. The thyroid gland in health and disease. cretinism and parathyroid disease havebeen experimentally produced in animals or in their offspring[9, 10, ]6, 24]. These experiments will be referred to under theirappropriate headings and in the Appendix. In 1911, I obtained from the faeces of a goitrous horse a spore-bearing organism having well-defined characters [10]. This 54 INFLUENCE OF INTESTINAL TOXEMIA organism was administered to goats in large quantities daily withthe striking result that the thyroid glands of three out of fourgoats so fed were considerably smaller than normal. In one case
. The thyroid gland in health and disease. cretinism and parathyroid disease havebeen experimentally produced in animals or in their offspring[9, 10, ]6, 24]. These experiments will be referred to under theirappropriate headings and in the Appendix. In 1911, I obtained from the faeces of a goitrous horse a spore-bearing organism having well-defined characters [10]. This 54 INFLUENCE OF INTESTINAL TOXEMIA organism was administered to goats in large quantities daily withthe striking result that the thyroid glands of three out of fourgoats so fed were considerably smaller than normal. In one casethe gland was only one-third of the normal weight. Microscopicalexamination showed that pronounced hyperplastic, atrophic andfibrotic changes had also taken place. In one case they were somarked as to resemble those seen in a case of commencing myx-oedema (fig. 9). The animal showed such an increase in weightas to suggest this disease. The diminution in size, associatedwith atrophic and fibrotic changes in the gland, is of great interest. Fig. 9.—Effect on thyroid gland of feeding goat on cultures of intestinal spore-bearing organism. The size of the gland was only one-third that of controls. Notedisappearance of colloid, destruction of parenchyma cells, marked disquamationand great increase of fibrous tissue. The great increase in weight of this goat incomparison with controls indicated that this is to be regarded as a ease of Experi-mentally produced myxcedema. x 500. in connection with Sir Arbuthnot Lanes finding that in cases ofsevere intestinal stasis diminution in the size of the gland is therule. The toxins of this organism were peculiarly virulent, andgave rise to tetany when administered to dogs. A vaccineprepared from it was successfully employed in the treatmentof goitre (figs. 46-48). The pronounced influence of intestinal bacteria and theirtoxins on the tliyro-parathyroid glands as shown by experiment HYPERTROPHY AND ATROPHY 55 on animals, the curative action of
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