The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-04-23

"- . few. weehs awo, brings to light one of the brightest pages Of medical history. AS pr. osier says. there fs no type of human transformation more distress- ing to look upon than child suffer ing from cretinism. The stunteo nature, the semi-bestiAl aspect. the biubbering lips and retrousse nose. the Ioiling tongue and muddy, dry appear. ance of the skin, added to the dwarfed figure, all serve to make the child suf- fering from cretinisrn a real "pariah of nature" Dr. Osler adds that no magic wand of Prospero or brave kihs of the daughter of Hippocrates ever wrought such wonderful change as thyroid works in cretfnisn.
 cretinism Is . .disease of children due to the absence of the thyroid gland. This gland is situated at the top of the trachea and is the one which causes goitre. For uncounted centuries the medical profession did not know the function of this gland. Then 1t was found that in removing goitre by sur gcry the total elimination of the gland resulted in death. as . rule.
 Children afflicted with crettnism were found. upon post mortem exami- nations, to have no thyroid gland. Tn was totally absent. and in the other two wholly diseased
 In 1890 several European physicians endeavored to graft the thyroid of a sheep into the abdomen of patient whose thyroid gland had been removed. and were successful. The next year the thyroid of the sheep was adminis- tered hypodermically, and soon there after 1t was given by the mouth. Since then the latter method of aiministra- tion has been used. After the treat ment proved successful with adults sui fering from the absence of the thyroid gland. 1t was tried on cretins. or young children. From the first 1t proved highly successful. restoring helpless cases to normal health. The medical works treating on the disease are full of illustrations of eases before and after the administrations of trsatment. In some case eleven months sufficeI to transform the most horrible human forms into as pretty little girls and boys. both in mind and body. as one would wish to see.
 pr. osler took up the study of cretin- ism in 1893. He then found eleven cases in the United States. Later he found sixty. He discovered that the disease was more common in some parts of Ontario and Michigan than elsewhere, and that the territory of most frequency was coincident with fLnG ItD8t tfGquSut VDG0NSNs1So 0A 8otft VI Since then physicians have Identified it mope frequently. and have learned not to confound 1t with idiocy.
 | The thyroid gland is one of the niys- teries of the body. Exactly what its office is no one has yet been able to define. It appears that the gland gathers up certain poisons from the blood, works them over. transforming them into healthful fluii, and then q. t,.&S &S 44> through the lymphatics. Yet just how. this is. done. or what the change effect ed is, none of. the men of medicine can say. It is not recorded that any of them have discovered any essential difference in the blood of the cretin from that of the child in health. nor between the grownup who has had his thyroid glanj excissd and the healthy man.
 Even the drug thyroid is not under stood. except as to its effects. The physician knows that 1t is made from powdered sheep's thyroid. but when 1t comes to providing substitute he cannot offer one which will even tn- perfectly take its place. It's usa was the first practical application Of the, doctrine of internal secretion. and it btill remains the most striking example of the conscious use, for therapuetie purposes or du HOEihOAS- OtAt4s eltAAa8 Is pretty well settled, though not so much as to become an accepted fact by. the medical fraternity, and that Is that iodine is one of the important consti- -tuents of thyroid.
 The dose of thyroid for an infant is from half grain to five grains, ad- ministered twice day The smaller dose Is usually used at the beginning, and gradually increased to the maxi a.fsn Al 1n of too free dosage. Yet 1t seems practically harmless when large doses are taken.
 There is recorded case where child swallowed hundred five grain, tablets without any bad effects.
 The elimination of the thyroid gland produces startling effects in human be ings and animals There is severe in- ternal disturbance, terminating in con- vulsions and tetany. It Is thought that there has never been an instance where ing animal that 1t did not die of lock- jaw. Putting such an animal on a vegetable diet serves to proiong its life. Myxodemia is the name for the disease in adults. Experiments made on monkeys demonstrate that it is caused just as much by surgical ex- cision as by disease. It occurs oftener in women than in men, the ratio being about six to one, and usually appears between forty and sixty, It may be hereditary On the maternal side. The hair falls out; the patient becomes dull. listless, and inert. Melanchofia and dementia often set in before the dis- ease Is recognized, and there have been many instances of suicide. Once it is recognized, the treatment of the dis ease Is easy, Proper administration or thyroid brings prompt relief. Within A month the friends of the patient can hardly realize the change, So long as the treatment ia kept up the unfavor- ablv svrnpoms will not return, but it has to be kept up all through life.
 IL. has been demonstrated that the full activity of the thyroid gland is more important in early life than in later years. It's size and shape vary, and a part of it left intact will do .ts work almost or quite as we'll as the whole gland. In cretinism the disease seldom Is recognizable up to tho time a child is six months old In myxo- demia the absence Of the gland Is not long making itself known.
 Thyroid decomposes more rapidly than muscular tissue. and in the9earlier history of this drug 1t was often ad- fninistered fresh from the sheep, minced and spread raw upon bread. Later a giyeerin extract was used, and at the present tinie the powdered form is most favored. It has been found that the strength varies considerably, but no means has yet been found to deter- mine the strength to the complete satisfaction of the practitioner.
 Goitre comes from a diseased condi- tion of the thyroii gland, Sometin.es