THYROID GLANDS IN THE CETACEA. 325 
met with as a urinary deposit. They were soluble in acetic acid without effer- 
vescence. The existence of crystals scattered freely about in the cellular tissue 
of the animal body is, so far as my observation extends, a fact of very unusual 
occurrence. From the position and microscopic character of this gland, there 
could be no doubt that it was the thymus. 
The evidence that we have now obtained, both by the dissection of this Nylghau 
and the Hartebeest, shows us, that in these Antilopidee the thymus is a per- 
manent gland; for there could be no question but that both these animals had 
reached the adult period of life, and even acquired a considerable age,—their large 
size, and the worn appearance of the teeth, rendered this sufficiently manifest. 
So far, then, as regards these animals, the thymus must be looked upon as possess- 
ing a more enduring function than has hitherto been ascribed to it in the economy, 
—not disappearing, or altogether degenerating, in the early period of extra-uterine 
life, but persisting, even in the adult animal, probably throughout its entire 
existence. 
In conclusion, I may state that I have seen in the human subject indications 
of a close connection between the thymus and thyroid glands. I have notes 
of an examination which I made of a child between two and three months old, 
in which long ascending processes passed upwards from the lobes of the 
thymus, in front of, and to the sides of, the trachea, as high as the lateral lobes 
of the thyroid gland, with which they were closely connected by cellular tissue. 
Each of these ascending processes received a branch from the inferior thyroid 
artery. This case furnishes us with an example of the thymus receiving 
a considerable portion of its vascular supply from the artery of the thyroid. 
The converse of this, viz., the thyroid obtaining a large share of blood from the 
artery of the thymus, may also occasionally be seen. In a subject in the dissect- 
ing-room, I observed the internal mammary artery, which may be regarded as the 
great thymic trunk, give off a large branch, which ascended, on the right side of 
the trachea, to the right lateral lobe of the thyroid gland. 
