Abstract
The importance of the ductless glands in modern medicine has created a demand for more accurate data on these structures. Hammar of Upsala has particularly stressed this point. The need for quantitative facts is more urgent in the case of the hypophysis, or pituitary body, because this organ is composed of several parts which are more or less distinct structurally, functionally and embryologically; and because of the present tendency to classify pituitary disorders from the standpoint of hyper- or hyposecretion of each lobe, the time of onset with reference to adolescence, whether neoplastic or non-neoplastic, etc. The final justification for such a classification of the clinical pictures will depend, at least in a large measure, upon very careful postmortem analysis of the hypophysis in large series of selected cases. But before pathological material can be properly evaluated it is necessary to establish something of a standard from normal cases, and to determine the range of variability of apparently healthy individuals.
Aside from the gross weight and the length of the three diameters, we have been unable to find on human material anything better than rough qualitative statements and these are greatly at variance with each other. This is particularly true of the relative number and arrangement of the three types of cells in pars anterior and in the amount of colloid. We know of no accurate volumetric data on the size of the various lobes in the hypophysis of man. We have, therefore, set out to determine the relative and absolute weight of the three principal parts of the main body of the gland and of the large colloid masses, together with the relative number and arrangement of the three types of cells in pars anterior of normal adult males between 20 and 60 years of age. For this material we are greatly indebted to the department of pathology, University of Minnesota.
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