We have all come up out of the Sea...

The thyroid may be looked upon as the organ evolved for maintaining the same amount of iodine in the blood as there is in sea water. Sea water was our original habitat, since, like Venus, we have all come up out of the sea.


The more intimate study of the composition of the blood has revealed the most astonishing parallelism between it and the compounds of sea water. The blood is sea water, to which has been added hemoglobin as a pigment for carrying oxygen to the cells not in direct contact with the atmosphere, nutrients to take the place of the prey our marine ancestors gobbled up frankly and directly, and white cells to act as the first line of defense. To keep the concentration of iodine in the blood a constant, the thyroid evolved, since there is no iodine in most foods and very little in those which do contain it.

The Birth of Venus~ Sandro Botticelli

source: THE GLANDS REGULATING PERSONALITY, A STUDY OF THE GLANDS OF INTERNAL SECRETION IN RELATION TO THE TYPES OF HUMAN NATURE 

BY LOUIS BERMAN, M.D. 

ASSOCIATE IN BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY, COLUMBIA University;

 Physician To The Special Health Clinic, 

             Lenox Hill Hospital 

1922

The passage from the miracles of nature to those 

of art is easy. 

—Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, 1620. 

blessed cretins

image~ "Le Magasin pittoresque, Volume 8"
1840

"One remarkable fact respecting cretins remains to be noticed. They are esteemed by their parents blessings ; they are even said to prefer idiotic children, conceiving them the peculiar gifts of God, and certain of future felicity, because incapable of wilful sin. These idiots are frequently married, and are always carefully tended in all their wants by their relations. It is at least fortunate for these poor objects that such a superstition prevails. They usually bask in the sun all the summer long, and are seldom employed at any occupation, however unintellectual." 1


"Whence the name Cretins?  Several writers think that this term is derived from the word Christian, and justify this strange etymology as follows:—A popular superstition, respectable at least in its effects, regarded as a blessing from God the presence of a Cretin in a family. This poor, inoffensive being, unable to gain the means of livelihood, was, in the eyes of his relatives and neighbors, a holy, sacred object, which drew down the protection of heaven upon the house. He was a christian—a being whom Jesus Christ had sent to call forth his father's and mother's charity. It is easy to understand that such an opinion must be protection for the unhappy people, sunk to the lowest degree of debasement." 2

"Here in Servos, we met for the first time with hideous goitres of immense size, especially in the women, almost all of whom seemed more or less affected with this disease. While making this remark, we were told at the same time that those most unfortunate of all beings, the Cretins, abound in the greatest numbers here at Servos, though found, but less frequently, in all the other villages of the Savoy mountains. In Servos there is hardly a family which does not contain one of these lamentable beings. But they are far from considering this as a misfortune. A kindly superstition teaches the vulgar to regard these poor creatures as consecrated beings, who presage good luck, and they are styled  "the Innocents." No one presumes to do them any harm or ridicule them. Within the cottage the best place at the fireside is the property of the Cretin ; his wants are first supplied, and as abundantly as the means will permit, and his humors, peculiarities and laziness indulged without contradiction. 3

image~ "Crétins and idiots, a short account...", 1853

1 The Gardener's magazine and register of rural & domestic improvement, Volume 9, 1833

2 Complete works of Rev. Thomas Smyth, Volume 8, 1910

3 Child's friend and youth's magazine, Volume 5, 1846

iodism schmiodism!

a snippet from an article on treating intercranial syphilis.

In giving potassium iodide I have, for many years, taught the doctrine that there is no such thing as a fixed or arbitrary dosage. When indicated, give it not with iodism as a guide, but until either the disease yields, or until very large doses—seven, eight, or nine hundred grains daily—without any modification of symptoms, satisfies you that its further employment is useless. To recur to iodism, that stumbling-block in the pathway of so many. Iodism should be a very rare obstacle to the successful treatment of nervous syphilitics. I have had to discontinue the drug in only two cases during the past six years, a success due, I believe, entirely to my method of giving the iodide, which is as follows: I always use the drug in the form of the saturated solution, for convenience and accuracy. I am careful to get a pure drug from a reputable chemist. Beginning with twenty drops (never less) after meals, the dose is increased three, five, or ten drops daily, according to the urgency or gravity of conditions. The vehicle is changed every third day, the first two days water, the next two milk, the next Vichy, then Apollinaris, then back and through the same cycle again and again, the amount of the vehicle being increased pari passu with the increase of the drug. Should iodism develop to an annoying or extreme degree, I stop for two days and then start just where I stopped, doubling the ratio of daily increase. Your patient will be thirty or forty grains daily further along before iodism recurs, employing this method. The addition of essence of pepsin in two or three-drachm doses after the iodide seems to be of decided service at times. The rennet mixture advocated by some writers is a vile mess, in my judgment, and is but rarely tolerated for more than a few days. Iodism is much more apt to occur from the continued use of a fixed dose, although a moderate one, than when giving it by the progressive method. I have seen iodism from continuous 20 gr. doses disappear at forty or fifty grains—paradoxical as this statement may appear. Following this method I have repeatedly given six hundred grains and more daily without any special inconvenience, and in one patient affected with meningomyelitis, a daily quantity of 1245 drops of the saturated solution was reached without untoward symptoms.



source: A DIAGNOSTIC SYNDROME FOR INTRACRANIAL SYPHILIS. WITH REMARKS UPON PROGNOSIS AND TREATMENT.. By WM. BROADDUS PRITCHARD., Medical Record, Volume 65, 1904


grain~  64.79891 mg, 1⁄7000 of a pound (wikipedia)


more on the myth of iodism here:


 http://iodinehistory.blogspot.com/2012/01/iodism-debunked-1922.html

THE SIMULTANEOUS OCCURRENCE OF TUMORS IN THE THYROID, UTERUS AND BREAST

THE SIMULTANEOUS OCCURRENCE OF TUMORS IN THE THYROID, UTERUS AND BREAST

MAX BALLIN, M.D. AND R. C. MOEHLIG, M.D.

DETROIT

article source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 1922


________________________________________________________________________________


Every surgeon who operates upon goiters must have noticed the frequent occurrence of tumors in the thyroid, uterus and breast. Apparently there has been very little written on the subject, however, for we could find only two references in the literature. Falta's 1 "Ductless Glandular Diseases" contains this note:

"There seems to exist a certain relationship between goiter and myomata of the uterus. At least it has been observed that in strumous women who also suffer from myomata the struma also decreases in size with the retrogression of the myoma at the menopause."

Falta's note is quoted from an article by Ullman 2  of Vienna. This article reads:

 thyroid gland

It has been known for a long time that a relationship exists between the uterus and the normal thyroid gland. The nature of this relationship is, of course, enshrouded in darkness; we only know that in a not infrequent number of women a transitory enlargement of the thyroid gland takes place at the time of menstruation. After the cessation of menstruation, the thyroid returns to normal. ... In many women during pregnancy an enlargement of the thyroid takes place, which still exists after childbirth. ... A third fact which concerns the question of the relationship between uterus and thyroid is that as to whether strumas develop more frequently in females then in males. ... I wish to emphasize that in women affected with myomas I was able to show a distinct enlargement of the thyroid gland, an enlargement that could be spoken of partly as struma parenchymatosa, partly as the result of degeneration, as colloid struma. ... I was then able to determine that these strumas following complete myomectomy became decidedly smaller; in many cases they disappeared entirely.

1. Falta, Wilhelm: Ductless Glandular Diseases, Philadelphia, P. Blakiston's Son & Co., 1916, p. 156.

2. Ullman. Emmerich: Ueher Uterusmyom and Kropf, Wicn. ktin. Wchnschr. 23: 58S, 1910.

In looking over our own records, we find that of the last 100 female patients who consulted us for goiter, eighteen had fibroids;  four of them also had breast tumors; and of the last 100 patients who consulted us for fibroids, thirty-five had goiter; six had breast tumors. Thus, of the total 200 patients, fifty-three, or 26.5 per cent., had tumors of both thyroid and uterus. Ten of these 200 patients required operations on both the thyroid and the uterus. This large number of multiple lesions is obviously much more than a coincidence; yet, as noted above, very little mention of it has been made.

The matter therefore seemed important enough to call attention to again. Three points suggest themselves:

(a) It is possible, as suggested by Ullman, that certain goiters might be reduced in size or even cured by removal of a fibroid.

(b) Thyroid extract and iodin might be beneficial in preventing the development of fibroids as well as of goiters.

(c) These relationships might have some bearing on the etiology of these tumor groups.

fibrocystic breast tissue

In the eighteen goiters found in the examination of 100 fibroids, fourteen were adenomas of the thyroid, three were colloid goiters, and one was an exophthalmic goiter. Of the four breast tumors which accompanied goiters, an adenofibroma with cyst-areas accompanied an adenomatous goiter; an adenoma of the left breast accompanied an adenomatous goiter; an intracanalicular adenofibroma in the right breast, and a similar tumor with hyaline changes in the left breast accompanied a colloid adenomatous goiter. Another goiter which is not tabulated showed virginal hypertrophy of the right breast. Of the six breast tumors which accompanied fibroids, three were interstitial mastitis; one was a fibro-adenoma; one was a carcinoma of the left breast and fibro-adenoma of the right breast, and one was a cystadenoma.

uterine fibroids

Of the fifty-three patients with the combination of goiter and fibroid, the youngest was 25 years old, this patient being the only one below 30. Fully two thirds were over 35. We may say, therefore, that the incidence mounts with age, the simultaneous occurrence of goiter and fibroid being most prevalent in the latter half of the third decade and during the fourth decade. Of the 100 goiter patients, twenty-one were under the age of 25. There were no fibroids among these patients, so that the percentage of eighteen fibroids is borne by seventy-nine patients more than 25 years of age. In other words, the fibroid-goiter combination shows its entire incidence after 25 years of age, and increases rapidly after 35 years.

The simultaneous occurrence of goiters, fibroids and breast tumors is more frequent than is usually supposed. The thyroid, breast and uterus have different anatomic structures and are different in their embryologic origins, but we note that the function of the thyroid is closely related to, and influences the function of the sexual organs. The interrelationship of uterus and breast is obvious. Since these organs are related to each other only by function, it must be that physiologic interdependence is a factor in the tumor formation.

normal breast tissue

When sexual function ceases or begins to wane, usually the time arises for the growth of all these

tumors. The symptoms of fibroids usually become more alarming toward the end of the reproductive period. The adenomatous goiter, in the great majority of cases, does not give much discomfort until the menopause. Then pressure and toxic symptoms arise. Small tumors in the breast have often existed from the age of 20 to the age of 40 without giving any symptoms, or without having been noticed at all; still, their long-standing existence usually is clear when their presence becomes obvious through growth or discomfort. Because of the aforementioned functional (physiologic) relationship which exists between thyroid, uterus and breast, we may be able to understand why growth or irritation in one of these organs may induce growth or irritation in another. For instance, when a small fibroid which has existed innocently for many years suddenly begins to grow, it may induce growth or irritation in the thyroid or breast (and vice versa).


CONCLUSIONS:


1. In a series of 200 cases (100 fibroids and 100 goiters), fifty-three patients, or 26.5 per cent., had both goiter and fibroid. Five per cent, had breast tumors.

2. The age of incidence of these combinations was greatest after 35.

3. Since these three organs are not related anatomically or embryologically, the simultaneous occurrence of tumors in the thyroid, uterus and breast may be explained by their physiologic interrelationship.

4. The prophylactic treatment now advocated, of giving iodids for goiter, may likewise prove beneficial in the prevention of fibroid.

5. Perhaps certain goiters can be reduced in size or even cured by the removal of a fibroid (as suggested by Ullman).

all images- wiki commons