Thymus Gland. 



37 



in the forehead. It showed extreme trismus, opisthotonos and 

 (tonic) tetanus of all four extremities. The second picture was 

 taken after the dog received intravenously a quantity of mag- 

 nesium sulphate. The mouth was open, no opisthotonos, and 

 the legs fairly relaxed. The third picture shows the same dog 

 after it received a further quantity of magnesium sulphate. All 

 tetanic signs were clearly abolished and the dog was lying on the 

 back and looked well relaxed. In the fourth picture the dog was 

 photographed on the floor. It was lying on the abdomen comfort- 

 ably relaxed, the lower jaw slightly hanging down, but the head 

 raised and in a normal position. Fifteen minutes later the dog 

 was walking around in the laboratory without much stiffness. 



The demonstration shows, first, that magnesium sulphate ad- 

 ministered carefully intravenously in 6 per cent, solution is capable 

 of abolishing all tetanic symptoms and, second, that the relaxing 

 effect is not of a curare-like nature. 



130 (1308) 



Does the thymus gland of mammals when given as food to amphib- 

 ians exert any specific influence upon the organism? 



By E. Uhlenhuth. 



[From the Rockefeller Institute.] 



I. When thymus is fed to salamander larvae, this gland does 

 not exert any specific growth-promoting influence. 



This is best shown in the curves obtained from the average 

 sizes oi four series of A. tigrinum. Two of the series were kept in 

 high temperature and two in low temperature and in each tempera- 

 ture one series was fed on thymus and one on normal food (mainly 

 earthworms). The thymus diet did not accelerate growth. (The 

 same fact is shown with the aid of pictures.) 



Why other writers have reported faster growth in thymus-fed 

 amphibians will be demonstrated by curves obtained from the 

 average sizes of four series of A. opacum (A, B, C, D, 1916). In 

 all four series, the food was given in pieces of approximately the 

 same size and exactly the same quantity. Since a piece of earth- 

 worm contains a great deal of indigestible matter, i. e., soil, cuti- 



