ORGANS OF INTERNAL SECRETION 349 



THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE GENERATIVE ORGANS 

 AND THE DUCTLESS GLANDS 



Noel Paton 1 and Henderson 2 have shown that there _ 

 is a reciprocal relation between the thymus and the testis, 

 each checking the growth of the other. This conclusion is 

 based on a series of observations on cattle and guinea-pigs. In 

 the former it was found that castration delayed the onset of 

 the atrophy of the thymus, for the average weight of that organ 

 in bulls up to three and a quarter years old was considerably less 

 than that in oxen. In guinea-pigs Paton found that, in those 

 animals in which the thymus was removed at a time prior to 

 the normal period of atrophy for that organ, there was an in- 

 crease in the growth of the testis. On the other hand, Soli 3 states 

 that extirpation of the thymus, carried out in young rabbits, 

 guinea-pigs, and fowls, caused inhibition of testicular development, 

 and sometimes even complete arrest of growth by that organ. 



Fichera 4 observed a constant hypertrophy of the pituitary 

 body (hypophysis) in capons, oxen, buffaloes, and rabbits, cas- 

 trated in early life that is to say, an increase in weight by that 

 organ as compared with the pituitary glands of other animals 

 of the same kind, weight, and age. The increase in weight was 

 associated with a rich blood supply, and an increase in the number 

 of eosinophyl cells. These observations are confirmed for young 

 dogs by Cimorini, 5 who states that the changes in the pituitary 

 were similar to those occurring after removal of the thyroids. 

 According to Pepere, 6 there is probably no specific hypertrophy 

 of the hypophysis in relation to the extirpation of any particular 



1 Paton, "The Relationship of the Thymus to the Sexual Organs," Jour, 

 of Phys., vol. xxxii., 1904. 



2 Henderson, "On the Relationship of the Thymus to the Sexual 

 Organs," Jour, of Phys., vol. xxxi., 1904. 



3 Soli, "Contribution h, la Connaissance de la Formation du Thymus chez 

 le Poulet et chez quelques Mammiferes," Arch. Ital. de BioL, vol. Ixii., 1909. 



4 Fichera, " Sulla ipertrofta della glandula Pituitaria consecutiva cas- 

 trazione," Policlinico, vol. xii., 1905. 



5 Cimorini, " Sur 1'Hypertrophie de 1'Hypophyse cere*brale chez les 

 Animaux thyre"oidectomise"s," Arch. Ital. de BioL, vol. xlviii., 1907. 



6 Pepere, " Sur les Modifications de Structure du Tissu Parathyroidien 

 normal et accessoire (thymique) en rapport avec sa Fonction vicariante," 

 Arch, de Med. Exper., vol. xx., 1908. 



