=The Pituitary Gland= is a small body, the size of a pea, located
in the Turkish saddle (sella turcica), at the base of the brain and
closely behind the root of the nose. Some have called it a brain within
the brain with a miniature skull of its own within the skull.
The pituitary regulates the rhythms of the body, from the bony growth
of the skeleton to the rate of the heart and respiration, from the
periods of sleep and waking time to the periods of menstruation.
If a part of the pituitary of a dog is removed, the animal becomes
sleepy, fat, perverse in its sex cravings; puppies cease to grow when
submitted to such an operation; autopsy of many human dwarfs has
shown that their pituitary was undeveloped. People whose pituitary is
insufficient in its action have a tendency to lose their hair, have
a very dry skin, a dull mentality, sometimes suffer from epilepsy
and crave sugar in large quantities. They are generally obese, the
fat accumulating on the lower abdomen and the feet and ankles. Louis
Berman in his excellent book on the endocrines "Glands regulating the
Personality," presents as a perfect likeness of the "hypopituitary
type" the Fat Boy of the Pickwick Papers whose emloyment with Mr.
Wardle consisted in alternate sleeping and eating.
I will quote from Berman's book a description of the opposite type, the
individual in whom the pituitary gland is too active.
"If the overaction begins in childhood or adolescence, that is, before
puberty, there results a great elongation of the bones, so that a giant
is the consequence.... If the overaction happens after puberty, when
the long bones have set and can not grow longer, a peculiar, diffuse
enlargement of the individual occurs, especially of his hands and feet
and head. The nose, ears, lips and eyes get larger and coarser. All
those people are rather big and tall to begin with, heavy jawed, burly,
with overhanging eyebrows and an aggressive manner. Rabelais' most
famous character, Gargantua, belongs to the group. We recruit more drum
majors than prime ministers from among those people."
The pituitary has a strong influence on sexual activities. Young
animals whose pituitary has been surgically damaged will not be able to
reproduce themselves when reaching adulthood. Feeding pituitary glands
to hens on the other hand, causes them to lay thirty per cent more eggs
than they would naturally.
=The Thyroid= is a transformer of energy. It is a large reddish
mass located in front and on both sides of the trachea, consisting of
two lobes connected by a bridge of the same tissue.
The thyroid activates the fires of the body. An active thyroid means
life at "concert pitch." A sluggish thyroid means a slow, negative
existence.
To a poor thyroid correspond a pasty complexion, watery eyes with heavy
lids, a depressed pug nose, large ears, thin hair, scanty eyebrows and
eyelashes, short, brittle nails, irregular, bad teeth, broad, pudgy
hands and feet, generally cold.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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