138 GLANDS IN HEALTH AND DISEASE 



changes produced in the bones coincided, histologi- 

 cally, with the changes characteristic of human 

 osteomalacia." 



Thymus extract does not cure the disease, though 

 when injected into the blood it lowers the arterial 

 pressure and accelerates the heart beat. 



A disease called "mors thymica," sometimes "thy- 

 mic asthma," connected with difficult breathing of 

 infants, and which has a sudden fatal termination 

 ("thymus-death,") is said to be due to the hyper- 

 trophy (enlargement of organ) of the thymus. 



SPLEEN 



The spleen, like the thymus, is not a glandular 

 organ, and hence is often omitted in the treatment 

 of ductless glands. But it seems to develop an in- 

 ternal secretion, in that a hormone from the spleen 

 passes through the blood to the pancreas and "acti- 

 vates" the ferment (enzyme) that attacks protein 

 trypsin. This proof, if not convincing, is of a 

 somewhat more positive nature than in the case of 

 the thymus, where our only reason for supposing 

 that it manufactures a hormone is the claim made 

 by some that when the thymus is extirpated the 

 skeleton does not develop properly. 



The function of the spleen, like that of the thy- 

 mus, is shrouded in much mystery. We have just 

 said that it is possible that its hormone activates 



