THE ISOLATION IN CRYSTALLINE FORM OF THE COMPOUND CONTAINING IODIN, WHICH OCCURS IN THE THYROID: ITS CHEMICAL NATURE AND PHYSIOLOGIC ACTIVITY

Abstract

During the past twenty years, investigation has firmly established, among other things, the following two facts: (1) The thyroid contains some substance capable of producing marked physiologic effects, and (2) iodin is a constant constituent of normal and pathologic glands. These two facts are emphasized because most of the controversies concerning the thyroid have arisen from attempts to explain the relation between the physiologic activity and the presence of iodin. It is obvious that no final conclusions could be arrived at until either some substance possessing physiologic activity had been isolated in pure form and shown to be a normal constituent of the gland, or until the compound containing iodin had been isolated in pure form and its physiologic activity determined. Last December I1reported the separation from the thyroid of a preparation containing 60 per cent. of iodin. The present paper is a summary of the results thus