Thyroid secretion as a factor in exophthalmic goitre / by George R. Murray.

  • Murray, George Redmayne, 1865-1939.
Date:
1893
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Thyroid secretion as a factor in exophthalmic goitre / by George R. Murray. 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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    EXOPHTHALMIC GOITRE. Much has been written about exophthalmic goitre, but in many of the papers which have been published on this disease little attention has been paid to the part which the enlarged thyroid gland itself may play in the production of some of the symptoms which are usually present. Mobius has written in support of the theory that there is a toxsemia produced by the enlarged thyroid gland. Muller1 maintains that, though the altered thyroid gland is a secondary factor in Graves’ disease, it plays an important part in the production of the symptoms. Wette2 considers that the goitre is the principal cause of the disease. He attributes the exophthalmos and palpitations to the pressure of the enlarged thyroid gland upon the sympathetic nerve, and the variable nervous symptoms to “a general intoxication due to the products which the diseased thyroid gland secretes.” Mr. Arthur Maude,3 in a paper read at the opening meeting of the Medical Society of London this year, brought forward some valuable evidence to show that the symptoms of exophthalmic goitre may be due to a general nerve poison, probably to be found in the thyroid gland. The evidence possessed at present does not justify the supposition that the thyroid gland is the primary factor in exophthalmic goitre, but I wish to draw attention to a few facts which, when taken together, do indicate that some of the symptoms may be due to the absorption of an excessive or possibly altered secretion from that gland. There is now strong evidence that the thyroid gland is a secretory gland—ductless, it is true; but it has been shown by King,4 Baber and other observers that the secretion passes along the lymphatics into the general circulation, and so is 1 Deutsches Archiv fair Klinische Medicin, li., 4 und 5. 2 Archiv fur Klinische Cnirurgie, xliv., 3. 3 The Lancet, Oct. 31st, 1893. 4 Professor Victor Horsley: Remarks on the Function of the Thyroid Gland, Brit. Med. Jour., Jan. 30th, 1892.