4. On the Thyroid Gland in the Cetacea; with Observations on the Relations of the Thymus to the Thyroid in these and some other Mammals

Extract

The author, in the first instance, directed attention to the discrepant statements of various comparative anatomists respecting the thyroid gland in the Cetacea, quoting from the writings of John Hunter, Meckel, Cuvier, Carus, and Dr Martyn. He then related the result of his own dissections made on three specimens of the common porpoise (Phocœna communis), one being a fœtus, another a well grown male, the third an adult male. In each of these animals a well marked thyroid gland was found, lying on the anterior and lateral surfaces of the trachea at its upper end, and extending slightly upwards on each side over the outer surface of the cricoid cartilage. It presented no division into two lateral lobes, as described by Cuvier and Carus, but consisted of a single uniform mass extending across the middle line.