SEXUAL HORMONES AND MORPHOGENESIS 455 



sexual glands, but also about the term by which the hormone- 

 producing cells are to be designated, and this has to a large 

 extent centred around the term "puberty gland" introduced 

 by Steinach and adopted by myself in the first edition of this 

 book. The term was introduced by Steinach (1912) to empha- 

 size the function of the interstitial cells, this function consisting 

 of the promotion of full sexual maturity or puberty. The 

 idea implied by this term was based by Steinach on two 

 assumptions; first, that the hormones are produced not in the 

 generative part but in other cells of the sex gland, and, 

 secondly, that puberty is the essence of sexual maturation. 



In regard to the former assumption we have seen, especially 

 in Chapters IV. and V., that the matter is not yet decided. 

 But I think that this is no argument against using a special term 

 in referring to the whole problem under discussion. In this con- 

 nection the term "puberty gland" still seems to me very useful. 

 Bouin and Ancel introduced the term "interstitial gland," anr 

 expression of a morphological order; whereas the term "puberty 

 gland" leaves the question of the seat of hormone-production 

 open, the term "interstitial gland" tacitly presumes that the 

 question is already settled. As applied to the ovary, the term 

 "interstitial gland" is anatomically inappropriate, even on the 

 view that hormones are not produced by the generative part. 

 In the endocrine function of the ovary various cells are involved, 

 cells originating from different tissues. It is not possible 

 to designate the endocrine apparatus of the ovary under 

 a single term of anatomical or histological order without 

 causing repeated misunderstanding. This is best shown 

 by the endless discussions about the "interstitial gland" 

 of the ovary. Misunderstandings may be avoided if we use a 

 term of a physiological order, since all the different parts of the 

 ovary involved in hormone-production are united by a common 

 function. Further, it seems advisable to use a teim convenient 

 also for the hormone-producing testicle; it may be useful to 

 emphasize as far as possible also in our terminology that there 

 is, or must be, some parallelism in the mechanism of hormone- 

 production in both sexes. In view of these considerations I 

 think that the term "puberty gland" is very convenient in con- 

 nection with the problem of the seat of hormone-production 

 in the sexual glands. The term was introduced by Steinach 

 on the assumption that the question of the seat of formation 



