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Glands, Hormones and Vitamins
There are certain organs in the human (and animal) organisms that are comparable to a chemical laboratory. These organs produce chemical substances that play an immensely important role in the life of the body and partly also in the life of the mind. They are called glands. What is a gland? It is a set of cells which produces one, and sometimes several substances. In some glands the secreting cells form a duct and at the end of this, a bulb. The secretion flows into the duct and is thus carried out of the gland. In other glands there are tiny ducts between the cells, which carry the secretion to a reservoir or exit tube. The functions of the glands are not only physical; they also influence, and often determine, the entire personality of the individual. It depends on our glands whether we are cold or temperamental, energetic or lethargic, sexual or impotent, and so on. The Thyroid and Suprarenal Glands -- The thyroid is an endocrine gland weighing about one ounce, and is situated near the thyroid cartilage in the neck. A peculiar swelling in the neck is called goiter. This disease is caused by the excessive growth of the thyroid gland. The throid gland os such people functions very weakly or not at all, secreting no hormone to convey to the blood. If the thyroid gland of such people functions very weakly or not at all, secreting no hormone to convey to the blood. If the thyroid gland fails in adult life, the subject's skin becomes pale and puffed. This is due to the presence of water under the skin, while the skin itself remains dry. This is due to the presence of water under the skin, while the skin itself remains dry. The hair becomes rough and falls out. The body temperature falls, the pulse becomes slower. The subject is apathetic, sexually indifferent, the brain functions more slowly, and mental deficiency develops. There is the slowing down of the metabolic processes, i.e., the conversion of food into bodily tissue, energy, etc. When a goiter is already present, treatment usually consists of the administration of iodine daily, usually in the form of Ligol's solution. If this fails to control the condition, Thyroxin is given. When a goiter is large and unsightly, or is pressing on the windpipe, surgery is resorted to. Embedded in the tissue of the thyroid gland there are four tiny bodies, weighing about one thirtieth of an ounce each. These are the parathyroid glands. These, too, are endocrine glands. The hormone of the parathyroid gland must see to it that the amount of calcium in the blood is not reduced, the parathyroid glands being the regulators of calcium metabolism. The suprarenal glands are small glands situated like tiny caps on the tips of each kidney. This organ produces a hormone which governs the output of muscular energy, and probably also of other energy, so that this hormone may be described as the hormone of vital energy. There is an increasing connection between the suprarenal cortex and the sexual organs particularly if the functioning of the suprarenal cortex is abnormally intense. If this happens before puberty, then it leads to a premature appearance of that stage of sexual development. Children of three years of age may have fully developed sex organs and a growth of hair on their bodies. The premature puberty arising in this manner produces masculine characteristics even in female children, such as a groth of hair on the face and body. Masculine characteristics may also be observed in adult women in whom the suprarenal cortex started to over-function after, or long after puberty. The distribution of fat loses its feminine character, the body, and the feminine sexual functions are also affected. Today it is believed that these signs of masculinity in the female are related to over-activity of the cortex of the adrenal ductless gland. In such cases an operation, adrenalectomy, may provide relief. Various hormones are produced and secreted by the ductless glands: adrenal, ovary, pancreas, parathroid, pituitary, testis, thymas, thyroid. A lack of any one may produce serious disorders. However, many hormones are now produced synthetically and used in the treatment of a deficiency, sexually symptomatic or otherwise. The medulla of the suprarenal gland is a separate gland. The hormone which it secretes is called adrenaline or epinephrine. Adrenaline governs the nervous system. Adrenaline accelerates heart action, increases blood pressure, accelerates respiration, improves the supply of blood to the muscles, increases the sugar content of the blood, etc. The pancreas is a digestive gland secreting important substances that digest food and convey it into the alimentary canal. What is diabetes, and the action of insulin? It is well known that the urine of a diabetic subject contains sugar. This is due to an increased supply of blood sugar. Why? Because the sugar ingested with the food does not, as in a healthy person, reach the "sugar depots" of the organism (liver, muscles) but remains in the blood and is finally discharged, unused and unexplotied, with the urine. This gives rise to various troubles. Wounds heal very slowly, the resistance of the organism is reduced, posionous substances are produced owing to deficient metabolism. The patient is incaapable of utilizing sugar. Amid the abundance of sugar that circulates in the blood, the cells are starved of sugar! The administration of insulin changes the situation immediately. No sugar id discharged in the urine, and the excess of sugar also vanishes from the blood. The "sugar depots" are once more filled and the individual cells are once more capable of utilizing the sugar. Order is thus restored in the organism. The pancreas is an example of a gland whic exerts both an exocrine and an endocrine activity. A similar dual activity is characteristic of the germinal glands. There are two of these organs in each sex, the respective structures being different. The germinal glands of the man, the testes, are outside the abdomen, in a cutaneous sac called the scrotum. The germinal glands of the woman, the ovaries,are situated within the abdomen, and are both invisible and inaccessible from the outside. It is an interesting fact that, during embryonic development, the testes are also in the abdomen, and onlydescend into the scrotum shortly before birth. However, it may happen that, owing to some impediment, one or booth testes fail to reach the scrotum, and are held up somewhere in the abdomen. This condition is known as cryptorchidism. It leads to various irregularities in sexual development and activity.
The dual activity of the germinal glands consists in the production of germinal cells or spermatozoa are, as we know, microscopically small cells, which move with the aid of a long tail, or flagellum. The spermatozoa are formed in tiny convoluted tubules in the interior of the testes. The tubules inite into a single duct, through which the sperms, which are suspended in a fluid, are conveyed into the urethra. During sexual intercourse the spermatozoa are injected into the vagina, whence they proceed into the uterus of the woman. etc..
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Contributor's Note
Pineal,Pituitary,Thyrodis,Thymus,Suprarenal,Ovaries,Testicles,Kidney,Hormones and Vitamins -- The comparative development of their endocrine glands. The thymus, whic is larges in infancy, becomes completely atrophied by the time adult age is reached.
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This intel was contributed by bjk48
bjk48
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May, 2012
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