MYSTERIES IN OUR BODIES.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 September 1934, Page 22 (Supplement)

MYSTERIES IN OUR BODIES.

MASTER GLAND AND SECRETIONS. Protected from injury in a bony cavity at the base of the skull lies a gland which controls most of the unconscious working of the human body. This gland which weighs Jess than one-fifth of an ounce, is known as the pituitary gland and produces secretions which control growth and other ductless glands in different parts of the body. For long the functions of this gland were a mystery,' but in recent years it has been studied with increasing - interest. Professor Edward Dodds, of the Middlesex Hospital in London, has been lecturing on recent discoveries about this gland; he declares that it holds the innermost secrets of health and disease. He has investigated the chemical nature and molecular structure of many of the hormones, as the secretions of this gland are called. Many of these hormones have been isolated, and synthetic substances almost identical with them have been made in the laboratory. One of the most important extracts from the gland is pituitrin, which doctors have used for some tune in treating shock after accidents or operations. This extract contracts the unstriped muscle and checks bleeding. Extracts from glands have done much to cure hitherto incurable diseases, and scientists like Professor Dodds work enthusiastically on these in the hope that remedies may be found for diseases we now regard as hopeless. THE DAY DREAM OF A LAD. One of the biggest bridges of the world is the new suspension bridge in New York over the Hudson River. Over forty years ago a poor Swiss lad was dreaming of nothing but bridges. He drew bridges in pencil; he planned bridges for the small stream running through his native village. He dreamed that somewhere he would some time build a wonderful bridge. In due time he became a civil engineer, and in 1929. when he was 51, the opportunity arrived. Othmar H. Ammann, the Swiss lad, has become a great engineer and has built this new bridge, one of the wonders of the world.