44 THE SEX-COMPLEX 



Views con- There are two opinions held concerning this extra- 



sig'Sance ordinary grouping. The one, first put forward by 

 of staining Saint-Remy 1 and Benda 2 , finds expression in the belief 



reactions in 



pars anterior, that these appearances represent different phases 01 

 secretory activity; whereas the alternative view, pro- 

 pounded by Gemelli 3 and others, represents the idea 

 that each type of cell has a special secretion. My own 

 view coincides with the first suggestion, and after careful 

 investigation I have come to the following conclusions 

 regarding the cycle of events : 



Author's First, the eosinophil cells represent the normal 



tatioiTof actively secreting cells, which ordinarily discharge their 

 staining secretion into the blood-vessels or lymphatics. If there 



reactions in . 



pars anterior, be no great demand for the secretion the cells may 

 enlarge and become basophil ; they then gradually 

 become darker and more swollen until finally they 

 discharge basophil 'colloid' among the neighbouring 

 cells, which may form a vesicle-like wall around the 

 secretion. After the discharge of ' colloid ' the basophil 

 cells become small, shrunken and faintly staining 

 (chromophobe cells) with large nuclei in which a network 

 of chromatin fibres can be seen. I have elsewhere 4 

 illustrated these phases from direct colour photographs. 

 Second, in certain circumstances, as in pregnancy 

 or after removal of the thyroid or suprarenals, there is 

 immediate demand for secretion in the first cases from 

 the anterior lobe, and in the last from the posterior. 

 In pregnancy, and after thyroidectomy, the small chromo- 

 phobe cells in the anterior lobe regenerate into large 

 chromophobe cells, and eosinophilia a more leisurely 

 process does not occur to the usual extent. These 

 chromophobe cells have been called ' pregnancy cells ' 

 owing to their constant appearance in the pars anterior 

 during pregnancy. After removal of the suprarenals 



1 Saint-Remy, G., Compt. Rend, de VAcad. des Sci., 1892, vol. cxiv, 

 p. 770. 



2 Benda, C., Berl Klin. Woch., 1900, vol. xxxvii, p. 1205. 



3 Gemelli, A., Folia Neuro-bioL, 1908, vol. ii, p. 167. 



4 Bell, W. Blair, The Pituitary, 1919, 



