Book Description

Excerpt from The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 1920, Vol. 43 Because of the similarity between the pituitary and the thyroid glands in their physiological action as well as their embryological history, the question as to whether the pituitary gland contains any iodine, the element generally conceded to be vitally important in the functioning of the thyroid, is still an important one. In 1896 Baumann (1) examined human pituitaries for the presence of iodine always with negative results. Schnitzler (2) also examined human pituitary glands using larger amounts of the material and found iodine twice. In 1909 Wells (3) analyzed human pituitaries and recovered definite amounts of iodine. In 1911 Denis (4) examined human pituitary glands and found no iodine. Wells suggested in his paper that his ability to find iodine in the glands he examined might have been due to the fact that iodine had previously been used on these patients either as medicants or in dressings and that the element might have been absorbed by the gland from these external sources. Denis made a careful study of the history of the cases whose glands she examined and excluded the possibility of iodine having been used in any way. She was not able to detect any trace of the element. The largest amount of material examined was by Schnitzler when he analyzed 19 and 24 gm. of pituitary. In both cases he found iodine. It has been suggested that the iodine may exist in the pituitary gland in such infinitesimally small amounts that only by the use of large quantities of material could it be detected. Therefore, an attempt was made in this laboratory to examine pituitary glands in larger amounts than had previously been used. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.