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

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Persons suffering from the milder form of this disease often present a rosy and healthy appearance, and as we have pointed out previously, often look younger than their age. We believe that, as we shall show further on, this fact is not without relation to the condition of the thyroid in this disease. We have shown by researches made in the laboratory of Professor Minkowski, then of the Augusta Hospital in Cologne, that in diabetes the thyroid contains large, sometimes enormous, quantities of colloid substance, thus indicating a condition of thyroid hyperactivity.

As we have mentioned in the first chapter, corpulence is often one of the first symptoms of old age, and we have also insisted upon the fact that this can be brought about by infectious diseases (e.g., typhoid, pneumonia, scarlet fever, etc.). As we have also mentioned the fact, in the first chapter, that old age can be brought about by an infectious disease which acts upon the ductless glands, especially the thyroid, we believe it will be necessary to enter a little more in detail into this subject, to which we will devote the next chapter. We will enlarge upon the fact that our immunity against infectious diseases is entirely dependent on the proper working order of certain ductless glands.