84 THE SEX-COMPLEX 



EFFECTS OF THYMECTOMY AND DESTRUCTION OF THE 

 THYMUS ON THE GO NADS AND ON THE CALCIUM 

 METABOLISM 



Effects of Paton 1 found that if the operation be performed 



before puberty there is a rapid development of the male 

 genital glands. It appears, therefore, that the thymus 

 either inhibits the development of the gonads (Biedl 2 ), or 

 that their development causes atrophy of the thymus. 

 We have, on the other hand, already seen that the 

 thymus undergoes hyperplasia after removal of the 

 ovaries (p. 40). 



Hewer 3 states that irradiation of the thymus with 

 X-rays causes slight degeneration of the gonads in the 

 rat, and delay in the onset of sexual maturity in the 

 young male animal, but that no such effect is produced 

 in regard to the female rat. The experiments of this 

 investigator are, however, not satisfactory in the matter 

 of controls. 



It is supposed by some that the thymus is intimately 

 connected with the calcium metabolism ; but, although 

 several investigators (Basch 4 , Cozzolino 5 , Tarulli and 

 Lomonaco 6 ) have found that rickets follows thymec- 

 tomy in young animals, an effect not confirmed by 

 Paton, or by Renton and Robertson 7 , it can hardly be, 

 as Biedl suggests, that the effect of its secretion is to 

 cause calcium retention in the bones, for the skeletal 

 structures become much more heavily laden with calcium 

 phosphate after puberty when the gland atrophies. 



The matter is one of considerable difficulty. But if 



1 Paton, N., Journ. PhysioL, 1904, vol. xxxii, p. 59. 



2 Biedl, A., Innere Sekretion, 1913, 2nd ed. 



8 Hewer, E., Journ. Physiol, 1916, vol. 1, p. 488. 



* Basch, K., Wien. Klin. Woch., 1903, vol. xvi, p. 893. 



5 Cozzolino, O., La Pediatria, 1903, vol. i, pp. 144, 620. 



6 Tarulli, L., and D. Lomonaco, Boll. E. Accad. Med. di Roma, 

 1897-8, vol. xxiii, p. 311. 



7 Renton, J. M., and M. E. Robertson, Journ. Pathol. and Bacteriol, 

 1916, vol. xxi, p. 1. 



