§ 4 



REACTION TO GLANDULAR EXTRACTS 



33 



merits on rabbits, obtained barely positive reactions with an 

 extract of 55 g human corpora lutea, which amounts to a 

 progesterone content of 12 — 16 y per gram. The values 

 found with both test-methods, therefore, are of the same 

 order of magnitude, so that the substance measured by means 

 of the ovipositor test is most probably progesterone. 



There is a potential source of error, in testing corpus luteum 

 extracts, arising from the possible adsorption of progesterone 

 by drops of fat dispersed in the water. If, in our experiments, 

 this should have occurred to an extent upsetting calculation, 

 the result would, on the one hand, show a too low progester- 

 one content; this, however, would be compensated by additive 

 substances whose growth curve shows a great similarity to 

 that of progesterone. 



d. The reaction to extracts from the ovary. Since the 

 interstitial gland, according to ASCHNER, is most strongly 

 developed in the most primitive animals and still largely 

 replaces the corpus luteum functionally, one may expect good 

 ovipositor reactions with extracts from the ovary of the 

 lower mammals. Granting further that ontogeny here con- 

 stitutes a repetition of phylogeny, it should also be possible 

 to obtain ovipositor reactions from premature ovaries. 



The four ovaries from a pair of still-born twins from the 6th month 

 of pregnancy, and (separately therefrom) the 2 uteri, were extracted. The 

 ovaries, which together weighed 0.4 g, caused in 6 fishes an average 

 ovipositor growth corresponding to that after administration of 4 7 pro- 

 gesterone, i.e. 10 y per gram of tissue {vide rig. 37). The extract from 

 the uteri produced no reaction. 



Fig. 37. Growth-curve obtained 

 with the lipoid extract from two 

 pre-natal human ovaries. 



The 2 ovaries of a full-term still-born child were also examined. 

 The ovaries, which together weighed 0.5 g, caused an average ovipositor 

 growth corresponding to that of 20 y progesterone, i.e., 40 y per g of 

 tissue. 



