SEX SPECIFIC ACTION OF HORMONES 297 



The ovary turns the development of the whole organism 

 on to female hnes. There can be no doubt that the soma is 

 influenced by the ovary in a sex specific manner. 



Harms (1922, p. 242) draws attention to the fact that the 

 "uterus masculinus" of the guinea pig does not become trans- 

 formed into a female organ, but remains in the same infantile 

 stage as at the time of the operatiom. Harms is mistaken in 

 thinking that what he calls "uterus masculinus," i.e., the 

 vesiculae seminales of the guinea pig, is an organ homologous 

 with the female uterus. This is not the case, the vesiculae 

 seminales being in genetic relation to the vas deferens and 

 not to the ducts of Miiller. 



It can be further demonstrated that not only the somatic 

 sex characters, but also the psycho-sexual behaviour is in- 

 fluenced by the ovary. We learned from experiments with 

 castration, injection and transplantation that the sexual 

 hormones have an erotizing effect. Experiments performed on 

 the frog have shown, that the clasp reflex can be evoked to a 

 certain degree also by injection of ovarian substance ; evidently 

 the ovary produces some erotizing hormone which is identical 

 with or similar to that of the testicle. But this observation on 

 the frog is not sufficient for drawing the general conclusion 

 that there is no sex specifity in the erotizing action of the 

 ovary. That this conclusion is erroneous follows from the fact 

 that the psycho-sexual behaviour of the somatically feminized 

 male resembles that of a female. Evidently the hormones of 

 the ovary do not erotize in a male direction, but in a female 

 one. The indications of a female erotization are, according to 

 Steinach, the following: — 



1. The feminized male rat exhibits the "tail-reflex" 

 characteristic of the female and consisting in the raising of the 

 tail when followed by the male. Some kind of tail-reflex can 

 be observed also in the normal male and in the castrated 

 male ; but according to Steinach this is not the true tail-reflex 

 characteristic of the female. 



2. The feminized male rat is treated by the normal male as 

 though it were a female. The feminized male is followed 

 by the normal male, which makes repeated attempts at 

 coitus. 



3. The feminized male, like the normal female of the rat 

 and guinea pig, shows the "averting-reflex," consisting in the 



