The primary function of the thyroid is the production of the iodine-containing thyroid hormones, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) and the peptide hormone calcitonin. 1  T3 is so named because it contains three atoms of iodine per molecule and T4 contains four atoms of iodine per molecule.
Explorations of Africa. In the official role of a medical missionary, he set forth to Africa, arriving in Cape Town, South Africa in March of 1841. A few years later, he married Mary Moffat; the couple would have several children.
In 1642, Dutch explorer and navigator Abel Tasman (namesake of Tasmania) set out on a mission to explore the southern Pacific Ocean as an agent of the Dutch East India Company, and encountered the territories we now know as New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji.