View report page

80
tone. A very deficient thyroid gives rise to a disease called Myxoedema,
not seen so frequently nowadays. . Another endocrine is the pituitary
gland. Deficiency in this gland leads to obesity, some degree of
dwarfism, and arrested development of sexual characteristics. This
is a very rare disease. Another kind of defective pituitary leads to
Acromegaly or giantism, fortunately very rare also. The other
endocrine glands also secrete stimulant which we call a hormone, and
these hormones pass in to the circulation and influence the activities of
each of the others and are required to keep us healthy. The stimulant
from the Suprarenal glands maintains a proper degree of tonicity in
the arteries. Remember that the thyroid gland is to the human body
the same as a draught is to a fire. The pancreas not only digests
proteins, carbohydrates and fats, but it has an internal secretion concerned
with the utilisation of the sugar and the tissues. The same
story is true of the reproductive glands. They secrete a stimulant or
hormone necessary for health. You have all heard of Voronoff of
Paris. He proved that the internal secretion of the male reproductive
glands could work miracles. He rejuvenated men, delayed and dispersed
senility, renewed mental and muscular vigour by engrafting
into men a certain organ from chimpanzees. It is perfectly true and
not simply a joke, as some would like to make out. The engrafted
gland gave its secretion to the new host, the man, and altered his health
for the better. The only difficulty is that it is expensive, as a
chimpanzee costs 100 guineas, apart from the cost of the operation.
To sum up concerning the endocrine glands; without healthy and
efficient endocrine glands the blood becomes impoverished. Weak
glands lead to different diseases—for example, obesity, which is a
disease due to a weakness of one of four glands, these being the
thyroid, pituitary, thymus, or the gonads. The great enemies of these
glands are the toxins, that is poisons, whether arising from within the
body or admitted from without. These toxins lead to degeneration of
the glands, so we find quite a number of men of 50 whose vitality is
declining. They reach old age prematurely. Far too soon they
develope into men of whom Bacon said : " They object too much and
consult too long, adventure too little and seldom drive business home
to the full period, but content themselves with the mediocrity of
success." And all because their glands have declined prematurely in
vigour. I will explain in a moment how this is brought about, but let
me give you a word of comfort. Even in a man of 55 or maybe more,