary of growing rats causes a great increase of food consumption, with alteration of growth and retention of nitrogen in the body. At the same time the nitrogenous metabolism is greatly increased. Gudernatsch has carried out a very interesting series of experiments showing that certain mammalian ductless glands, when given as food, can exert a decided influence on the growth and differentiation of amphibian embryos, the thyroid stimu¬ lates differentiation, but it lacks the power to cause growth. The thymus and spleen stimulate growth, but are wanting in power to excite differentiation. A word of caution is necessary in respect to the mode of preparation of commercial gland substances. In order to obtain a clean, easily manipulated product, it is usual to re¬ move all fatty matters before desiccation. It is possible,