Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The anatomy of the thymus gland / by Sir Astley Cooper. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.
46/84 (page 34)
![With respect to the arteries of this organ, they are prin- cipally derived from two sources. Each thoracic portion is supplied by a branch which is sent off by the internal manunary. It enters at the junction of the cervical with the thoracic part, generally on their outer side but some- times between the cervical portions, and descending upon the middle of the Gland, divides to sup})ly the spirally dis- posed lobes. This vessel passes to the inner side of the reservoir and is distril)uted to its mucous membrane on the one hand, and to the glandular structure on the other. The other principal artery of the Thymus is sometimes derived from the superior thyroideal, at others, from the inferior thyroideal artery, and descending upon the lobes of the cervical ])ortion, passes into them, and to the membrane of the cavity which they contain, and ultimately, anastomoses ^vith the branch from the mammary artery. The^e arteries, besides sup))lying the Gland with blood, serve the purpose of combining the lobes and preventing their separation ; for until they are divided, the ropes cannot be unravelled. The Venoi Thymicce have a different course to the arteries ; for although the internal mammary and thvroideal veins, receive small branches from this Gland, yet the principal veins are those which end in the vena innominata.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21300367_0046.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
