66 



THE SEX-COMPLEX 



Removal of 

 the pituitary, 



Results 

 obtained by 

 Gushing. 



Results 

 obtained by 

 Biedl and 

 Paulesco. 



GENERAL EFFECTS OF REMOVAL OF THE PITUITARY 

 (PARTIAL OR COMPLETE) 



Most of the early work on the extirpation of the 

 pituitary was absolutely unreliable, and it was not 

 until Paulesco 1 improved the technique, which Crowe, 

 Harvey Cushing and Homans 2 , Biedl 3 and I myself 4 

 subsequently adopted with slight modifications, that 

 results worthy of any consideration were obtained. 



The conclusions drawn by Cushing and his fellow- 

 workers from their experiments may be summed up as 

 follows : 



Complete extirpation causes death in a short time. 

 The same effect is obtained by complete extirpation of 

 the pars anterior. Partial removal of the anterior lobe 

 leads to the condition known as dystrophia adiposo- 

 genitalis that is to say, there is great obesity with 

 atrophy of the genital organs, and in young animals 

 somatic infantilism. Separation of the stalk has the 

 same effect as removal of the whole organ and immediate 

 transplantation ; and removal of the posterior lobe 

 produces no symptoms. 



Biedl, without giving details, states that he has 

 confirmed most of these findings, but he asserts that 

 while the posterior lobe (pars intermedia and pars 

 nervosa) may be removed without producing symptoms, 

 yet severing the stalk results in death. Paulesco had 

 previously obtained results similar to those of Biedl in 

 regard to separation of the stalk. 



It may be thought difficult to believe in the results 

 of experiments in which the anterior or posterior lobe 

 are said to have been removed separately and completely. 

 There can be no doubt, however, that partial removal of 



1 Paulesco, N. C., Journ. Physiol. Pathol Gen., 1907, vol. ix, p. 441 ; 

 L'hypophyse du cerveau, 1908. 



2 Crowe, S.J.,H. Cushing, and J. Homans, Bull. Johns Hopk. Hosp., 

 1910, vol. xxi, p. 127. 



3 Biedl, A., Innere SeJcretion, 1913, 2nd ed. 



4 Bell, W. Blair, Quart. Journ. Exper. Physiol, 1917, vol. xi., p. 77. 



