Accordingly we may expect that, when the thyroid undergoes a process of degeneration, such an event may also take place in these two protective organs, as we have shown in our above-mentioned two communications. In consequence of the diminished activity of these organs the development of a condition of auto-intoxication may be facilitated. Patients showing symptoms of old age in early years, also show to a greater or less extent symptoms of such a condition, as do myxœdematous persons. Meat food especially, if taken in large quantity, is a certain producer of uric acid, and it is an interesting fact, shown by several authors and also by the writer,[29] that by thyroid medication we can augment the elimination of uric acid, and also prevent its formation in large quantity, both in the case of uric acid formed in the body or introduced from without by the food. Footnote 29: Lorand: Comptes Rendus de la Société de biologie de Paris, Février 25, 1907. This fact stands in relation to the powerful influence exercised by the ductless glands, and especially the thyroid, upon the process of oxidation; and, as we are anxious to prove the assertions we here advance, we shall show in the next chapter how these wonderful glands influence the processes of nutrition in the tissues, and at the same time the external appearance. We have already mentioned a form of obesity that has nothing to do with overfeeding, as one of the symptoms of precocious old age, and in the next chapter we will review in detail the agencies which govern this condition. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER II. ON THE AGENCIES WHICH GOVERN OUR EXTERNAL APPEARANCE AND THE NUTRITION OF THE TISSUES. AS a general rule infants of both sexes look very much alike, so much so, indeed, that sometimes it is only possible, upon close inspection, to determine the difference in sex. This, however, can only be so for a certain period until certain changes take place in the ductless glands, especially in the sexual glands and the thyroid. The latter contains but very little, if any, colloid substance in infancy, and the colloid increases only gradually until it is present in abundance at the time of puberty, when also the changes in the sexual glands reach a climax coincident with the ripening of the follicles in the ovaries and their rupture at a menstrual period. This latter process is, as we have mentioned before, under the influence of the thyroid. Puberty and menstruation do not take place, as a rule, in persons with a degenerated thyroid gland.