meeting of a medical society in England a woman with myxœdema whom he said he intended to treat by subcutaneous injections of the extract of the thyroid gland of the sheep. When about six months later he showed the same patient, improved in every way, the success of the treatment was established.
The success which followed this experiment was so immediate and complete, and was so speedily substantiated by physicians the world over, that thyroid therapy at once became the recognized means of treating myxœdema and allied conditions.
The results of the treatment are very striking; the œdema rapidly disappears, leaving the skin soft, smooth, and moist; the
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| Fig. 1.—Myxœdema. Before treatment. | Fig. 2.—Same patient after treatment. | |
mental dullness gives way to cheerfulness and hope; strength is returned to the weakened muscles, and the patient becomes once more, to all appearances, a normal individual. A large number of cases of myxœdema have been recorded as cured by thyroid feeding, and these reports are usually accompanied with photographs of the patient as he appears before and after treatment, which present most striking contrasts. Through the courtesy of Dr. John Woodman, of New York, I am able to give the reproductions of the photographs (Figs. 1 and 2) of a case successfully treated by him. A common history of the early cases treated in this way is somewhat as follows: A woman has had myxœdema for years, and has been told by many physicians that her condition is incurable, and she is indifferent and skeptical as to the value of the treatment proposed for her. In a few months it is
