To the Editor:—
I have read the interesting article by Ravdin, Rose and James Maxwell, which appeared in The Journal (140:141-146 [May 14] 1949) under the heading "The Treatment of Thyrotoxicosis." With respect to the first part of that article, in which various treatments of thyrotoxicosis are dealt with, I wish to call the attention to the action of bromides (sodium bromide) on the thyroid and the hypophysis.In a group of researches (worked out from 1934 to 1943, Arch. di fisiol., 1939-1940; Boll. Soc. ital. biol. sper. 1936, 1939 and 1943; Naturwissen., 1938-1940; Riv. Svizzera di Med., 1940), my co-workers and I showed that sodium bromide when administered for a long period and in proper doses to animals (dogs, rabbits, rats) causes a remarkable decrease in the iodine content of the thyroid and, consequently, evident hypofunction of this gland. This is physiologically proved by a decrease of basal