ROWTH

Stature is essentially determined by the growth of the long bones.
They are the pace-makers, and the muscles and soft tissues follow the
pace they set. Now the primary determinant, catalyst or sensitizer of
the growth of the long bones is the anterior pituitary. All statures
should therefore be first scrutinized from the point of view of the
pituitary. Individuals over six feet tall or under five feet five
inches should be looked upon as having a pituitary trend. This
pituitary trend may be primary, due to its own undergrowth or
overgrowth, or it may be due to lack of inhibition from the sex glands
such as occurs in eunuchs and eunuchoids, or excessive or premature
inhibition from them as happens in certain salacious dwarfs.

The long bones grow at a point of junction between the bone proper
and an overlying layer of gristle or cartilage, known as the zone of
ossification. It is upon this zone of ossification that the various
growth influences appear to focus and concentrate their efforts, among
them the internal secretions. After growth has been finished, that is,
after adolescence, these zones of ossification close, so that growth
is no longer possible unless they become reactivated. Upon the zone of
ossification must act the pituitary, and indirectly the thyroid, the
interstitial cells, the thymus and the adrenals. Individuals oversized
or undersized either belong to the pituitary type, or if hyphenated,
have the pituitary as one of the dominants in their composition. The
necessities of child-bearing determine a greater angle between trunk
and lower extremities in the female. Underactivity of the pituitary,
for instance, will prevent the development of the normal angle. The
ratio in length of the upper limbs to the lower is a fairly constant
relationship for each sex normally Deviations occur with a break
somewhere in the chain of cooperation of the internal secretions
controlling the growth of bone.

HANDS, FINGERS AND TOES

The size and shape and general configuration of the hands, fingers
and toes are details that tell an endocrine tale. Students of hands
naturally have grouped them as the long slender and the short, broad,
the bony and the well-filled out, the tapering fingers and the stumpy.
The character of a hand is determined anatomically by the length and
breadth of the bones, the amount and distribution of fat, and the
thickness and elasticity of the skin. Over these, the essential
control lies