xiv THE LYMPH 545 



and Billard. According to ver Eecke the function of the frog's 

 thymus is subject to periodical oscillations similar to those of 

 bone marrow. He found that the frog's thymus undergoes 

 functional atrophy in winter, and an analogous state can also be 

 observed in summer if the frog is made to fast. The functions of 

 the thymus are thus closely associated with those of the digestive 

 organs. Possibly it further has an antitoxic action. Both during 

 the winter season and in summer, if the animal is made to fast,, 

 the thymus is not indispensable to life. Its partial or total 

 excision, whether uni- or bi-lateral, under these conditions has no 

 effect other than to weaken the resistance of the animal to external 

 intoxications. 



Basch (1903), after thymus extirpation, noticed alterations in 

 the ossification of the long bones. In animals without a thyinus 

 the formation of callosities and union of the fractured bones 

 occurred later than in the normal. The animals operated on 

 eliminated a larger amount of calcium than the control animal, 

 amounting sometimes to five times the quantity. 



Svehla (1896-1900), on injecting a watery extract of the 

 thymus of man and other animals (pig, ox, dog) into the circula- 

 tion, noted in dogs that there was acceleration of pulse and 

 diminution of blood pressure, an effect resembling that of the 

 injection of thyroid and suprarenal extracts. According to the 

 latest experiments, it appears more probable that this action of 

 thymus extract is due not to a specific substance in the thymus 

 as is the case with the suprarenal capsule but to the various 

 substances, nucleoproteins in particular, which are dissolved in the 

 water, and are found generally, without exception, in every organ. 

 A similar action has in fact been observed after the injection of 

 extracts of many other organs (Hammarsten). 



Cervesato attempted organotherapy with the thymus, starting 

 from the fundamental concept that this organ in man functioned 

 during infancy, and that this may be the reason why infants are 

 less readily attacked by or are even immune from certain diseases. 

 Stoppato describes the results obtained by the administration as a 

 food of raw or undercooked thymus in doses of 29-40 grms. a day, 

 in four cases of infantine atrophy, and in one case of infantine 

 anaemia. In all these he obtained very encouraging results after 

 a two -months' regime ; there was marked improvement in the 

 general state of nutrition, with development of body weight and 

 increase of erythrocytes and haemoglobin of the blood. On the 

 other hand, the results obtained from children afflicted with rickets 

 and abdominal scrofula were insignificant, which points to the 

 specific character of the therapeutic action, and therefore to the 

 normal function of the thymus as an organ affecting general 

 metabolism. 



X. The Spleen is the largest lymphoid organ, its structure 

 VOL. i 2 N 



