An unusual case of Graves' disease / by James Craig.

  • Craig, James.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An unusual case of Graves' disease / by James Craig. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    involved centres, there are at the present day not a few who, following on the lines of Mobius, consider that the starting-point in the affec- tion is the altered condition of the thyroid gland which, either by a hypersecretion or altered secretion, disposes of toxic agents to the blood, which in turn produce functional disturbances or minute pathological changes in the central nervous system. This latter view has lately received more attention on account of the recent researches that have been made in regard to the functions of the thyroid gland, but chiefly in regard to its atrophied state in pro- ducing the condition known as myxoedema, and to the highly successful results that have followed the treatment of this latter disease by some preparation of the gland itself when procured from animals. In the first place I would mention briefly that the researches of Mr. Victor Horsley have gone to prove the importance of the thjToid gland as a blood-forming and metabolic agent. He says it forms, or rather secretes, from the blood a colloidal substance which is transmitted by the lymphatics from the acini of the gland back to the circulation, and that it is of special metabolic importance in early extra-uterine life, as shown by the more fatal effects of thyroidectomy in young animals as compared with older ones, so that its value falls as the general vital processes decrease. Its great importance in relation to health is shown by the effects that follow its removal in animals. These are—(1) a diminution in the corpuscular elements of the blood, and in the amount of its oxygen, with the presence of abnormal constituents in the plasma, such as mucin ; (2) a general toxic state of the blood, which gives rise to excitatory and subsequently paralytic changes in the central nervous system, which are in turn evidenced by tremors, spasms, rigidity, and afterwards motor and sensory paralysis; and, in the; third place, derangement of nutrition follows, as shown by ema- ciation, increase of mucin in the subcutaneous tissues, and even later, fibroid increase, with heat changes also, in which the tem- perature is at first above and afterwards below normal, and in which the symptoms are aggravated by cold and ameliorated by heat. So much, therefore, for the importance of this gland in the preservation 6i the economy of the body. Undoubtedly there is an increase or perversion of its functions in Graves's disease which one might readily assume to be the cause of many of the secondary symptoms, but those who support the view—among whom are