Читать книгу Old Age Deferred. The causes of old age and its postponement by hygienic and therapeutic measures онлайн

111 страница из 141

The condition of the musculature can also give us some valuable information. The thyroid and other ductless glands, as the sexual glands, govern the tonicity of all the muscles. In children, especially about the age of puberty, the muscles are firm and elastic, but in later years, or even in young women, consequent upon various conditions which are harmful to the ductless glands, such as sexual excesses or numerous pregnancies, the muscles lose their tonicity and become lax and flabby. This also occurs in myxœdema arising from other causes. The viscera, deprived of their muscular support, become displaced, and in this way arise the various forms of visceroptosis.

Premature grayness is an indication of probable changes in the thyroid. This is confirmed by the fact that, as a rule, such persons are also very nervous. Premature grayness constitutes a typical symptom of myxœdema and hypothyroidia, and as such has been described already by Hertoghe.^[120] Falling out of the hair is also a symptom of importance, if it appears in early years, especially if it is accompanied by falling out of the eye-brows and the hair on the back of the head. On the other hand, Sajous found that in appropriate cases, thyroid extract promotes the growth of hair, while adrenal extract encourages, besides, the growth of the eye-brows.