164 H. Tuchmann-Duplessis and L. Mercier-Parot 



revise our ideas of "foetal gigantism of pituitary origin". In 

 actual fact, if one compares the weight of the newborn of 

 STH-treated mothers which are born between the 24th and 

 28th day of pregnancy with that of young rats of the same 

 actual age, that is to say two to six days post-partum, one 

 observes that the latter are always the larger. The greater 



10 



9-1 

 8 



w 6H 



-m 5- 



-C 

 C7 



- <H 



Fig. 

 STH 



20 



*■ 



.. 



r 



I 



HI Controls 

 □ S.T.H. 



23 



Age 



26 



in day: 



28 



5. Comparison of the weights of the offspring of 

 -treated mothers with those of control rats of the 

 same age. 



weight of the controls is, as shown in Fig. 5, of the order of 

 40-50 per cent. 



Thus when one compares the weight of the foetuses, taking 

 into account not the weight at birth but at their actual 

 age, one observes that the increased weight of the newborn 

 is in fact merely an apparent one and due solely to the pro- 

 longation of intra-uterine life. Contrary to the generally 

 accepted opinion, the administration of somatrophic hormone 

 to the mother not only does not stimulate the embryonic 



