Valdez daily prospector., 1914-01-13
SURGERY TO MAKE
 US TALL OR SHORT
SCaIpe| Now Holds out Hope
 to Giants and Midgets.
TEST ON BOY SKYSCRAPER.

Remarkable Achievements Credited to Experirne enters In Efforts to Help the Undersized-Say Pituitary Gland 10 Responsible For Extremes In Human Development
 Surgery is being put to the unusual test of regulating the height and phys ical development of the human body. An overgrown boy is the subject of the latest experiment. If it bears out the conclusion of several eminent anato- mists it soon will be common resort to make an lncision at the side of the head, trim down a gland the size of bean at the base of the brain, and any tendencies to develop into the giant class will be arrested. On the other hand, should the subject, seemingly stationary at four feet six inches, wish to join the five foot ten class all that will be necessary is to inject invigora- ton into this bean shaped gland, 1n- crease its size. and forthwith the pyg- my will take on the proportions of a well developed individual.
 The operation just performed was upon boy of fifteen, who had attain ed a height of six feet seven inches and had shown physical indications of growth still longer The operation was to put a stop to this abnormal growth and at the same time to give the
 
 to catch up.
 The mind generally has been conSid- cred the ruling power in physical makeup. but if recent discoveries are read alright it would appear that there is another part of our organism which is our vital master. This is what the anatomist calls the pituitary gland.
 Gland That Governs Height.
 Now. we are told, the pituitary gland is not part of the brain. although as sociated with it. It weighs in nor mai person something like half gram and is shaped after the fashion of q small peanut. But its importance is not to be judged by its size. although it's abnormal enlargement in some in- stances really led to the first revela- tions as to its functions.
 The initial inkling of it's workings } was disclosed so recently as the late eighties. and little of this history is told in the New York Press
 In the far away dawn of living yer tebrates the pituitary gland is suppos- cd to have performed peculiar duty. and until of late 1t was imagined that the days of its usefulness long had passed According to comparative anat- omy, there was q time when the yer tebrate creatures had an opening at the back and roof of the mouth cavity which provided a direct passage to the brain. Standing watch at the inner end of this vital highway was the pituitary gland. which regulated the manner in which air and water and tioneu in maintaining the physical weIbcing and in supplying energy for the active operations of life
 There came q time when this cleft closed The brain withdrew from. its quondam intimacy with the mouth The pituitary gland. or body. elected to share this secluSion. Accordingly. clusion that it's days of effective serv- ice were over. believing it of no more use in our physical economy than the troublesome vermiforn appendix. How ever. they were wocfully in error. and their followers have pretty generally shared in the mistake until within the last quarter of a century.
 The pituitary body is what is called a ductless gland-that is, there is no direct outlet for the secretion which it generates. Just the same. 1t manages to send it's chemical agents, called hor- monpS. by devious channels not only into the circulating blood but into the nervous system as well. inducing diff ferrnt effects in each of these direc tinnS.
 Hold Out Hope For the Undersized.
 The two lobes of this little body have separate duties The front lobe is the one commonly enlarged in cases of giantiSm and acromegaly. and it's secretion has to do directly with bone building ana poSslDl! Wltn the Sfo"l" of our body substance generally.
 The surgeons referred to in the New York Press are bent upon curbfng giantism. but say they have done re- markable work of late in helping those that have Jagged in their physical de vel0pment. so that not only may they aid the overgrown hut ultimately the undersiZed as well Apparently de creasng the power of the gland will help in one direction and increasing the power in the other
 An operation performed on q giant reven led that the abnormal size of the pituitary gland was directly responsi-