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

55 страница из 141

As we showed at the last Congress of Tuberculosis in Paris, 1905, tuberculosis is especially frequent as a sequel to any process deleterious to the thyroid gland, as after the puerperium, especially with prolongated lactation; after sexual excesses, as there is a relation between the sexual glands and the thyroid; after various infectious diseases; after rapid growth in puberty, due to hyperactivity of the thyroid which influences the growth of the body; after severe diabetes due to exhaustion of the thyroid; and after previous hyperactivity in chronic alcoholism due to the action of alcohol upon the thyroid. On the other hand, all those agencies which excite thyroid activity may be a preventive against tuberculosis, such as raw meat and milk. It has been shown that milk contains the internal secretion of the thyroid.

The thyroid protects us against poisons of different origin, such as the products of decomposition of protein food. This fact is shown by the experiments of Dr. Leo Breisacher, of Detroit,^[48] formerly assistant of the late Professor Munk, of Berlin, and from those of Dr. Blum,^[49] of Frankfort. The experimental results of Dr. Chalmers Watson,^[50] showing alteration of the thyroid in certain animals after an exclusive diet of raw meat, and those of Dr. D. Forsyth^[51] concerning the pituitary body in some animals, may be correlated with this fact. As is well known, the thyroid and pituitary body stand in very close relationship. Galeotti and Lindemann,^[52] in 1897, have also shown that the products of decomposition of meat produce an increase of the colloid substance of the thyroid.