Abstract
<h3>HISTORY</h3> PITUITARY derives its name from<i>pituita</i>—mucus—which, according to Galen<sup>1</sup>(end of second century, A.D.), was formed in the brain and discharged by this structure partly through the nose (catarrh). Thus the nasal cavity was called the cloaca of the brain (Zuckerkandl<sup>2</sup>). This theory was disproved only as late as 1655 by Schneider,<sup>3</sup>the same author who established the fact that the sinuses contain air and not mucus. Schneider explained that the cribriform bone (plate) has holes only as a dry bone, but that there is no free communication in the living organism between the brain and the nose. The other name, hypophysis (<i>hypo</i>— under,<i>physis</i>—growth), was given by von Soemmering<sup>4</sup>in 1798. Albrecht von Haller<sup>5</sup>(1708-1777) recognized two lobes in the pituitary body. A congenital anomaly was among the first disorders observed. Klinkosch,<sup>6</sup>in 1774, described an open canal in
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