154 



THE SEX-COMPLEX 



Sexual 

 precocity 

 in boys. 



Sexual 

 precocity in 

 girls. 



in the pineal 1 ' 2 ' 3 ' 4 , and possibly also in the pituitary 4 . 

 It is believed that in these circumstances there is an 

 increase in the normal secretion of the organ concerned, 

 except in the case of the pineal in which there is a 

 decrease. 



On the other hand, my investigations concerning the 

 details of the recorded cases of sexual precocity in 

 girls showed that true feminine sexual precocity appears 

 to be produced by tumours and hyperplasia in the ovaries 

 almost invariably ; for changes in the suprarenal cortex, 

 the pineal, and the pituitary, resembling those which in 

 boys produce precocity, in girls tend to produce mascu- 

 linity 4 . Now, masculinity cannot be considered female 

 sexual precocity, although there is little doubt that in 

 some of the recorded cases 5 ' 6 masculinity with, per- 

 haps, adult manifestations, such as hair on the pubes, has 

 been described as feminine precocity. The essential 

 phenomena, however, associated with feminine sexual 

 precocity are the early development of the adult 

 feminine secondary characteristics, and the functional 

 activity of those organs which are peculiar to the female 

 sex. 



It can quite easily be understood that the mere 

 appearance of hair on the pubes and other signs of 

 puberty may, as explained above, have no relation to 

 feminine precocity, but, rather, to the change to adult 

 (or precocious) masculinity, which may be produced in a 

 true female or in a female partial hermaphrodite. 



If this be so, we have almost always to consider pre- 

 cocious puberty in girls in relation to ovarian neoplasms 



1 Williams, Roger, Brit. Gyncecol. Journ., 1902, vol. xviii, p. 85. 



2 Bulloch, W., and J. H. Sequeira, Trans. Path. Soc., 1905, vol. 

 Ivi, p. 189. 



3 Glynn, E. E., Quart. Journ. Med., 1912, vol. v, p. 156. 



4 Bell, W. Blair, Proc. Roy. Soc. Med. (Obstet. andGyncecol. Sect.), 

 1913, vol. vii, p. 47. 



5 Orth, Arbeiten aus den Path. Institut za Gottingen, Berlin, 1893. 

 (Quoted by W. Bulloch and J. H. Sequeira, Trans. Path. Soc., 1905 

 vol. Ivi, p. 189.) 



6 Pitman, H. A., Lancet, 1865, vol. i, p. 175. 



