THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 21, 1920.
. ! - ' - . . - -
iWhere the
Little
Thyroid
Gland Is
Located
and Pour
IU
Powerful
Stimulants
Into the
Blood'
Stream
to Whip Up
the Action
of Brain,
Heart,
Liver,
etc., etc.
fHE English newspapers publish
I details of a veritable niiradft- of sci-
. . . ' ence, which has been po:.ormed on
Miss Connie Ediss, long one oi the most
- popular, refined comediennes on the British
stage. ,
Connie Ediss Is over fifty years oldj and
this fact' was beginning to be apparent to ,
the British theatre-going public, although
they are very patient and very much at
tached to old favorites. It was growing
difficult to be amused by this tired, gray
haired, middle-aged lady behaving as a .
flirtatious and skittish young woman. Foor
Miss Ediss, like so many other women,
was faced by the tragedy of giving up her
life-long position on the stage.
Then she appeared In a new and very
frivolous society comedy, called "Lord
Richard in the Pantry." The miracle had
happened. As a vivacious and flirtatious
young woman, Connie Ediss was as at
tractive as she had been at twenty. j
Her eyes were bright and sparkling,
her cheeks dimpled and rounded. She
jumped about like a kitten, and she was
full of vitality.
Her friends immediately hastened to her
and congratulated her, but they also ex
pressed their suriprise. i
"What has happened to you, Connie?"
they asked. "You're not the same person
you were a month, agp. , j
"I've recovered my lost youth," replied
Miss Ediss very frankly. "Injections of
thyroid extract have worked the miracle.
" "I -was an old woman and had just about
made up my mind to quit the stage, when
t doctor suggested that I should try the '
extract. I was so tired I could scarcely
drag myself around, and now I don't know
what fatigue is, and I am able to sing
. and dance all the time. .
I had heart trouble, too, and now that
Is over, and I can smoke fifty cigarettes a
day without feeling any the worse for it.
"My hair was growing thin and j gray,
and now you see it is growing again as
, thick as 'ever and not gray at all. I feel I
could Jump over a house!" .
All this and a great deal more Miss
Ediss told her friends and the reporters,
and now all the women in England are
beginning to feel that they can conquer
their greatest' enemy premature loss of
charm. ' j
Can all this be true? Is it in accord
ante with medical experience? Will it last,
or is this exuberant new-found vitality like
that of the man who dances about and
throws his hat in the air under the tem
porary stimulus of a bottle of champagne?
If a reaction is inevitable, when will it
come? . - ,
And will It leave her worse off than
: before, and must the injections be. kept up
tor the rest of her life? j
Inquiry of a New York physician who
has had much experience with this form
of medicine brought out the information
that thyroid extract will in reality restore
many of the functions of youth and Vitality,
although it must not be supposed that
every manifestation of old age can be
cured. The object of the thyroid extract,
usually given in the form of sheep's
thyroid, is to restore the strength and
activity of the human thyroid gland.
Recent investigations have proved that
this little gland, , which was once con
sidered of no importance, plays ia most
Important part in keeping us strong and
Science Explains How
Connie Ediss, the
Actress, at the Age of
50, Has Renewed
Her Youth by Thyroid
Gland
and What
Will
Happen
to
Her
On the Left, a Normal Goat at
the Age of 4 Months, on the
Right, Goat of San Age
Who Thyroid Gland Wa
Removed 3 Month Before. The
Lot Ha Stunted lU Growth
and Given It Face a Blank
Unnatural Expression.
healthy. The thyroid gland consists of
two connected lobes, situated In the neck,
In front of the wind pipe.
This gland sends out mysterious ub
stances, sometimes - called "hormones,"
meaning "messengers," which have never
been isolated, but which have been proved
by 'experiment to supply strength and
activity to the body. It Is one of the duct
less glands, of which the others are the
suprarenals, the thymus, the spleen 'and
the parathyroid. All these glands pour
Invisible substances in the blood, which
are necessary for an active and lively
existence.
There are other glands, like the liver,
which in addition to their primary work
have a secondary duty of pouring invisible
energizing substances into the circulation,
just as the ductless glands do. '
The studies of Dr. G. W. Crile, the famous
American surgeon, have proved that the
substances produced by the thyroid gland
give the bdVly much of its virility and
liveliness. They furnish ferocity -to the
fighting soldier and charm to the vivacious
young woman.
When the activity of the thyroid is great,
the person's energy may become e:&.-aor-dinary.
At times, indeed, the pace becomes
so fierce as to lead to a condition called
Graves's disease, which is marked by
tremor, excessively rapid heart action,
marked nervousness, protrusion of the eye
balls and irrational conduct. On the other
hand, there is a condition In which the "
thyroid is not sufficiently active, which
produces entirely different symptoms.
Evidently Miss Connie Ediss was suf
fering from a deficiency of her own thyroid
secretion when she found herself grow
ing old, dull and gray haired. This condi
tion Is called "hypothyroidism," while
excess of thyroid secretion is called "hyper
thyroidism."
An, Immense number of persons past
the -
1
Injections
.II ' :i Tf"f i. ?r: - ;:
j ' ' A-. ... - -,r, - ..
Faust Selling His Soul to the Devil for the Gift of Renewed Youth
Faust Made Young Again. From Drawings by Retsch.
middle age suffer from insufficient thy
roid secretion; so much so. that the condi
tion is probably the usual one, but it is
none the less desirable to check it '
The duties of the thyroid are to keep
other essential organs at work to assist
in driving oxygen through the. body, to
distribute nutrition to all parts of the sys
tem, to renew the tissues, especially the
skin, hair and nails, to eliminate waste
material and to produce energy. Hence,
It will be understood that when it falls to
do these things a person must become
sickly, dull, heavy, unattractive In a
word, old.
In the extreme form of deficient thy
roid there is swelling of the eyelids, a dull
expression to the eyes themselves, loss of
hair, absence of perspiration, fatigue, gen
eral sluggishness, tendency to sleep most
of the time, decay of nails and teeth, a
stiff gait, thickening of the skin and of
the mucous membrane of the nose, pallor,
slow heart action, violent digestive dis
orders, subnormal temperature, hallucina
tions of sight and hearing, many mental
abnormalities and even actual Insanity at.
times.
The most peculiar feature of this condi
tion is the change in appearance of the
skin. The tissues immediately' under the
skin are invaded by a thick gelatinous sub
stance, which gives rise to a peculiar sur-,
face fulness, most marked about the face
and suggestive of dropsy. The condition:
may be distinguished from dropsy by the
peculiar firmness of the flesh in the suf
ferer from too little thyroid, secretion.
Deficient thyroid gland is much more
common in women than, in men in the
proportion of seven to one. :
In a woman with only a moderate de
gree of deficient thyroid the doctor usually
finds mental sluggishness, irritability from
slight causes, general moodiness, inability
to' concentrate, forgetfulness and fatigue,
lack of confidence, tendency to sleep a
great deal, and morning weariness, some
times wearing off during the day.
' There 'is a tendency for the hair to
come out and for much dandruff to form.
There is no brilliance to the hair, which
becomes coarse, dry and dusty looking.
(C) 1920. International Feature Service. Ino,
rl ? 1 f Jr, v i -4 f
ind
The head aches after any slight effort
to work, either over the brow or at the
back of the head. The eyes sink in and
are dull in expression. The outer part of the
eyebrows tends to thin out. The outer
half of the upper eyelid Is likely to be
come puffy. "
The lips are dry and cracked, and the
teeth become soft and tend to decay.
The tonsils are enlarged and attacks ' of
topisllitis are frequent. These patients are
susceptible to colds and are slow to re
cover. There is a tendency to Winter
cough.
The patient usually gains weight The
smaller joints crackle easily. The skin is
dry and thick and scales easily. Eczema
is common. There is but little perspira
tion. The nails become ridged, thickened
and frail. The heart beats sluggishly, and
the extremities are cold and damp.
When this condition becomes so bad that
there Is change in the appearance of the
skin. It is known as "myxedema."
From the long list of symptoms It will
be understood that there are many stages
of the disease, the more moderate of
which would entail the loss of a woman's
youthfulness and attractiveness. '
JJow it has been found after many
experiments that preparations of animal
thyroid gland will remedy in a human
being the ailments due to a defective
thyroid and restore some of the youthful
ness lost through that defect Sheep thy
"Told is usually employed, although there is
some, reason to believe that monkey thy
roid would be more effective. It is very
difficult to obtain the latter in sufficient
quantities.
Animal thyroid may be administered
through the mouth, or injected under the
skin. Its effect is more lasting when
injected. This is doubtless the form in
which it has been given to Connie Ediss.
As she is possessed of ample means, it is
possible that she has -been treated with
monkey thyroid, by one of the few physi
cians who can command a sufficient sup
ply of this substance. -r
Judging by Miss Ediss's own statement
about her case, she has shown the youth-,
restoring power of thyroid extract as per-
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tectly as any person upon whom It haa
been tried. "
In previous cases it has been found
that a person treated with animal thyroid
relapses to his original condition after a
certain time, unless the treatment is re
peated. The worn-out thyroid of the
human being seldom, if ever, "comes back"
completely, and it Is customary to con
tinue the administration of the remedy
In email doses, or give an occasional
intensive course of treatment Connie
Ediss will probably have to take animal
thyroid for the rest of her life in order to
keep up a semblance of gayety and youth
fulness. Thus there need be no reaction and the
Improvement may be regarded a)i perma
nent as it Is not difficult to keep up the
treatment It is not like those remedies
which produce a. temporary Improvement
and then cease to have any effect how
ever much they may be used. "
There is no doubt that thyroid extract Is
a remedy that has added considerably to
the happiness of the human family. Equal
ly remarkable results are expected from
the use of other ductless glands of ani
mals in treating human diseases and de
fects. The methods of treatment are still
in an-experimental stage. In ; many cases
the animal glands are transplanted sur
gically to the human subject
That the thyroid possesses all the
powers here attributed to it has been
amply proved by the observation of per
sons suffering from deficiency or excess of
the gland. These observations have been
Various
Photographs of
' M!m Connie
Ediss, the Well-known English Actress,
The One at the Left Shows Her at
Age oi -igr
confirmed by remov
ing the' gland from
animals. Failure of the
gland has long been
recognized "as jthe .
cause of the peculiar
-form of idiocy known
as "cretinism," w!ch
Is common In certain
parts of Switzerland
and hereditary j ia
many families, j
Excess of the gland
produces the condi
tion called "exophthal
mic goitre In wjiich '
the eyes pop out! as
well as Graves's f dis
ease, already men
tioned. Strtngef te
say, an excess of jthy-
rold, which produces
abnormal activity for a time, often -ends
with a similar condition to that caused by
deficient thyroid. . Some medical observers .
have reasoned that Napoleon Bonaparte
during his years of greatest military ac
tivity was a victim of hyperthyroidism,
while the lethargy which characterized! bliq
at the time of the Battle of Waterloo was
a symptom of myxedema. f
While thyroid extract has worked won
ders in the case of Connie Ediss and may
do bo in other cases, it mnst be borne in
mind that she was suffering from ai dis
tinct ailment, In which there was deflciiency
of her thyroid secretion. Men and wqmea
who are growing old must not Jump td tha i
conclusion that they can stay the inevit
able advance of old age, with all its varied,
symptoms, simply by taking this extract
Even though some deficiency of thyroid
may be present in ordinary old age, there
are many, other conditions that enter into
the problem, and no specific forlcirlna;
them exists. Thyroid extract is said to.
have very dangerous results If given where
It is not, needed or in excessive quantities.
it is a significant fact that since the earl
lest times man has sought and vaguely
believed in a substance or a miraculous
treatment that would give him perpetual
youth. The most interesting Illustration
of this. is the ancient legend of Faust,"
which goes back to the earliest mAddle
ages, and was made into a drama, first by
Marlowe and then by Goethe. In that! case
It was the devil who gave Faust the
coveted secret in exchange for his j soul.
Other philosophers .believed there was a
fountain somewhere that would, give Ithem
perpetual youth, and Ponce de leoni the .
early explorer of America, reported that he
had located this fountain in the Bahama 1
Islands.
i