THE THYMUS GLAND AND THE ADRENALS. 183 



which had already reached the border-line of suprarenal insuffi- 

 ciency; the patient, after having "wasted almost to a skeleton/' 

 had more than made up for what she had lost; thyroid and 

 thymus combined proved beneficial. Case XXIV was still 

 further advanced, since "she had no strength or energy" and 

 a good deal of pigmentation about the face; took an alkaline 

 tonic, thymus with thyroid, belladonna, potassium, and grew 

 "weaker and more nervous"; but extract of thymus alone 

 caused her "general condition" to become "better." On the 

 whole, it is plain that thymus acts like any other more or less 

 useful drug, as "a remedy of some value," using Dr. Mackenzie's 

 words, "improving the general condition," and which "in this 

 way may assist toward the recovery of the patient." This con- 

 firms the absence of physiological relationship with the ad- 

 renals, and tends to show that the benefit obtained from the 

 therapeutic use of thymus gland is mainly due to the phosphorus 

 it contains. 



This does not mean, however, that it may not prove an 

 exceedingly valuable therapeutic agent in properly-selected 

 cases. In fact, it seems possible that, in the very cases treated 

 with thyroid extract referred to by Cabot, the addition of 

 thymus might have caused the improvement in the mental 

 condition which thyroid alone failed to procure. The absence 

 of the thymus in Bourneville's cases supplies a firm foundation 

 for this thought. Though some benefit has been obtained from 

 sodium phosphate, it seems reasonable to believe that in phys- 

 iological combination, as it occurs in thymus, phosphorus will 

 prove far more efficacious. Whether it enhances suprarenal 

 activity through this element, or, as does thyroid, through a 

 specific physiological body intended for this special purpose, 

 matters little. It also stimulates the adrenals, and if we do 

 not lose sight of the fact that the entire cerebro-spinal axis 

 and the nervous system utilize phosphorus as an all-important 

 specific source of energy, and associate with this the enhanced 

 oxidation which its stimulation of the adrenals procures, we 

 cannot but realize that its intelligent use may insure results 

 unattainable through any other agency. The benefit obtained 

 by Owen in a case of paralysis agitans shows that these are not 

 vain words. Indeed, we must not overlook the fact that im- 



