122 The Philippine Journal of Science 1915 
thymus gland is usually “small,” but one case was found with 
a thymus gland weighing 28 grams in a child 13 years old 
(2584), and one weighing 12 grams in a case 18 years of age 
(2645). 
In view of the extreme importance of the subject and the 
unknown factors involved, it was deemed advisable to record 
some observations made by us in the course of other work, as 
to the atrophy of the thymus in cases of beriberi. 
In addition, it having been reported that the administration 
of thymus nucleic acid produced marked improvement in birds 
suffering from polyneuritis,* a further study of thymus tissue 
seems advisable. Extracts of thymus tissue give the blue color 
reaction with phosphotungstic acid and alkali® to a marked 
degree, making the existence of vitamines in the tissue most 
probable. It seemed possible that the thymus might constitute 
a store of vitamines in the body to an extent out of proportion 
to the size of the organ. Some color was lent to this view by 
the fact that young fowls, in which the thymus is normally 
large, are slightly more resistant to the onset of acute symptoms 
of polyneuritis than full-grown ones, and that only a much 
modified form of beriberi occurs in human infants. On the 
other hand, any effect the thymus tissue may have upon the 
onset of polyneuritis may be due to purine and pyrimidine 
bodies. The results which we have obtained with thymus 
tissue are preliminary, and more definite decision awaits the 
isolation of vitamines from the tissue. 
AUTOPSY FINDINGS 
Three supposedly normal pigeons were procured alive in the 
market and were killed at once. Their age was unknown. The 
thymus gland of one was relatively very small; another, small; 
and another, large. In 4 beriberic pigeons which had been fed 
on white rice the thymus had completely disappeared in every 
case, as reported by Funk and Douglas. 
However, upon examining 16 chickens in which polyneuritis 
had developed as a result of a white rice diet, it was found 
that the thymus had completely disappeared in 7 cases, was 
considerably atrophied in 5 other cases, and apparently was 
slightly, if at all, altered in the remaining 4. The disappear- 
ance of the thymus, therefore, is not a necessary concomitant 
of polyneuritis in chickens, although it may occur frequently. 
*Funk, Journ. Phys. (1912), 45, 491. 
* Folin et al., Journ. Biol. Chem. (1912), 11, 265; (1912), 13, 868. 
