Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-23
THE CURING OF CRETINS
By Frederic j. Haskin

OF lockjaw Putting such an animal on
n vegetable diet serves to prolong Its
life Myxodemia Is the name for the
disease in adults. Experiments made on
monkeys demonstrate that 1t Is caused
lust as much by surgical excelsior as Dy
disease. 1t occurs oftener in women
than in men, the ratio being about SIX
to one and usually appears between Az
and co. 1t may be hereditary on the
maternal side. The hair falls out; the
patient becomes dull. listless and inert.
Melancholia and dementia often set IN
before the disease is recognized, ana
there have been many Instances OF sui
eide. once it is recognized, the treat
ment of the disease is easy. Proper al
ministration of thyroid brings prompt
relief Within a month the friends OF
the patient can hardly realize the
change. So long as the treatment Is
kent IN the unfavorable symptoms VIII
not return, but it has to be kept up al
through life.
II has been demonstrated that the
full activity of the thyroid gland is
more important in early life than III
later years. Its size and. shape vary
and a part of it left intact VIII do
it's work almost or quite as we'll as the
whole gland In cretinism the disease
seldom is recognizable up to the time
a child is six months old. In myxo-
demia the absence of the gland is not
long in making itself known.
Thyroid decomposes more rapidly
than muscular tissue, and In the ear
lier history of this drug 1t was often
administered fresh from the sheep,
minced and spread raw upon bread.
Later a glycerin extract was USED, ana
at the present time the powdered form
is most favored 1t has been round
that the strength varies considerably,
but no means has yet been found TO
determine the strength to the COM
plete satisfaction of the practitioner.
Goitre comes from diseased con-
dition Of the thyroid gland. Some
times It is the result of an injury 10
the gland. 1t is particularly prevalent
In some parts of Switzerland, especially
in the neighborhood of the base OF the
Alps. Some have asserted that 1t is
caused by drinking lime water. Others
have asserted that 1t is produced by
drinking water which has iodine in 1t.
There seems to be but little unity of
opinion among medical men as to the
origin of the disease. Out of $4,000
people who had goitre S404 were wo-
men. Out of 5000 cretins observed
lips had goitre. There was recently
case brought to the attention of the
medical fraternity in which there had
been goitre in four generations, some
ten cases in all, only two of which
were in males
The public health and marine hospi-
tai service has been studying the drug
thyroid for some time. Drs. Hunt ana
Seidell have been making some ex-
haustive experiments whereby they
hoped TO find a laboratory method OF
determining the strength of the drug
the only possible way now to determine
the strength of any given lot of 1t
being by actual tests upon patients.
Their experiments have led them TO
the conclusion that iodine bears very
important relation to the activity of
the thyroid gland. Yet there were
children and animals found whose
glands failed to show any presence of
iodine. Those who made this discovery
declared that iodine had no more im-
portant relation to the thyroid gland
than the traces of copper usually
found in the liver have to do with the
function of that organ. One expert
menter found no iodine in the thyroids
of cattle, another none in those OF
three foxes, none in that of polecat
nor that of a wildcat. He found II
present in but two of six martens, in
none of four domestic cats and but
traces in the thyroids of five other do
nestle cats. 1t was absent in four OF
eleven dogs and in three of seven hogs.
1t has also been found that animals
which feed on diet rich In iodine suffeT
less from the removal of the thyroid
gland than those which do not. At the
same time, II is shown that where the
thyroid gland is absent, thyroid which
contains no iodine serves just about as
well as that which contains iodine. On
the whole there is much doubt as to
Just what is the active principle OF
thyroid, and until that is determined
there can be no standardization of the
drug.
1t is said that thyroid is one of the
principal constituents of most of the
anti-fat remedies, at the same time 1t
| is conceded that thyroid is about the
! most efficient flesh reducer known. In
cretinism it usually has the opposite
effect 1t builds up the dwarf and
makes it's little body take on normal
size and shape.
The discovery of the value of thyroid
as a drug in the treatment Of diseases
of the thyroid gland has brought about
many experiments for the extension of
the principle. Powdered spleen has been
used to advantage in diseases of that
gland, and the pancreas has been pow
dered and used with marked success in
pancreatic troubles. While few, If any,
of the other glands show even approx
mately such ill effects when absent as
the thyroid gland. they have all been
proved to have essential functions, and
1t is believed that the absence of every
gland in the human body can have its
Ill effects largely or totally removed by
medical administration on the thyroid
principle.
Copyright. 1909, by Frederic J. Haskin.)
Tomorrow~-Canegie Institution Work