STUDIES IN THE KOTTMANN REACTION FOR THYROID ACTIVITY

Abstract

The function of the thyroid gland has been studied with, perhaps, greater interest and certainly with more profit by physiologists and clinicians than that of any other gland of internal secretion. During recent years in particular, a remarkable revival of clinical interest has become manifest, stimulated, no doubt, by a number of contributory factors, among which may be mentioned the isolation of thyroxin; the development of a number of simple instruments for the determination of basal metabolism; the study of coagulation alterations associated with thyroid dysfunction; the use of iodids and iodin in public health work, and the development of irradiation in the treatment of hyperthyroidism. It may, therefore, be warranted to present in some detail the study of the Kottmann reaction for thyroid activity, concerning which we have already published a brief note. 1 Technic. —The technic of the reaction is simple and depends on the protective property of the