THE TESTICLE AND THE OVARY 383 



the circulation has an immediate galactogogue effect, milk being 

 copiously secreted if the mammary glands are in a state of lactation. 

 The same effect occurs as a result of injecting extract of corpus 

 luteum. Experiments have shown that ovariotomy . results in 

 persistent lactation if the operation be performed during the suckling 

 period (see p. 614). It seems possible, therefore, that after ovariotomy 

 the function of the corpus luteum in respect of mammary secretion is 

 taken over by the pituitary vicariously, and that this organ when 

 hypertrophied (unlike the corpus luteum) continues to exert an 

 influence upon the mammary activity which may be continued 

 indefinitely. 1 



Crowe, Gushing, and Romans, 2 as a result of a series of experiments 

 on hypophysectomy on dogs, have shown that partial removal of the 

 anterior lobe was followed by hypoplasia of the generative organs or 

 persistent infantilism if the operation w r as done before puberty. , 

 There was a tendency to adiposity such as often occurs after castration. 

 Aschner 3 obtained similar results. Puppies operated upon remained 

 completely impotent and spermatogenesis did not occur in the male, 

 neither did ovulation nor O3strus in the female. Hypophysectomy 

 during pregnancy prevented the further development of the foetus. 

 Blair Bell found atrophic changes in the ovaries and uterus after 

 partial removal of the anterior lobe. Clamping the infundibular 

 stalk caused even more intense atrophy. 



Goetsch 4 has obtained converse results by the administration of 

 pituitary extract (in particular of anterior lobe which he states to be 

 the responsible factor). Young rats fed with extract showed increased 

 development and activity of the reproductive organs as compared with 

 the controls. The Graafian follicles ripened more quickly. The 

 uterine mucosa developed active glands, and there was increased 

 vascularity over the whole generative tract. Extract of posterior 

 lobe had no effect. 



Clinical observations point clearly to similar conclusions. Hyper- 

 pituitarism due to overactivity of the anterior lobe and manifested 

 histologically by a great increase in the eosinophile or acidophile cells, 

 if commencing before puberty results in giantism, and if postadolescent 

 causes acromegaly or an overgrowth of the bones of the face. In the 

 former case it is associated w r ith premature sexuality and in the latter 



1 This hypothesis assumes a functional connection between the anterior and 

 posterior lobes (see p. 382). 



2 Crowe, Gushing, and Homans, " Experimental Hypophysectomy," Johns 

 Hopkins Hosp. Bull., vol. xxi., 1910. Gushing, The Pituitary Body and its 

 Disorders, New York, 1912. 



3 Aschner, "Ueber die Funktion der Hypophyse," Pfliigei j s Arch., vol. cxlvi., 

 1912. 



4 Goetsch, " The Relation of the Pituitary Gland to the Female Generative 

 Organs," Siirg., (fi/n. and Obstet., vol. xxv., 1917. 



