ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the results of a number of intriguing reports. The age-dependent involution of the thymus has intrigued numerous 17th and 18th century scientists. The human placenta and other organs contain farnesol in small quantities. Ecdysiotropin mediates the release of juvenile hormone from the corpora allata and ecdysone from the ecdysial gland. Juvenile hormone is synthesized in the corpora allata and is specific to that organ. The chapter aims to point out the possible connection between aging and thymic hormones, and the possible role of tin. The key phenomena lie in the longer lifespan of mice administered tin and the presence of farnesol, which "keeps insects from aging", in the human thymus. The relationship between thymus involution, the aging process, oncogenesis, and tin, if indeed it does exist, will be the subject of future research, both experimental and literary.
