668 ABSORPTION. 



glands is the same as that between the chyliferous vessels and mesen- 

 teric glands. 



M. Chaussier includes in the lymphatic system certain organs, whose 

 uses in the economy are not manifest, the thymus gland, the thyroid, 

 the supra-renal capsules, and perhaps the spleen. These he considers 

 to be varieties of the same species, and terms them all glandiform gan- 

 glions. 



The thy mus gland is a body consisting of distinct lobes, situate at the 

 upper and anterior part of the thorax behind the sternum. It has been 

 considered to belong more particularly to foetal existence, and will be 

 investigated hereafter. The thyroid gland is, also, a located organ, 

 situate at the anterior part of the neck beneath the skin and subcuta- 

 neous muscles, and resting on the anterior and inferior part of the 

 larynx, and first rings of the trachea. It is formed of lobes, which sub- 

 divide into lobules and granula ; is of a red, and at times yellow colour; 

 and presents, internally, cells or vesicles, filled with a viscid and colour- 

 less or yellowish fluid. Collected on the point of a knife after incising 

 the gland, it appears like weak solution of gum, and is almost devoid 

 of the ropiness of white of egg. Put into common rectified spirit it 

 seems to lose only a little water ; becomes solid, but not opaque ; and 

 loses but little. The same effects result in the cells when the gland is 

 boiled for a quarter of an hour : no apparent solution occurs. The 

 thyroid gland has no excretory duct; and, consequently, it is difficult 

 to imagine its use. It is larger in the foetus than in the adult, and has 

 been supposed to be, in some way, inservient to foetal existence. It 

 continues, however, through life ; receives large arteries, as well as a 

 number of nerves and lymphatics, and hence, it has been supposed, fills 

 some important office through the whole of existence. This, however, 

 is conjectural. Mr. King 1 has affirmed, what had been already imagined 

 by many, that the absorbent vessels of the thyroid convey its peculiar 

 secretion to the great veins of the body. It is the seat of goitre or 

 bronchocele, the swelled neck, Derbyshire necTc, papas, &c., as it has 

 been termed in different quarters of the globe, a singular affection, 

 which is common at the base of lofty mountains in all parts of the 

 world ; and for the cure of which, we have a valuable remedy in iodine. 

 The eutrophic agency of this drug is particularly exerted on the thy- 

 roid, and it affords an additional instance, to the many already known, 

 of remedial agents exerting their properties upon a particular organ, 

 without our being able, in the slightest degree, to account for the pre- 

 ference. Iodine stimulates, perhaps, the absorbent vessels of the gland 

 to augmented action ; it certainly modifies the nutrition of the organ ; and 

 the consequence is absorption of the morbid deposit. Lastly; the supra- 

 renal or atrabiliary capsules or glands are small bodies in the abdo- 

 men, behind the peritoneum, and above each kidney, which are larger 

 in the foetus than in the adult. The arteries distributed to them are 

 of considerable size. These bodies consist of small sacs, with thick 

 parenchymatous parietes ; are lobular and granular, the internal 

 cavity being filled, according to Sir Everard Home, 2 with a viscid fluid 



1 Guy's Hospital Reports, i. 437, Lond., 1836, and Sir Astley Cooper, ibid., p. 448. 



2 Lect. on Comp. Anat., v.262, Lond., 1828. 



