Iodine Metabolism and Thyroid Function

This book is material proof of the stupendous growth of the literature since 1895, when Baumann discovered iodine as a normal element of the thyroid. The contents are thoughtfully arranged in four chapters: (1) historical review, (2) methods of iodine determination, (3) physiology of iodine metabolism and (4) pathology of iodine metabolism.

The historical review is on the whole excellent but is open to the criticism of omission and unconscious distortion inherent in such efforts. One may reasonably doubt that Rabourdin's method as used by Chatin was capable of detecting 0.1 microgram of iodine or that Chatin's work, though of the greatest importance in retrospect, contemporaneously influenced the development of our knowledge of the biologic importance of iodine. The chapter on methods of iodine determination gives a complete and critical summary of the evolution of these methods. Sufficient detail is given to permit one to carry out the procedures for