416 General Notes. [April, 
PHYSIOLOGY! 
_ Function oF THE Tuyrorp Bopy.—The experiments of Zesas 
(which appear in Arch. f. Klin. Chirurg., Bd., Lxxv) upon the 
effect of the removal of the spleen and thyroid body, have given 
interesting disclosures concerning the function of these organs. 
During the experiments, extirpation of the spleen was alone well 
tolerated, but removal of the thyroid body was followed by strik- 
ing manifestations. The animals for two weeks refused nearly 
all food, were drowsy, walked with tottering gait, and died usually 
in convulsions. These effects were also manifested in animals 
which had survived the removal of the spleen, and from which 
subsequently the thyroid body was removed. In them was also 
observed an enormous increase in the number of white blood cor- 
puscles. In those animals from which the thyroid body alone 
was removed, the increase of the white blood corpuscles was not 
so remarkable as it was in those in which the spleen only had 
been extirpated. Ablation of the thyroid body produced notable 
anemia of the brain and hypertrophy of the spleen. 
The lymphatic glands, especially those of the mesentery, were’ 
frequently greatly enlarged and filled with black pigment. It, 
therefore, appears from these experiments that the thyroid body 
not only has the function of acting vicariously for the spleen, but 
also plays an important part in regulating the supply of blood to 
the brain, and may, in fact, be considered asa special organ for this 
purpose. Zesas decides from his experiments that the removal 
of the thyroid body is not justifiable (surgically), and his conclu- 
sions are strongly supported by the results of this operation per- 
formed by Kocher on man for the scrofulous degeneration of the 
organ.— Med. News, Fan., 1885. 
1This department is edited by Professor HENRY SEWALL, of Ann Arbor, Mich. 
