THE FUNCTION OF THE OVARY 225 
However brief this review of the subject, it suffices 
to point out the major interrelationship between the 
ovary and the other glands and the variety of their 
influences. Bell® puts great stress on the part the in- 
ternal secretions play in forming woman’s physical, 
mental and emotional states. He refers to Helmonts’ 
statement, “Propter solum uterum mulier est quod 
est,’”’ which Chevan later changed to “Propter ovarium 
solum mulier est quod est.” Virchow in reiterating 
this added, “‘all the peculiarities of her body and mind 
—everything, in fact, which in the true woman we 
admire and revere as womanly, is dependent on the 
ovary.” But in the light of the interdependence of 
the endocrine glands Bell suggests changing the state- 
ment to “Propter secretiones internas totas mulier est 
quod est,” thus modernizing the phrase. 
On the whole then, with the ovarian and plurigland- 
ular preparations, the physician has at his command 
powerful remedies. In the use of these the larger his 
knowledge of the interrelations of the whole endo- 
crine system the more skillful will be his ministrations. 
James, the psychologist, said that in right thinking 
the first step is “to conceive the problem aright.” This 
is equally true in diagnosis. Comprehension and ap- 
preciation of the significance, force and influence of 
these glands will enable the physician to place the 
blame more nearly where it belongs. The proper use 
of these derivatives may afford to the patient an escape 
from that physical and psychic state so aptly expressed 
by Charles Lamb as “the majestic isolation of pain.” 
Indeed, some knowledge of endocrinology is fast be- 
coming an essential. To quote Garretson, “there is 
no branch of medicine which can be intelligently prac- 
ticed without an understanding of endocrine function 
—therefore, the general practitioner, as well as the 
specialist, without a working knowledge of this sub- 
ject and its practical application, is immeasurably 
