Myxoedema and the thyroid gland / by John D. Gimlette.

  • Gimlette, John D. (John Desmond), 1867-1934.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Myxoedema and the thyroid gland / by John D. Gimlette. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The careful investigations of Koclier did much to pi ove th.e remarkable relation which exists between myxoedema^ sporadic cretinism^ and cachexia stru- mipriva. Shortly afterwards a communication by Dr Felix Semon more clearly demonstrated the affinity between these three states_, and a commission was organised, under the chairmanship of Dr Ord, by the Clinical Society of London (December 14th, 1883) to study the subject. Professor Victor Horsley made a series of experi¬ ments to investigate the effects of extirpation of the thyroid gland in monkeys, and proved that the loss of the function of the thyroid was accompanied by all the symptoms of myxoedema or cachexia strumi- priva, and that cretinism could be regarded as a chronic form of this disease; Professor Bruns, of Tubingen, showing in 1884 that the same symptoms occurred also in man. Many years before, in 1856, Professor Schiff had pi oved that extirpation of the gland in dogs was rapidly followed by the death of the animals. Later experiments made by him, in order to in¬ vestigate the action of the thyroid, proved that if the gland of a dog were removed and then grafted into another dog, the thyroid of the latter could be re¬ moved without producing any ill effect, provided that the grafted gland had not already become absorbed.