Hypertrophy of the tonsils at the time of puberty is in some way related to the menstrual processes, whether by the intermediation of the nervous system or by that of the blood. _Eisenhart_ quotes observations made by _Chassaignac_, of girls eighteen or nineteen years of age with hypertrophy of the tonsils, associated with retarded puberty, menstruation having begun late and being scanty, and the breasts being underdeveloped; in one young girl with tonsillar hypertrophy, one of the breasts had failed to develop properly, but after the removal of the tonsils it speedily grew to the normal size. _Diseases of the Respiratory Organs._[26] Not uncommonly at this period of life the growth of a goitre is observed. The influence of puberty on the growth of the thyroid body has indeed been asserted by several authors; and _Neudörfer_ maintains that precisely during the period of puberty to this body must be assigned an important regulatory trophic significance for the nourishment and growth of the reproductive organs. _Steinberger_ and _Sloan_ record the observation of cases occurring in young girls in whom, menstruation having first been regular, but having been suddenly suppressed in consequence of external noxious influences, a rapidly growing goitre suddenly appeared. _P. Müller_ states that in many regions, as for instance in Canton Berne in Switzerland, where the school children exhibit with extraordinary frequency a hereditary tendency to the formation of goitre, during the years of childhood these growths are much less frequent in girls than in boys. At the time of puberty, however, this relation is entirely changed. Whereas in boys from this time onward no further growth of the thyroid body is observed, in girls at puberty the hypertrophy greatly increases, so that very large goitres are formed. The same author recurs to the earlier observations of _Heidenreich_ and _Schönlein_, as well as to those of _Friedreich_, by which this influence of puberty is strikingly manifested, and he believes it to be established by experience that sexual excitement can produce a transient swelling of the thyroid body. He alludes also to the remarkable fact that a swelling of the thyroid body, to which a number of animals show a tendency, occurs chiefly at the time of heat or rut; this is especially well known to occur in the case of stags. Similarly, during menstruation, a transient swelling of the thyroid body can sometimes be detected; the swelling is greater if the menstrual discharge fails to occur. _Diseases of the Organs of the Senses._