Medicine: A Suffocating Thymus

A three-days-old baby, unable to breathe, and kept alive by artificial respiration of oxygen, was saved at the New York Infirmary for Women and Children when X-ray treatment to reduce an abnormal thymus gland was applied under the direction of Dr. Mary Halton. The thymus is a small ductless gland situated at the base of the neck, whose functions are imperfectly understood, though its secretion or " hormone " is believed to influence children's growth and bone formation. It is present in children from before birth until puberty.

In the present case the thymus...

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