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 (endocrine) 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 (endocrine) glands written by Dr. Louis Berman, to whom the
author wishes to extend most grateful thanks.
— Mt. Ecclesia, June 1940
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 (endocrine) 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 potentially 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 (endocrine)
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 (endocrine) 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 (endocrine) 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 (endocrine) 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 (endocrine) 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 (endocrine) glands are of more than particular interest to the
students of the esotericism for they may be termed in a certain sense "the seven
roses" upon the cross of the body, and are intimately connected with the
esoteric development of humanity.
The principal ductless (endocrine) 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 numerouys
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 (endocrine) 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 (endocrine) 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."
II. Types Produced
by the Ductless
(Endocrine) 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 dominance. 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 (endocrine) 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 (endocrine)
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, —
— 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 (endocrine) glands, Max Heindel has stated:
"Science is gradually learning the truths previously taught by the esoteric
science and their attention is being more and more directed to the ductless (endocrine)
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 is the largest ductless (endocrine) 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 Narcissim 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 —
— 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 crescentic 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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