Observations and experiments on the pathology of Graves's disease / by Walter Edmunds.

  • Edmunds, Walter.
Date:
[1895]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations and experiments on the pathology of Graves's disease / by Walter Edmunds. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    dies. These experiments of Gley's have been repeated by myself, and it was found (1) that if both the thyroid and the parathyroid glands are removed the animals die: out of a batch of seven rabbits on whom this operation was performed, five died within eight days, the other two surviving for months. (2) That when the thyroid gland only is excised, the parathyroid glands being left, many of the animals also die: in a batch of seven operated on, five died within forty-two days, and two survived for months; in another set of seventeen operations two were killed while in good health (at the fifty-second and the fifty-ninth day), and the re- maining fifteen all died within ninety-seven days : in four of them there was noticed a condition resembling myxcedema in man; the general health failed, the hair fell out, and there was a remarkable oedema of the lower part of the face. (3) If the parathyi-oids are alone extirpated, the animals, as a rule, live, and do not undergo any obvious change, at least not for a long time. In a batch of seven, one died at the thirty-fifth day, a second the eighty-second day, and a third the one hundred and fifty-sixth day ; the other foui- survived, but two of these now, after six months, are weak and emaciated. The appearance of some of these parathyroidless rabbits gave rise to the suspicion that the operation caused exophthalmos, and a fresh series of experiments (with controls) was made to test this point; the result seemed clear, the operation did not cause exoph- thalmos,—indeed, after the lapse of six months the eyes in two or three of these operated rabbits looked sunken, as if they were suffering from the opposite condition of enophthalmos. It is there- fore proposed to make another series of experiments to decide as to this. The parathyroids after extirpation of the thyroids do not undergo any marked changes, but they may hypertrophy somewhat; under the microscope, too, there is no pronounced alteration of minute structure, they do not develop into normal thyi-oids, no vesicles and no coUoid form. In dogs, also, there are parathyroids, but in them these small o-lands he half embedded in the substance of the thyroid itself; consequently, in excision of the thyroid lobes,'the parathyroids have been removed as well. Gley found that if the parathyi-oids are separated and left, the animal will hve, notwithstanding the removal of the rest of the thyroid lobes. The present wi-iter's experiments (six in number) show that if the whole of one lobe of