The anatomy of the thymus gland / by Sir Astley Cooper.

  • Cooper, Astley, Sir, 1768-1841.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The anatomy of the thymus gland / by Sir Astley Cooper. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    were greatly diminished; for I was able to inject it, dissect all its parts, shew their relative situation, learn the structure by which the fluid is secreted, the cavities containing it, the vessels by which the fluid is carried away, and to collect it in sufficient quantity to make it the subject of chemical analysis. Proceeding from the Gland of the quadruped to that of the human subject, I ascertained the comparative diff*erence in its formation, as well as the points in which they resemble each other, and have preserved the parts so as to exhibit them in preparations from which accurate drawings have been made, to convey to others a knowledge of each as they ap- pear in dissection. I shall therefore, without further preface, proceed to de- scribe the structure of this Gland in the fcetal calf, and thus having laid a foundation of knowledge of this organ in that animal, shall endeavour to point out its form and composition in the human foetus. It is almost unnecessary to say that the subject is deserv- ing of attention; for every portion of the animal body, how- ever minute, should be carefully traced and accurately known. But when the size of this organ is considered, when the quantity of fluid it secretes both in the human body and quad- ruped is recollected, when the important situation it occupies near the heart, and upon some of the largest vessels of the b2