THE GENERATIVE GLANDS 387 



authors after the exhibition of ovarian substance is to be ascribed 

 to increased administration of food containing nitrogen. 



These experiments prove, then, that the increase in the 

 general metabolism which follows the exhibition of ovarian or 

 testicular substances is entirely due to the decomposition of sub- 

 stances in the body which do not contain nitrogen. 



In view of the relationship which has been assumed between 

 osteomalacia and the genital glands, a certain interest is attach- 

 ing to the influence which these organs exercise upon the 

 metabolism of calcium and of phosphoric acid. The results 

 which have been obtained up to the present are inconclusive. 

 Curatolo and Tarulli, Neumann and Vas report reduction in the 

 excretion of calcium and phosphorus after exhibition of ovarian 

 substance ; while Falk and Schulz, as well as Llithje, were unable 

 to demonstrate any change in the metabolism of calcium, phos- 

 phoric acid, and magnesia. 



Heymann's finding, that in ovariectomized rats there is a 

 marked progressive reduction in the total phosphoric acid con- 

 tents, especially of the bones, seems to contradict the well-known 

 fact that, in osteomalacia, castration inhibits the softening pro- 

 cesses in the substance of the bones, and thus brings about a cure. 



The pathogenesis of osteomalacia, which is still very obscure, 

 requires a few \vords in passing. Fehling's theory that this 

 disease originates in pathological hyperfunction of the ovaries, 

 appeared to derive a certain support from the favourable effects 

 which were observed after castration. It is, however, rendered 

 practically untenable by the fact that the minutest histological 

 investigation has repeatedly failed to prove that osteomalacia is 

 accompanied by specific changes in the ovary, w r hether in the 

 follicular apparatus, the germinal epithelium, or the corpus 

 luteum. Wallart has recently observed peculiarly marked develop- 

 ment of the interstitial stroma cells in cases of osteomalacia in 

 both pregnant and non-pregnant individuals. 



The discovery of the interrelationships which subsist between 

 the different internal secretory organs, especially between the 

 ovaries and the thyroid and suprarenal glands, suggested the 

 thyroid or suprarenal as the primary agent in the pathogenesis of 

 osteomalacia. The thyrogenic theory was first propounded by 

 Hoenicke (1904), and afterwards worked out by Parhon and 

 Goldstein. That this hypothesis rests upon very insufficient 

 foundation is shown by the fact that its authors have been unable 

 to decide whether osteomalacia is the manifestation of hyper- or 

 hypo-thyroidism. 



Even more unsatisfactory is Bossi's theory, which explains 

 the pathogenesis of osteomalacia by an affection of the suprarenals. 

 That there is a relationship between the sexual glands and the 

 suprarenals, or rather the suprarenal cortex, is suggested by the 

 results of certain observations. There is no evidence to show 



