Epilepsy and the Ductless Glands

Abstract

The actions of the ductless glands are very complex, and become greatly complicated when one of them is either under or over acting, because of its stimulating or inhibitory effect upon some other endocrine organ. To help in the difficulty of understanding their action, as an aid in diagnosing abnormalities in their secretion and in administering extracts of these glands, we drew up the following tables. So as to do no injustice to the authors upon whose works we have taken the liberty to base these tables, we should like to repeat that in many cases, the author to whom we attribute a statement, is himself frequently quoting someone else, and often does not support the view we have credited to him. It is only by reference to the original work that the author's meaning can be appreciated. Accepting as probably correct Gower's theory, that epilepsy is due to some chemical affecting the nerve-cells (1), and considering the great influence the endocrine glands have on chemical changes of the body, we have endeavoured to study these glands in their relation to epilepsy, and to discover if there is any evidence of their abnormal action in this disease.