The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-02-03
SKIN TURNING BROWN.
Woman in New York Hospital
With Queer Disease

With Queer Disease.
New York, Feb 2.-Young Mrs. Rose
Lowe of 595 Second avenue, a patient at
Bellevue, is prostrated with Addison's dis
ease, a rare malady under whose eff
fects she is steadily turning from white
to a dark bronze color.
Medical experts half expect her to die
of the singular ailment within a few
months. Nevertheless, they are doing al
they can to discover a cure for the dis
ease.
The Evening Post. discussing the case,
says: 1t is scarcely true that physicians
know little about 'Addison's disease" in
which the skin. turns the color of a bronz,
kettle a case of which is to-day inter
esting those at Bellevue Hospital. The,
have little hope of relieving the patient
In 1854, Addison, a British physician
wrote a paper connecting together som,
of the remarkable types of bronze pig
mentation of the skin with such symp-
toms as extreme prostration, nausea and
vomiting and great anaemia. He ad-
vanced the theory that disease of the su-
prarenal glands was the cause. These
are small glands placed above the kid
neys on both sides whose function was
absolutely unknown. They are ductless
glands, and it is only recently that it has
become known that these closed glands
with no outlet for secretion were put
ting their peculiar chemical properties into
use upon the general system through the
blood vessels, in the same manner that
the thyroid gland of the neck does.
The discoverer of the disease believed
that some obscure interference with the
secretion of the gland was the cause of
the peculiar symptoms. What the nature
of this interference really was did not
appear. Some observers thought it to be
definite disease OF the gland like cirrhosis
of the liver in number of cases general
tuberculosis was found, and it was sup
posed that Addson's disease was a ',u-
berculosis of the suprarenal glands. 1t oc-
ours early in life; not later than 30 or 49,
as a rule. The present patient is %.
1t is now believed that most of the cases
are simply a local tuberculosis, but there
are cases in which the glands have sim
ply atrophied or have ceased to do their
work.
Some years ago the importance of the
thyreoid glands in the neck was discover
ed, and where they had been diseased or
removed by the surgeons death ensu d,
or else a bloated condition Of the boy
called myXodaema. Alter long eXper.-
mentation 1t was discovered that If
person suffering from this condition were
fed with an extract Of thyroid gland if
promptly removed the dangerous symp-
toms of the disease, and KEPT them we'll
as long as they used it, The same theory
has been applied to other ductless g ands.
In 1856. Brown Sequard showed that the
supra renal glands were necessary to lie,
and that when animals were deprived OF
them they died rapidly. Later It was
learned that some pecu lar effect on the
blood was caused by some internal Sc
cret.on of this gland that would not he
spared. The symptom of Addison's dis
case was Of the nature of an auto in
toxicaton or poisoning due to dehc ent
amount of the secretion of the supra re-
nal gland in the blood. These secretions
are sometimes described as natures uni
versal antdote to possible poisonous ele-
ments. Within the last few years the
gland has been used IN medicine as the
extract of the thyroid gland has b en-
and has been found to be extreme
poverty in its effects. 1t has been tr ed
In cases Of Addson's disease with sue
cess in lessening many of the symptoms
but not the skin which seems to be p r
mancut. It has b en- tried in the recent
case Of Bellevue. But as most OF these
cases are due TO actual organic dis ase
IKE tuberculosis the relief is, Of course
merely temporary.