Observations and experiments on the pathology of Graves's disease / by Walter Edmunds.

  • Edmunds, Walter.
Date:
[1894?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations and experiments on the pathology of Graves's disease / by Walter Edmunds. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    and no colloid; these glands were first described by Sandstrbm in 1880 (Plate XXVIII. Fig. 20 and Plate XXX. Fig. 26). In rabbits it has long been noticed that excision of the thyroid gland is not followed by the same fatal result that attends the operation almost (though not quite) invariably in dogs and cats; but Gley has recently shown that in rabbits, if, as well as the thyroid, the parathyroid glands are removed, the animal, as a rule, dies. These experiments of Gley’s have been repeated by myself, and it was found (1) that if both the thyroid and the parathyroid glands are removed the animals die; out of a batch of 7 rabbits, on whom this operation was performed, 5 died within 8 days, the other 2 surviving for months. (2) That when the thyroid gland only is excised, the parathyroid glands bemg left, many of the animals also die; in a batch of 7 operated on, 5 died within 42 days, and 2 survived for months; in another set of 17 operations, 2 were killed while in good health (at the fifty-second and the fifty- ninth day), and the remaining 15 all died within 9 7 days; in 4 of them there was noticed a condition resembling myxcedema in man; the general health failed, the hair fell out, and there was a remark- able oedema of the lower part of the face. (3) If the parathyroids are alone extirpated, the animals, as a rule, live, and do not undergo any obvious change, at least not for a long time. In a batch of 7, one died at the thirty-fifth day, a second the eighty-second day, and a third the one hundred and fifty-sixth day; the other 4 survived; 2 of these now, after 6 months, are weak and emaciated. The appearance of some of these parathyroidless rabbits gave rise to the suspicion that the operation caused exophthalmos, and a fresh series of experiments (with controls) was made to test this point; the result seemed clear, the operation did not cause exophthalmos,— indeed, after the lapse of 6 months, the eyes in 2 or 3 of these operated rabbits looked sunken, as if they were suffering from the opposite condition of exophthalmos. It is therefore proposed to make another series of experiments to decide as to this. The parathyroids after extirpation of the thyroids do not undergo any marked changes, but they may hypertrophy somewhat; under the microscope, too, there is no pronounced alteration of minute structure; they do not develop into normal thyroids; no vesicles, and no colloid form (Plate XXVIII. Fig. 19). In dogs, also, there are parathyroids, but in them these small glands lie half-embedded in the substance of the thyroid itself; consequently, in excision of the thyroid lobes, the parathyroids have been removed as well (Plate XXVIII. Fig. 16). Gley found that if the parathyroids are separated and left, the animal will live, notwithstanding the removal of the rest of the thyroid lobes. The present writer’s experiments (6 in number) show that if the whole of one lobe of the thyroid, including its parathyroid, and also the
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