144 JOHN T. HALSEY 



The recited influence of the thymus on bone development led Mendel 

 to administer it in rickets with reported benefit, but his claims have not 

 been substantiated. 



In arthritis deformans (metabolic osteo-arthritis) Nathan (a) (&) re- 

 ported beneficial results from prolonged thymus feeding. As a result of his 

 experience with 186 cases he stated that: "When the thymus is conscien- 

 tiously taken for a long time and the patient is otherwise judiciously 

 handled, marked improvement, if not a perfect cure, can always be ex- 

 pected." His views have not been generally accepted and my own limited 

 experience with this method of treatment and careful reading of his 

 reports load me to agree with Carlson (a.) that "the otherwise judicious 

 handling" was the more important cause of the results reported. In his 

 series Nathan used thymus in doses of two to four five-grain tablets thrice 

 daily for long periods. 



In chorea Haneborg reports benefit from thymus three to six tablets 

 (size not stated) daily (in rheumatic cases combined with salicylates). 

 He also reports that he and others have found it useful in epilepsy. His 

 communication, available only in the form of an abstract, does not carry 

 conviction. Of Gwyer's report of beneficial results from thymus therapy 

 in arteriosclerosis, hemorrhoids ( !), cystic tumor of the breast, pulmonary 

 tuberculosis, and cancer it may be said that it is such reports as this 

 which do much to discredit organotherapy. Ludlum and Cor son- White 

 report that three out of six cases of dementia prcecox (which were consid- 

 ered by them to be cases of hypothymism) were cured by thymus feeding 

 (no dosage or other details of treatment given). The three cases which 

 were not cured were very advanced cases of long standing. 



Testicle 



The therapeutic employment of testicular products is of historical 

 interest, in that it was almost the only animal product prescribed in 

 ancient times to which any therapeutic powers can be prescribed, and also 

 because modern organotherapy dates from Brown-Sequard's (6) report in 

 188!) of the results of his administration to himself of a testicular extract. 

 Although, up to the present time, the great majority of authorities have 

 failed to accept most of the claims made by him and his followers as to 

 the therapeutic efficiency of testicular products,, the historical interest 

 attached to his reports justifies at least a brief notice of his views. In his 

 first communication he reported that, as a result of the injection of an 

 extract prepared from dogs' testicles, he, a man of 72 years, immediately 

 experienced a remarkable increase of strength and endurance and of his 

 mental efficiency, as well as an equally striking improvement in the 

 functions of micturition and defecation. Four years later, with d'Ar- 



