The appearance of the thymus gland is pinkish-gray which is located below the top portion of the breast bone
. This organ is known as the sweetbreads in the animals.
The knowledge about the thymus gland has been known in the recent years only. The size of the thymus is larger during the childhood but, it reduces with the increase in the age. Moreover, the function of this organ also stops after the childhood. It was noticed in autopsies that the size of the thymus glands of the young adults who died in the traumatic accidents was quite larger as compared to that of the people who died due to the diseases of a chronic nature.
The research work revealed that the thymus contains the white blood cells named as T-lymphocyte. These cells are used to maintain the cellular resistance thereby, recognizing as well as destroying the foreign bacteria, virus. The unwanted bacteria or virus causes the abnormal cell growth leading to the serious disease like cancer.
From the experiments done on the animals, it has been discovered that the transplant of the thymus is possible in the baby if this organ is removed from the body of that baby before birth. There will be no rejection of transplanting a new organ in the body because the ability of identifying the foreign tissue is totally lost. So, sometimes there are chances that the baby may or may not be able to fight against the diseased germs. Even in the animals, if the thymus gland is absent, then the cancerous growth can be developed at a faster speed.