GROSS AND MICROSCOPIC STRUCTURE OF THE THYROID GLAND IN MAN

Abstract

Numerous investigations concerning the structure of the thyroid gland have been made in the past, but these, for the most part, have dealt with the morphology of the follicles, about which there still seems to be marked differences of opinion. It is my purpose in this report to present the results of a study of the normal human thyroid and also of the gland in cases of exophthalmic goiter from the standpoint not only of the individual follicles, but also of the structure of the gland as a whole and of the various subdivisions or units into which the thyroid is divided. That the follicle of the thyroid represents the ultimate histologic unit of the gland is now conceded by all investigators, but in the intensity of the researches concerning the shape and size of these follicles and their discontinuity, its morphologic structure as a whole, and the manner in