NOTES ON A PROBABLE RELATION BETWEEN ENLARGEMENT OF THE THYMUS BODY, LYMPHATISM AND SHOCK

Abstract

The function of the thymus gland is still, perhaps, little understood. Of late years, however, more or less general attention has been given it by clinical as well as experimental observers and a certain amount of circumstantial evidence is being recorded against it. At times the gland has assumed a medicolegal importance in instances of sudden death. For years it has been known that in many cases of thyroid disease the thymus becomes greatly enlarged. In marantic children it frequently is found in a marked atrophic state. In certain instances there is a failure in involution and an active gland persists, yet no one can fully explain whether its persistence in adult life or its enlargement when associated with goiter is one of Nature's safeguards in preserving the equilibrium of the body or whether there is primary disease in the thymus. No one knows what the true relation of the