DUCTLESS GLANDS  , in

anatomy . A certain number of glands in the body, often of great physiological importance, have no ducts (Lat. due/us, from ducere, to lead, i.e. vessels, tubes or canals for conveying away fluid or other substance); and their products, known as internal secretions, are at once carried away by the veins or lymphatics which drain them . Among these structures are the spleen, the adrenals, the thyroid gland, the parathyroids, the thymus and the carotid and coccygeal bodies . In addition to these the lymphatic glands are described in the article on the lymphatic system (q.v.), and the pineal and pituitary bodies in the article on the brain (q.v.) .