INTERNAL SECRETION OF OVARY 235 



castration he found a transitory giycaemia to take place when 

 quantities of adrenaline, which were too small to cause giycaemia 

 in normal rabbits, w^ere injected. Then Guggisberg examined 

 rabbits treated by X-rays to ascertain their sensibility to 

 adrenaline, and found a similar increase to that after castration. 

 There was also an accumulation of fat, whereas there was no 

 atrophy of the uterus. The histological examination revealed, 

 about two months after irradiation, a pronounced injury to 

 the follicles, but no change in the interstitial tissue. On 

 considering the increased sensibility to adrenaline as a sign of 

 castration caused by a lack of an internal ovarian secretion, 

 Guggisberg concluded that the interstitial tissue does not 

 participate in the endocrine function of the ovary, only the 

 follicles being the true endocrine organ. This conclusion is 

 without justification. The fact that no signs of castration 

 were visible in the uterus, which is so sensitive to the ovarian 

 hormone, makes it highly probable that the irradiated ovaries 

 in the experiments of Guggisberg were still performing their 

 endocrine function. It may be that the quantitative level of 

 the endocrine activity was lowered, and by this circumstance 

 the disturbance could be explained. But it is by no means 

 certain that the increased sensibility to adrenaline or the 

 accumulation of fat should be considered as caused by a dis- 

 turbed production of sexual hormones. On the contrary, 

 it is possible to regard the accumulation of fat as correlated 

 with reduced activity in the generative part of the gonad. (See 

 the statements of Hey mans, Chapter II.). 



4. Transplantation of the Ovary. 



Like the testicle, the ovary undergoes profound changes 

 after transplantation. Ribbert (i8g8) was the first to make 

 detailed observations concerning these changes in the ovarian 

 graft. After autotransplantation in the rabbit the greater 

 follicles and the corpora lutea undergo degeneration; "repara- 

 tion" takes place by follicular development of the smaller 

 follicles which remained hitherto intact. Similar observations 

 were made by many other authors. The experiments of 

 Marshall and Jolly may be especiall}^ mentioned. According 

 to them {Marshall and Jolly, 1910, p. 324) all the follicles may 

 finally undergo atresia in the ovarian graft in the rat (auto- 

 transplantation and homoiotransplantation). In some cases 



