THE THYMUS GLAND AND THE ADRENALS. 175 



tion from neighboring thyroidal tissues. Even granting that 

 such a trace of iodine exists, we are well aware that the thyroid 

 does not owe its power to stimulate the adrenals to "a trace' 7 ; 

 the labors of many investigators have conclusively shown that 

 it must supply the organism with a considerable amount of 

 this substance. Evidently we must look elsewhere for the solu- 

 tion of this problem, and, data bearing directly upon the sub- 

 ject being wanting, we shall have to seek for the required sub- 

 stance through its comparative behavior in the organism, and 

 the manner in which its effects vary in the latter from those 

 of thyroid extractives. 



Valuable in this connection are the autopsies of 61 chil- 

 dren at the Hopital des Enfants-Malades, of Paris, performed 

 by Albert Katz at the request of Bourneville. 54 All these 

 children had died of various diseases, their ages varying from 

 one month to thirteen years, though 41 were under two years 

 of age. In all of the 61 bodies the thymus gland was present, 

 while in 28 mentally weak and epileptic children examined by 

 Bourneville the thymus was absent in 25. In another series 

 of 292 cases it was absent in 74 per cent. But these comprise 

 not only all varieties of mentally abnormal children, but also 

 various degrees of imbecility; so that the remaining 26 per 

 cent, may have included a number of instances in which mental 

 development was high as compared to that of the cases in which 

 the organ was absent. Yet, to avoid favoring our own line of 

 argument, we will consider that in three-fourths of imbecile 

 children, some of which were epileptics, the thymus gland was 

 absent. 



These observations become elucidative when analyzed 

 through the effects of thyroid extract. Especially suggestive 

 is the following casual remark of Cabot's, in the course of a 

 valuable paper published some years ago 55 : "The fact that in 

 myxcedematous children and cretins the thyroid treatment is 

 associated with notable growth in height has led some observers 

 to try its effects in dwarfed children not myxredematous, to see 

 if their development could not be helped. I have collected 10 

 such cases, 3 in idiotic children and 6 in whom the lack of 



M Katz: Le Progres Medical, June 23, 1900. 

 55 Cabot: Medical News, Sept. 12, 1896. 



