THE MYSTERY OF THE DUCTLESS GLANDS
by
A Student
THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP
MOUNT ECCLESIA
P.O. BOX 713
OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA, 92054, USA
This modest little volume is dedicated to my
beloved teacher, Max Heindel, for whose spiritual instruction the author owes a
debt of sincere gratitude that cannot possibly be expressed in words.
The subject matter of this booklet was sent
out by The Rosicrucian Fellowship in the form of monthly lessons. After the
supply was exhausted so many requests came in for copies of them that The Board
of Trustees decided to reprint the lessons in one volume in order that they
would be available to all who are interested in the structure, function, and
spiritual significance of the seven ductless glands herein discussed. The
spiritual function of the glands as discussed in this work is based on
extraordinary information given out by Max Heindel. The psychological structure
and function is based on valuable information gleaned from the textbook on the
ductless glands written by Dr. Louis Berman, to whom the author wishes to extend
most grateful thanks.
Mt. Ecclesia
June 1940
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE MYSTERY OF THE DUCTLESS GLANDS
CHAPTER I
MAN'S DEVELOPMENT
When I consider thy heavens, the work of
thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou
visitest him?---Psalm 8:3,5.
Before beginning these lessons on the
ductless glands it would be well for us to briefly review the origin and
constitution of man.
There is nothing in the universe other than
pure spirit, and there never has been; but there are two forms or poles of
spirit. One is positive, acting, directing, and the other is negative, passive,
receiving, assimilating. This positive-negative spirit substance, its two poles
working together, is all inclusive and has produced all that there is from the
clod to God. All creation is in a state of ever becoming and perfection is the
goal. The positive pole of spirit manifests as energy. The negative pole acts as
its receptacle, and the two produce both life and form. Form, which is a lower
vibration of spirit, is brought into being for the use of the spirit, and form
and spirit evolve side by side.
God, the Creator of our solar system, has
within Himself three great dynamic forces, which for want of better names we
designate as will, wisdom- love, and activity; and by putting these forces into
directed orderly action He created our solar system and all therein. The
ultimate goal to be attained by each of His creations is Godhood. Each
individual brought into existence by this mighty Being has within Himself in
POTENTIALITY all of the powers of his Creator, including epigenesis, the
spirit's power to inaugurate something entirely new; and the work of each is to
develop these potentialities into dynamic forces like unto those of our great
Progenitor. In man we speak of these potentialities as the divine, life, and
human spirits. It means that man, who is pure spirit, has within himself three
great spirit-force potentialities.
Man's latent potentialities are developed in
two ways, namely, through his own efforts, and by the help of others, chief
among which are great Beings who are far beyond him on the path of evolution.
Just as it is necessary to take food in
order to develop the physical body, so is it necessary to give food to the vital
and desire bodies. The vital body gets its food directly from the sun; the
etheric spleen of each individual attracts as much of the solar life forces as
it requires. In the Desire World there is an essence corresponding to the vital
fluid which sustains the vital body, and in this elixir of life the desire body
steeps itself while the dense body sleeps.
It was impossible for the spirit to develop
its potentialities until it had built its three lower vehicles, the dense,
vital, and desire bodies; for it is from them that it obtains the food on which
to nourish and develop its potential powers. This food essence is called soul.
By right action in relation to external
impacts, experiences, and observations the spirit automatically extracts the
conscious soul essence from the dense body, and this pabulum or food develops
the latent potentialities of the divine spirit into dynamic forces which
manifest as will, intellect, knowledge, the positive force of its being, the
father principle, the power to DO.
By discrimination in relation to the
important, the essential, and the real things of life, and the unimportant, the
unessential, and the unreal, the spirit automatically extracts the intellectual
soul food essence from the vital body and this in turn feeds and develops into
dynamic power and potentialities of the life spirit which are imagination,
intuition, receiving power, power to assimilate, the mother principle, the love
nature.
By a curb on animal instincts, devotion to
high and lofty feelings, and emotions generated by right action and purifying
experiences the spirit automatically extracts the emotional soul food essence
from the desire body and it in turn nourishes and develops the human spirit
potentialities which are creative power--both physical and mental, fecundation,
expansion, germination, and growth, and develops them into dynamic forces under
the domination of the will.
Much help is given to the individual by
Great Beings through the ductless glands of which we will now make a study. A
gland is composed of a mass of cells, and cells are composed of a thick,
colorless, jellylike substance called protoplasm. Every gland might be likened
to a chemical factory in which all cells are workers, and the product of the
factory is its secretions.
The ductless glands have no openings, tubes,
or ducts carrying their secretions away, but empty them directly into the blood
and the lymphatics which permeate them. The ductless glands are often spoken of
as the endocrine glands or the hormone producing glands. Endocrine is really a
most convenient term as it stands for both the secretion and the gland, but the
word hormone is applied specifically to the internal secretion and not to the
gland. The hormone is a substance formed in one organ of the body and carried
through the circulation of the blood to another organ on which it exerts a
stimulating effect. The word is derived from a Greek verb meaning to arouse or
set in motion. Without the endocrine substance suited to them no muscle nor cell
would act. Without a supply of the endocrine phosphorus furnished by the thyroid
gland no brain could function. The beat of the heart would not continue for a
moment were it not supplied with adrenal secretion; and cases are on record of
hearts that were pronounced "dead," but after being supplied with
adrenal secretion beat again with regular rhythm.
It is less than fifty years since the
scientists began a real study of the ductless glands, and most of the
information that we have regarding them has been acquired during the last two
and a half decades. What the scientists do not know yet is that the ductless
glands primarily do not belong to the physical body at all, but are adjuncts to
the vital body, set apart and crystallized to the necessary density in order
that they may perform certain special kinds of work. The glands and the blood
are the special manifestations of the vital body. Although each of these glands
has a specific work to perform, when normal and in good health they all work
together in perfect harmony. The ductless glands are of more than particular
interest to the students of the occult for they may be termed in a certain sense
"the seven roses" upon the cross of the body, and are intimately
connected with the occult development of humanity.
The principal ductless glands are the
pineal, pituitary, thyroid, thymus, spleen, and the two adrenals. The adrenals,
spleen, and thymus gland belong to the personality. The pituitary and pineal are
correlated with the spiritual side of the nature, and the thyroid forms a link
between the two.
We will begin our study of the glands with
the adrenals. They are a pair of cocked-hat shaped glands capping the upper end
of the kidneys. They are easily recognized because of their yellowish fatty
color. For centuries these important glands were not given a separate status as
organs but were passed up as a part of the fat ensheathing the kidneys. In
childhood and youth they are relatively larger and more prominent than in the
adult. At all ages the amount of blood passing through the adrenals is very
great in comparison with their size. Their tremendous importance in the body
economy cannot be overestimated. The great value of these glands is better
understood when it is known that death occurs very quickly after their removal.
Each adrenal is a double gland composed of a
cortex or outer layer and a medulla or inner layer. The cortex is of the same
kind of tissue that builds the male and female organs of reproduction. How
closely the adrenals and the organs of reproduction are related is neatly
pointed out by the fact of their common ancestor, the mesoderm, which forms the
middle layer of the embryonic cell. All vertebrates have adrenal glands. The
inner portion of the adrenals, the medulla, is developed from the ectoderm, or
outer layer of cells which form the embryo. This is the same tissue that
produces the sympathetic nervous system. The size of the adrenals is somewhat
variable, but generally speaking they are about three inches long, an inch and a
half wide, and weigh about a fourth of an ounce. Human beings have a larger
adrenal cortex (outer layer) than any of the animals.
The adrenal cortex contains more of the
phosphorous-bearing substances of the general nature of those found in the
cerebrospinal nervous system than any other gland or non-nerve tissue in the
physical body. During intra-uterine life the adrenals are large and conspicuous,
in the first half of the second month being twice as large as the kidneys. Most
of this relatively large size, which is in the human fetus only and not in other
animals, is due to the enlargement of the cortex. Should this predominance of
the cortex over the medullary portion not occur in the human fetus, that is, if
the proportion should remain like those of the animals, the brain would fail to
develop properly, and an entirely mindless monster would be generated.
The secretion of the cortex or outer layer
of the adrenals is called interrenalin. This secretion stimulates a healthy
growth of the brain and sex cells, develops great mental concentration and
physical endurance, and generates a vigorous nervous and muscular constitution.
It acts on the pigment cells of the skin, blunting their sensitiveness to light.
In certain diseases of the cortex of the adrenals the skin becomes dark,
pigmented, or bronzed. This condition is known as Addison's disease.
Interrenalin neutralizes the acid formed in the body during digestion. Were this
acid not neutralized it would quickly snuff out the life of the tissues.
The removal of the adrenal cortex influences
profoundly the chemistry of the blood, notably the content of chloride, acid
soluble phosphorous, and acid ions (an ion consists of one or more atoms and
carries a unit charge of electricity or life force).
The adrenal cortex has an intimate
relationship with the gray matter of the brain, and it also has a relation to
sex and the chemical content of the blood. A defective adrenal cortex means an
insufficiently developed brain and nervous system. So closely are the brain and
adrenal cortex related that a normal human brain never develops without a normal
adrenal cortex. Note that the adrenal cortex is also correlated to the voluntary
nervous system.
The medulla, or inner portion of the adrenal
glands, contains numerous nerve cells belonging to the sympathetic or
involuntary nervous system. The secretion of the medulla is a nitrogenous
substance called adrenalin. This secretion acts as a powerful stimulant on the
heart, and has a reinforcing effect upon the entire body.
The amount of adrenalin present in the
medulla in the blood issuing from the adrenals, and in the circulation in
general is about one part to twenty millions while there is about a hundred
thousand times as much stored in the glands as reserve. Profound emotions result
in a decrease of it in the glands and an increase in the blood. Pain and
excitement, especially fear and rage, cause a discharge from the glands. The
entry of adrenalin into the blood causes a tremendous heightening of vigor, and
a tensing of the nervous system. The nerve cells become more sensitive to
stimuli, more sugar is sent into the blood from the liver, and more red blood
corpuscles are forced into the circulation from the blood lakes of the liver and
spleen. A redistribution of the entire blood mass takes place, a great deal of
it being withdrawn from the internal viscera and dispatched to the brain and to
the muscles attached to the skeleton. The heart beats more strongly, the eyes
are enabled to see more clearly, the hearing becomes intensified, and the
breathing more rapid; the temperature rises, and the skin gets moist and greasy.
In case of fear the hair of the head and body often becomes erect.
This extra adrenalin in the blood produces a
reinforcing action on the nutritive properties of the blood, the tone of the
muscles, and the activity of the brain and sympathetic nervous system.
While the adrenals are thus stimulating the
external muscles, they are having the opposite effect on the digestive organs;
for the time being digestion is inhibited, for the Ego's whole attention is
being centered entirely along another line of action, and everything
nonessential or detrimental to the matter of the moment is inhibited, arrested,
and suppressed.
In certain types of the middle-ages, a high
blood pressure accompanied by a great capacity for work has been found to be
caused by an overdeveloped adrenal cortex. The adrenal glands are often called
the glands of combat and are masculine in their manifestation. In women where
excess in development of adrenal cortex occurs there is a degree of masculinity
which more or less neutralizes the specifically feminine influence of the
internal secretion of the ovaries. Such women have a vigor and energy above the
normal, and command responsible positions in society, not only among their own
sex, but also among men. They are the ones who are likely to become professional
politicians, lawyers, bankers, captains of industry, and directors of affairs.
In facing a crisis the adrenals function as
the glands of combat. The more combative and pugnacious the animal or
individual, the more adrenal activity it or he has. The adrenals are the glands
of energy, the glands of emergency, and the glands of preparedness. Adrenalin,
the secretion of the medulla, is the substance used for body mobilization at a
moment's notice. It has a reinforcing action on the entire physical
organization, adding strength, alertness, and both physical and mental activity.
It gives force in combat and swiftness in flight.
Adrenalin is so powerful in its action that
in solution of one part to a million, it produces physiological reaction. its
effect on the small blood vessels is so tremendous that quite a weak solution
will stop a hemorrhage when applied locally, and it is frequently used in minor
surgical operations to prevent excessive bleeding; but owing to the fact that
its effect lasts only a few minutes, the injections have to be repeated
frequently. As the activity of adrenalin is regulated by the sympathetic or
involuntary nervous system the secretion of it can be increased by the
stimulation of these nerves along the spinal column.
Through repeated excitement, anger, rage, et
cetera, the adrenal glands may be exhausted of their reserve supply of adrenal
secretion; the amount secreted being insufficient if enough time is not allowed,
between demands, for the glands to recuperate, the result being temporary or
chronic adrenal deficiency. In a person so affected there appears a weariness, a
sensitiveness to cold, cold hands and feet which are sometimes mottled
bluish-red; a loss of appetite and zest of life, and a tendency to worry; also
an inclination to weep on the slightest provocation.
A nervous breakdown may sometimes be traced
to a lack of normal response to the needs of everyday life by the adrenals. In
some cases mental and physical elasticity is totally lost, and even the
slightest exertion along either line often causes so much worry and exhaustion
as to be prohibitive. Sometimes such sufferers are obsessed by the thought that
they have lost their nerve completely, and accordingly dread to commit
themselves on even the most trivial subject. This vacillating frame of mind is
so distressing that at times it arouses thoughts of suicide.
In certain disturbances of the adrenal
glands, especially where there are tumors which supply a massive does of the
secretion to the blood, peculiar sex phenomena and general developmental
anomalies and irregularities are produced. If the disease is present in the
fetus, manifesting before birth, there evolves the condition of
pseudo-hermaphroditism. (The person is apparently but not actually
hermaphrodite, as when in animals the sexual glands are of one sex while the
other genitals are present, mixed or intermediate.) The individual, if a female,
presents to a greater or lesser extent the external habits and character of the
other sex so that she is actually taken for a man, although the primary sex
organs are ovaries, often not discovered to be such except when examined during
an operation or after death.
If the process involving the adrenal cortex
attacks it after birth, the symmetrical correspondence and harmony of the
primary sex organs and the secondary sex characteristics are not affected, but
there follows a curious hastening of the maturity of the body and mind--a
precocious puberty, with the most startling effects. A little girl two, three,
or four years of age will within a few months after the appearance of the
disease begin to exhibit the growth and likeness of a girl of fourteen or
fifteen, developing the physical and mental qualities and attributes of an
adolescent--a tot bewitched into puberty, so to speak. Again, a boy of six or
seven years may suddenly in the course of a few weeks or months become a little
man, robust, rather short and stocky, but mustached, with the muscular strength
and sexual powers of a man and thinking a man's thoughts.
A case in point is that of little
four-year-old Clarence Kehr of Toledo, Ohio, whose adrenal and thyroid glands
got busy overnight and transformed him from an ordinary little boy into a
juvenile Samson. Clarence was born in September 1924, and up to the age of three
was apparently normal. Then almost overnight his voice changed from a childish
treble to a husky baritone, and his small body began to take on a matured
appearance. Very soon he began to look upon his brother of seven and sister of
eight as small children, and sought the company of the fourteen and fifteen year
old boys of his neighborhood. Clarence takes a keen delight in the fact that he
is grown up, has to shave, is abnormally strong and can lift some two hundred
pounds. Psychiatrists of the University of Michigan have made a special study of
this boy's case. After making more than a dozen X-ray pictures of his head and
subjecting him to very close observation for several days the scientists finally
arrived at the conclusion that the lad's condition was due to "some
dysfunction of the ductless glands." The following is an extract from a
report made by Dr. Gordon Manac:
"Clarence Kehr, aged four years, has
been observed in our clinic, and we have found that the child is a rare
anomaly....X-ray studies of his bones reveal his frame to be that of a boy well
beyond his chronological age. His physical condition apparently is excellent.
According to our psychiatrists he is above the average in intelligence....We
believe that the child's condition is due to some dysfunction of the ductless
glands."
Clarence was on the Academy of Medicine
stage during the meeting of the doctors to demonstrate his strength. He lifted
heavy weights easily, and while the discussion was going on amused himself by
pushing a grand piano about the stage.
Dr. Louis Berman in discussing like cases
says:
"It is all as if into some fermentable
medium or solution a little yeast were dropped that changed the quiet calm of
its surface into a bubbling, effervescing revolution. It suggests at once that
the transformation of the child into a man or woman must be due to the pouring
into the blood and the body fluids of some substance which acts like yeast in
the fermentable solution. The adrenal cortex is one source of the 'maturity
producing' internal secretions. If trouble in the adrenals starts after puberty,
phenomena of the same type as that of the girls and boys mentioned, but of a
different order, exhibit themselves. Suppose a woman in the thirties, for
instance, becomes affected. Slowly or quickly her body will be covered with an
abundant growth of hair, more or less of a beard or mustache will appear on the
face, the voice will become deep and penetrating, the muscles hardened, and she
will show a capacity for hard physical labor. Menstruation ceases. Sexually she
appears to be made over. Masculinity now predominates in her make-up. She will
have to shave regularly, and is not bothered in the least by the lack of
feminine charms, for the change in her physical organization makes her immune to
feminine desires. The cause of such a transformation in one previously normal
woman was found to be due to a tumor on the adrenal cortex."
TYPES PRODUCED BY THE DUCTLESS GLANDS
In the case of the pure type, one particular
gland, either by its excessive action or its subnormal activity exercises a
dominating influence upon the traits of the individual; and either as the
strongest link in the chain of glands or the weakest, it becomes the ruler and
all of the others must accommodate themselves to its dominancy. Among all the
others as the chief commander of growth, development, and normal function, it
holds the balance of power. It dominates every emergency by its strength or
weakness, and in this way it creates its own type of individual with
characteristics and attributes peculiar to itself. The pure types are the
adrenal, the thyroid, the pituitary, the pineal, and the thymus.
With a little practice each person
representing a pure type can be readily identified as one passes him or her on
the street, for each is stamped with identifying characteristics of figure,
height, hair, skin, and temperament, with the corresponding ambitions, social
inclinations, and even a predisposition to particular diseases. The various
types differ in appearance as greatly as do different animals of the same genus.
For instance, no one ever mistakes a mastiff for a bulldog or a fox terrier for
a dachshund. Each has a distinctive size and shape, each has certain traits and
characteristics, and each is built and organized in the most efficient manner to
work out its own specific destiny in a particular way, all of which is true of
glandular- typed people.
The distinctions are less marked among the
mixed types and consequently they are more difficult to classify. In them there
is a conflict as to which ductless gland shall dominate, and of course the
combined action of the different glands results in a considerable modification
of the primary characteristics. In some cases not only two but even three of the
ductless glands strive for supremacy, and their combined action causes a
modification in the primary glandular appearance. A compromise effect is then
necessitated. Also it is possible for an individual to be under the domination
of one gland during one period of his life, and under another at a later time.
In such instances the gland ruling the early life will leave its impress on the
earliest developing features while other signs will indicate the more recent
influence. Such combinations are classified as the adrenal-thyroid type, the
pituitary-adrenal type, et cetera.
The adrenal face is often dark or freckled,
and tends to be broad and irregular, the head square-shaped. The low hairline
makes the brow appear low, and there is considerable hair over the cheek bones.
The skin is one of the chief clues to the adrenal personality; the epidermis is
always more or less pigmented. Pigmentation is due to a deposit of dark-brown
coloring matter of varying intensity in the skin. It is a well-known fact that
skin pigment bears a direct relation to the reaction of the organism to light,
especially the ultraviolet rays, to heat radiation, and therefore to the
fundamental productions and consumptions of energy by the cells. The hair of the
adrenal type is profuse, thick, dry, and coarse. It is most prominent over the
chest,
Diagram: Adrenal Type
abdomen, and back, and it has a kinky
tendency. It often has an unexpected color: an Italian's may be yellow or a
Norwegian's jet black. Adrenal people have well-marked canine teeth. With a
properly cooperating thyroid and pituitary the adrenal person is in possession
of striking vigor, energy, and persistence. Such a one may easily become a
progressive personality and a winning fighter who seldom loses his objective.
Among women the adrenal type is always
masculine. If such a one is physically feminine, due to adequate feminine
reactions on the part of the other glands, she will at least show masterful
virile qualities. A few decades ago such women had to repress their inherent
desires to fill positions that placed them before the public; but now they are
striding forward and commanding responsible positions which carry high salaries.
Dr. Berman suggests that the first woman president will probably be an adrenal
type. Certain it is that individuals of this type are the good workers, the
efficient directors; they are successful for the reason that they have a driving
force within themselves that is ever urging them onward toward the acquirement
of that which they desire. President Harding was a typical masculine
adrenal-centered type, and Carrie Nation an excellent example of a feminine one.
The insufficient adrenal type is built along
the same lines as the adrenal adequate, and may easily be taken for him; but he
differs and contrasts strikingly beneath the surface. He is one, and perhaps the
most frequent, variety of the neurasthenic. He is weak, lazy, irritable; has a
poor appetite, and lacks response to stimuli of all kinds. Chronic indecision is
one of his most prominent traits. Among his chief troubles are a fatigableness
that goes with low blood pressure, lowered body temperature, and a subnormal
ability to utilize sugar for fuel purposes. Children who have an insufficient
adrenal supply cannot learn easily; their growth is slow, and they cannot be
driven or hurried. Often those lacking adrenal secretion before puberty awaken
to good energy when the rest of the endocrines develop, especially the sex
glands. Therefore the outlook for such unfortunates is not hopeless.
Fear and anger arouse the endocrine glands
into needlessly strenuous action, and frequent indulgence in either of these
emotions will in time impair the efficiency of these glands. Then if an effort
is not made to give them an opportunity to recuperate, this impaired condition
will eventually develop into a state of permanent adrenal insufficiency, and the
individual will find himself in a most distressing physical and mental
predicament. Optimism, good humor, and faith in God vivify and strengthen the
adrenal glands, imbuing them with power and adequacy.
Relative to the activities of the ductless
glands, Max Heindel has stated:
"Science is gradually learning the
truths previously taught by the occult science and their attention is being more
and more directed to the ductless glands which will give them the solution to
many mysteries, but they do not seem to be aware as yet that there is a physical
connection between the pituitary body, the principal organ of assimilation and
therefore of growth, and the adrenals which eliminate the waste and assimilate
the proteins. These are also physically connected both with the spleen and the
thymus and thyroid glands. It is significant in this connection, from the
astrological point of view, that the pituitary body is ruled by Uranus which is
the octave of Venus, the ruler of the solar plexus where the seed atom of the
vital body is located. Thus Venus keeps the gate of the vital fluid coming
direct from the Sun through the spleen, and Uranus is warder of the gate where
enters the physical food, and it is the blending of these two streams which
produces the latent power stored up in our vital body until converted to dynamic
energy by the martial desire nature."
THE SPLEEN
The spleen is the largest ductless gland. It
is located at the left end of the stomach, between it and the diaphragm. It is
bean-shaped and has a deep bluish-red color. It weighs from five to six ounces,
is about five inches in length and three inches in breadth. It is soft, spongy,
and fragile. Normally, the spleen is movable within certain limits. It moves
with respiration or breathing. it may become greatly enlarged during disease,
such as typhoid or malarial fever, or during a disease of the organ itself, such
as leukemia, an affection in which the white corpuscles of the blood are greatly
increased in number, accompanied by enlargement of the spleen itself. The spleen
permanently enlarges during prolonged ague, and then becomes the so-called
"ague cake." Enlargement of the spleen of infants is often due to
syphilis, and if it occurs at the age of two or three months it is usually due
to that cause. The spleen always enlarges during digestion. This gland is fed by
the splenic artery, and its veins empty into the portal vein which discharges
its contents into the liver.
The spleen appears in the embryo about the
fifth week, as a localized thickening of the mesoderm, or middle layer of the
embryonic cell. It is almost entirely surrounded by peritoneum membrane, and is
held in position by two folds of this tissue. It is invested by two coats--an
external moist, fibrous membrane, and an internal fibro-elastic one. The
external coat is thin and smooth. The secretion of the spleen is called
hemolytin and is the controller of the blood destruction. It also has a striking
effect in stimulating the normal movement of the intestines. Cases of chronic
constipation have been cured by the use of it. On the inner side of the spleen
at a depression called the hilus the blood vessels, nerves, and lymphatics enter
or leave.
The spleen manufactures white blood
corpuscles, stores up iron, has a strong influence on the nervous system
(controls intake of vital sugar fluid which traverses the nerves), and aids in
digestion by taking in more vital essence from the sun during this process.
Removal of the spleen is not fatal. After its removal there is an overgrowth of
the lymphatic glands which take over its physical work. The etheric spleen does
not decay simultaneously with the amputated physical member, but continues its
existence and carries on its vital functions the same as before. The spleen is
the entrance gate for the solar force which vitalizes the dense body. Without
this vital elixir no being can live.
From the spleen this sun force is sent to
the solar plexus, where it meets the ether which has been extracted from the
blood in the heart, and which, as soon as it is extracted, flows along the
silver cord to the solar plexus where the seed atom of the vital body is
located. This seed atom seems to have the same effect upon the ether as a prism
has upon light, for the ether stream is refracted by it into the three primary
colors: red, yellow, and blue. In people living the purely physical life, red
overwhelmingly predominates; but as the individual advances spiritually, yellow
becomes noticeable, and later, blue. The red stream coalesces with the colorless
solar stream which constantly rushes to the solar plexus by way of the spleen,
and it is the agent that changes this colorless solar fluid to a pale rose, and
gives the entire vital body its tinge of delicate peach-blossom hue. From the
solar plexus this fluid-like energy flows along the filaments composing the
nervous system, and in this way it permeates every part of the physical body,
energizing each and every cell with its life force.
When a person is in health this life energy
is specialized by the spleen and extracted from the blood in such large
quantities that it cannot all be used in the body, and therefore it radiates
outward through the pores of the skin in straight lines or streams. It is the
outpouring of this excessive vital force, radiating from the body, that drives
our poisonous gases, inimical microbes, and effete matter, and in this way
assists in preserving a healthy condition of the physical organism. It also
prevents armies of disease germs which swarm about in the atmosphere from
entering the dense vehicle. In this way it serves a most beneficial purpose even
after it has been used by the body and is returning to a free state.
The trained clairvoyant often observes a
curious and astounding sight when gazing at the exposed parts of the body such
as the face and hands, when suddenly there commences to flow from them a stream
of stars, cubes, pyramids, and a variety of other geometrical figures. These
forms are atoms belonging to the chemical ether that have served their purpose
in the body and are being expelled through the skin. Each figure floats away
from the individual a short distance and then disappears. Their color is an
amethystine blue.
After eating, the vital solar forces
attracted by the spleen is consumed by the body in great quantities. The two
lower ethers contain the cement which the nature forces (nature spirits,
so-called dead, Lucifer spirits, and Teachers from the higher creative
Hierarchies) use in building food into the physical body.
When the meal is heavy, the outflow of the
vital fluid from the body is perceptibly diminished and does not then cleanse
the dense vehicle as thoroughly as it does when the food has been digested, nor
is it as potent in keeping out inimical germs. Therefore overeating renders a
person more likely to catch cold or take disease. During ill health the spleen
furnishes the vital body with very little solar energy, and at this time the
dense body seems to feed on the vital body in consequence of which the latter
becomes more transparent and attenuated in proportion as the physical vehicle
exhibits a state of emaciation. As the cleansing vital radiations are almost
entirely absent during sickness, complications then set in very easily.
Ordinarily if any part of the body or any
organ is removed and there is no longer any use for the etheric counterpart,
that part of the vital body gradually wastes away; but in the case of the spleen
no such disintegration takes place for, as stated before, the etheric spleen has
a great work to perform, and if the physical body is to live the former must of
necessity remain intact and continue with its work, viz., the attracting of
solar energy or force to the dense vehicle.
The glands are an adjunct to the vital body,
but the desire body has gained a hold in the spleen and makes the white
corpuscles there. The white blood corpuscles are destroyers. The desire body
uses the blood to carry these tiny destroyers all over the physical body. They
pass through the walls of the arteries and veins whenever annoyance is felt, and
especially in times of great anger; for then the rush of forces in the desire
body causes the arteries and veins to swell, and that opens up the way for the
white blood corpuscles to pass out through the thin walls of these distended
blood vessels into the surrounding tissue of the body, where they form bases for
the earthy matter which kills the dense vehicle.
The desire body is constantly destroying and
breaking down physical tissue, which the vital body is constantly building up;
and it is the war between the two that results in consciousness in the physical
world. The etheric forces in the vital body act in such a way as to convert as
much of the food as possible into blood; and blood is the highest product of the
vital body. Red blood corpuscles are circular discs, concave on both sides, and
have no nuclei. They distribute oxygen through the body. The white corpuscles
are irregular in shape, have nuclei, and are possessed of the power of amoeboid
movement.
The way the desire body works in forming
white blood corpuscles in the spleen is as follows: Evil thoughts, fear, and
anger interfere with the power of evaporation in the spleen. The desire body
seizes the opportunity and forms a speck of plasm, the sticky material of an
animal cell, which becomes the foundation of the white corpuscle. This is at
once seized by a thought elemental, which forms a nucleus and embodies itself
therein. Then the elemental commences to live a life of destruction, coalescing
with waste products and decaying elements wherever obtainable, making the
physical body a charnel house instead of the temple of an indwelling spirit.
Every white corpuscle which has thus been formed and taken possession of by an
outside entity is to the spirit a lost opportunity; and the more of the lost
opportunities there are in the physical body the less that vehicle is under the
control of the Ego. White blood corpuscles are always present in large numbers
in all diseases.
The spleen has no personality type; but
owing to the fact that it attracts an excessive amount of solar force during
mealtime and digestion in order that the food eaten may be taken care of, the
gourmand with his excess of fat and his unwieldy body might possibly be
considered as the representative of a type which may develop if the appetite is
not controlled; however, if control is used, a high type, forceful and strong
will be developed.
The thymus gland is situated in the chest
between the two lungs and behind the upper part of the sternum or breastbone. It
descends and covers the upper portion of the heart, overlapping the great
vessels at the top of the latter. It is a brownish mass, which when cut, has the
appearance of a sweetbread. It is placed over the trachea or windpipe. It rises
as a growth from the wall of the third pouch of the pharynx (a funnel-shaped
cavity in the alimentary canal beginning behind the mouth); it reaches its
greatest at the beginning of puberty. At birth it weighs about half an ounce. At
puberty it weighs a little over an ounce. It is about two inches in length, an
inch and a half broad, and a fourth of an inch thick. It is readily found in
dissection until the twentieth year. Its gradual disappearance thereafter is
marked by a loss of glandular structure, which is replaced by fibrous and
adipose tissue. Vestiges of the characteristic thymus tissue, however, persist
and some of the secreting cells remain throughout life.
In the past it was believed that at puberty
the thymus atrophied, but now it is known that some of its secreting cells
persist throughout life. When too many of these cells persist, the gland becomes
from five to ten times as large as normal and a number of other features become
prominent which make the individual extraordinary, the victim of the
"status thymicus," who amid the hazards of life will react in a most
amazing way. This will be further discussed in this series of lessons under
thymus personality. certain it is that the thymus is the gland that keeps
children childish, and sometimes makes children out of adults. The arteries that
supply the thymus with blood are chiefly from the internal mammaries, an
indication of the close relation existing between the mother and child. The
nerves, which are small, come from the sympathetic or involuntary nervous system
and the tenth cranial or pneumogastric nerve.
During childhood the thymus is the organ
that promotes growth of bones, but at puberty a decreased functioning begins. It
is believed that the sex glands arising to functioning level at that time exert
a restraining influence upon it.
The secretion of the thymus is called
thymovidin, and is believed to be the controller of the growth of children. When
an enlarged thymus is present in a newborn baby, the starting of the process of
breathing, that is, the introduction of the infant to the oxygen in the air, may
be an exceedingly prolonged difficult matter. Such a baby is said to be born
blue; the breathing for days produces a harsh, whistling sound, becoming normal
for a time, to be followed by spells when there is trouble in breathing,
breathlessness, accompanied by blueness of the skin and threatened death. There
are cases in which these spells have occurred after the child had appeared to be
perfectly healthy. That an oversize thymus is responsible for such a condition
has been shown by the relief obtainable by X-ray shrinkage of the gland or the
surgical removal of a part of it.
When the body of a child is suffering from
under-nutrition, there is a rapid decline in weight of the thymus. This proves
that the size and condition of a child's thymus are an index of the state of
nutrition of its body. it has been proved that underfeeding for four weeks will
reduce the thymus to one- third its normal size. This gland appears to act as a
storage and reserve organ, affording some protection against the limitation of
growth on account of lack of food. It is an interesting fact that in exhausting
or wasting diseases the weight of this gland sinks much more quickly than does
that of the other glands. There are reported instances where developing children
grew inches in height and expanded mentally when thymovidin was fed to them,
when every other measure had failed. In France a study was made of over four
hundred idiotic children with normal thyroids. The report on the investigation
stated that over three-fourths of these unfortunates had no thymus gland at all.
The secretion of the thymus gland controls
normal bone growth and muscular metabolism in some definite way during the
period of childhood. This gland particularly influences the development of the
adrenal cortex (outer part of it), the pineal gland, the thyroid gland, and the
prostate gland. Thymovidin injection has a specific effect in relieving the
fatigue of the voluntary muscles.
Removing the thymus gland of a young and
growing animal produces an interference with its normal growth--a dwarfing, with
changes in the skeleton resembling rickets. The bones become soft and bendable,
and fractures occur easily. However, with the regeneration of small bits of the
thymus that may have been left behind during the operation these symptoms
disappear, and the animal becomes normal again.
The thymus gland grows rapidly during the
first two years of a child's life. The reason for this is that the child is then
nursed, and the vital ether contained in the mother's milk especially furthers
the growth of this organ. The thymus gland of children nursed by a human mother
is always larger than that of children brought up on the milk of animals, and
such children are always more amenable to the control of anyone else. From the
time when nursing is discontinued the disintegrating atoms of the thymus gland
circulate in the bloodstream, and since they are impregnated with the vital
ether of the mother obtained during the time of nursing the close physical tie
between them remains until the gland has become greatly decreased. Children
nursed on human milk have greater vitality than those brought up on the milk of
animals, because animal ether is not permanently absorbed by the thymus gland as
the human ether is.
The child does not manufacture its own red
blood corpuscles in the same way that the adult does. The reason for this is
that the positive pole or energy of the desire body of the child is
comparatively inactive; in consequence of which this vehicle does not act as an
avenue for the forces (Martian) which take the iron from the blood and change it
into hemoglobin (the red coloring matter of the blood corpuscles). To compensate
for this inaction there is stored in the thymus gland of the child a spiritual
essence which is drawn from the parents at the time of conception; and this
substance accomplishes the alchemistry of the blood temporarily for the child
until the desire body becomes dynamically active which is about the age of
fourteen.
The thymus gland controls the physical
growth of children, the greater part of which takes place approximately before
the fourteenth year of age. During this time it holds the other glands in check,
delays puberty, and further normal brain development. There are cases, however,
where, owing to a disease of the adrenal glands, the brain and generative organs
mature in a few weeks or months before the body has time to properly develop;
the stoppage of its growth at this time leaves it undersized although it may be
symmetrically formed. These are exceptional cases, however. Ordinarily the
thymus gland prevents any such phenomenon taking place.
When the persistence of the thymus after
puberty is TOO GREAT, the gland being from five to ten times as large as normal,
the individual develops a case of STATUS THYMICUS which is weirdly interesting.
This condition tends towards producing the feminine expression of the male, and
the masculine expression of the female. In other words it causes an arrest of
masculinization or feminization, as the case may be, sometimes resulting in the
peculiar complex that the man will desire the society of men more than that of
women, and that women will prefer the society of women to that of men. Carried
to the extreme this may result in Narcissism which is a love of oneself. Such
people continually use the pronoun I; they love to preen themselves before
mirrors, they delight in admiring themselves before mirrors, they delight in
admiring their own hands, feet, in fact their entire bodies, and may often be
seen patting themselves tenderly and smiling sweetly at their own mirrored
images.
Sometimes this class of people have an
irresistible urge to wear the clothes of the opposite sex. Some of them are
satisfied with half-way compromises; but others are not content with half-way
compromises; but others are not content unless they change their attire
completely and pass as members of the opposite sex. This class of people are not
pseudo-hermaphrodites; their sex development is perfectly normal. There is a
case on record where one man lived 48 years dressed in male attire; then he
changed to that of a female which he continued to wear until his death
thirty-five years later. During all of his later life he was universally
accepted as a woman, and it was an autopsy which disclosed the fact that he-she
was really, so far as sex was concerned, a normal man.
This type of individual is misunderstood and
misjudged; and usually a hopeless misfit in society; the result of which is that
such persons ofttimes become disheartened and discouraged, take to alcohol or
drugs, and eventually resort to suicide. However, there are those of this type
who after a stormy life through the twenties, become adapted to their
surroundings in the thirties, because the pituitary and the thyroid become more
dominant in their activities, giving greater mental poise and stability.
Thymo-centrics who combine brilliancy with instability, sometimes become famous
adventurers and restless experimentalists.
The heart of the thymo-centric is small and
the blood vessels remarkably fragile. This prevents the flow of blood from
responding to an emergency and these people sometimes die suddenly owing to
ruptures in their vessels caused by the attempt to force an excessive flow of
blood through them. Any sudden shock, fright, or the administration of an
anesthetic is likely to produce a collapse, in many instances resulting in
death.
Up to the time the permanent teeth make
their appearance the thymus is the dominant gland, and it is noticeable that the
child's form in both sexes is very much alike. After this a gradual
differentiation takes place although the
Diagram: Thymus Type
change does not become marked until the time
of puberty. Ordinarily from this time on the thymus functions less and less, and
the other glands increase in their activity. But many times the thymus gland
does not cease in its action, in which cases we have individuals whose whole
life is dominated by this gland. Such people belong to the thymus centered type.
The features of these individuals remain rounded and childlike; the children
belonging to it are well proportioned and perfectly formed, with delicately
chiseled features. The skin is transparent and flushes readily; the hair is long
and silky. Such children are the embodiment of beauty. They are the "angel
children" who are admired for the coarse conflicts of life and usually die
young.
The thymus type is essentially feminine. The
figure, sometimes medium height, and sometimes tall, is slender, the limbs are
rounded, and the entire body is gracefully formed. The skin is fine, delicate,
and velvety, a dead white or peaches and cream, the hair soft and silky, with
little or none on the face; the finely molded features are beautifully
proportioned, the eyes blue or brown, with long lashes, the lips thin and the
chin oval. Sometimes in the adult the chin is receding, and the mouth is not
well formed. The teeth are milky-white, thin and translucent, scalloped or
crescentric at the grinding edge.
We wish to reiterate that this type of
individual does not have great endurance; and therefore the best of care should
be given to the physical body.
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