379 



with the buck. Many of the ovaries contained typical corpora lutea, 

 showing that ovulation had taken place. Also in four experiments 

 on fully grown rats hysterectomy was performed, and the animals 

 were killed several months subsequently. The ovaries in no instance 

 showed any indications of atrophy. On the other hand, marked 

 uterine degeneration was observed in ,rats after the removal of the 

 ovaries for shorter periods of time. 1 



As a result of these experiments, it may be concluded that the 

 growth and development of the ovaries is in no way dependent upon 

 the presence of the uterus. Such a conclusion is no doubt opposed 

 by some of the clinical evidence, but it is one which was to be 

 expected on phylogenetic grounds, since the uterus is an organ which 

 came into existence comparatively recently in the course of vertebrate 

 evolution, whereas the ovary is common to all Metaxoa. It is 

 possible, in those surgical cases in which the ovaries underwent 

 atrophy after the removal of the uterus, that this \vas due to 

 vascular interference. 2 



THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE GENERATIVE ORGANS AND THE 

 DUCTLESS GLANDS :{ 



The Thymiis. Noel Paton 4 and Henderson 5 have stated that 

 there is a reciprocal relation between the thymus and the testis, each 

 checking the growth of the other. This conclusion is based on a 

 series of observations on cattle and guinea-pigs. In the former it 

 was found that castration delayed the onset of the atrophy of tin- 

 thymus, for the average weight of that organ in bulls up to three and 

 a quarter years old was considerably less than that in oxen. In 

 guinea-pigs Paton states that in those animals in which the thymus 

 was removed at a time prior to the normal period of atrophy for that 



1 Marshall and Jolly, " Results of Removal and Transplantation of Ovaries," 

 Trail*. I ini/. Kir. Edi/i., vol. xlv., 1907. 



- Boston has recorded four cases of women where the uterus was congenitally 

 absent, but in whom the development of the breasts and other changes relating 

 to puberty excepting menstruation were experienced. Sentiment, sexual desire, 

 and sexual sensation are stated to have been normal in each case (" AKsru.r 

 of the Uterus in Three Sisters and Two Cousins," Lancet, Part I., January 1907). 

 It may also be mentioned that Sellheim found that removal of the oviducts in 

 pheasants does not result in a shrivelling up of the ovaries and the assumption 

 of secondary male characters as has been stated (Zeitoch. f. '///>//., 1904, No. 24). 

 It has not been determined whether the generative organs (apart from the 

 uterus) undergo the characteristic prooestrous changes after hysterectomy, since 

 these changes are comparatively slight and difficult to detect in rabbits. 



3 For a symposium on the relation of the organs of internal secretion to 

 obstetrics and gynaecology, see Surgery, Obstetrics ami <;*t,,",;>logy, vol. .\\\.. 

 September 1917. * See also Blair Bell, The Se.f Co>nple.>\ London, 1916. 



4 Paton, "The Relationship of the Thymus to the Sexual Organs," Jour, of 

 Pht/siol., vol. xxxii., 1904. 



5 Henderson, "On the Relationship of the Thymus to the Sexual Organs," 

 Jour, of PkysioL, vol. xxxi., 1904. 



