224 CORTEX 



THE GONADS 



The idea of an intimate relation between the gonads and the 

 adrenals has recurred for several centuries (cf. Chapter I). 

 The earlier bases for such a view have long been shown to be 

 invalid and need not be reiterated here. The more recent 

 theories which have been elaborated to explain an adreno- 

 gonadal interrelationship have, however, also been unsatis- 

 factory. On the one hand, there exists the indisputable evi- 

 dence to be presented in Chapter XXIII of a clinical syndrome 

 associated with certain tumors of the adrenal. This has led 

 to the obvious conclusion that the adrenals are related to the 

 reproductive organs and that their hyperactivity leads to 

 hyperfunction of the gonads. On the other hand, attempts to 

 demonstrate experimentally such a simple interrelationship 

 have failed. This apparent paradox is due to the failure of 

 previous investigators to distinguish properly between the 

 androgenic tissue and the remainder of the cortex. In the 

 author's opinion, the adrenal gland is comprised of three func- 

 tionally distinct tissues, — the chromaphil, the interrenal (or 

 true cortical), and the androgenic. The last named is limited 

 (cf. Chapter IV) to man and certain animals, is only temporary 

 in its existence, and differs anatomically and histochemically 

 from the true cortical tissue. It is this androgenic tissue 

 which, in the author's opinion, is responsible for the pathologi- 

 cal adreno-genital syndrome and probably for certain physio- 

 logical changes in the reproductive system of the lower animals. 



In the present section we shall consider the less important 

 relation between the gonads and the medullary and cortical 

 tissues. In Chapters IV and XXIII are discussed the ex- 

 perimental and clinical relations of the androgenic tissue to 

 the gonads. 



There is no good evidence for assuming any important rela- 

 tion between the medulla and the gonads although insignificant 

 differences in medullary activity of the male and female or- 



