The anatomy of the thymus gland / by Sir Astley Cooper.

  • Astley Cooper
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

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.

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    As the Thymus secretes all the parts of the l^lood, viz. albumen, fibrin and ])articles, is it not |)ro])a])le that the Gland is designed to prepare a fluid well fitted for the fuetal growth and nourishment from the blood of the mother before the birth of the foetus, and consequently before chyle is formed from food, and this process continues for a short time after birth, the quantity of fluid secreted from the Thymus gradually declining as that of chylification becomes perfectly established ? Disease of the Gland. Parts which have ceased to perform their functions, as the niannna after menstruation and parturition, so frequently degenerate into diseased changes that morbid aftections of this Gland might be expected to be frequent, yet in the course of more than forty years experience, I have only \\itnessed one example of it. Varieties in size are of common occurrence, but diseased changes of sti-ucture are extremely rare. The following case occurred many years ago. I was requested to visit a young person 19 years of age, who suff'ered under so severe a dyspnea that it was with great