Pituitary Cachexia Treated with Corticotrophic Hormone

Extreme emaciation accompanied by a melancholic psychosis is sometimes seen in women at or, more frequently, after the menopause. A number of such cases have been investigated and treated at the Bristol Mental Hospital, so that it is possible to describe this form of Involutional Melancholia as a clinical entity (Hemphill and Reiss, 1940 and 1942). Physically there is gross emaciation with loss of muscle strength ; the skin is inelastic and ver}r dry, having a dessicated appearance and texture; there is a complete absence of sweating ; the breasts and external genitalia are atrophied, axillary and pubic hair falls out while hair of the head and eyebrows is brittle and lustreless; the thyroid is usually small and menses have ceased. In some