THE FUNCTION OF THE OVARY 215 



to precocious sexual development. This is not well 

 proven. The thymus is also antagonistic ; its abnormal 

 persistence results in delayed puberty and sexual in- 

 fantilism. If it atrophies early precocious puberty 

 supervenes and the girl's growth is stunted, owing to 

 the ensuing loss of calcium and consequent disturb- 

 ance of bony development. 



With the subsidence of the pineal and thymus there 

 is left, in the adult, the thyroid, pituitary and adrenal 

 cortex to reckon with in any consideration of the 

 ovary. The action of the thyroid and pituitary upon 

 the ovary is such that depending on variations in their 

 functional activity "there is a normal menstruation, 

 menorrhagia, relative amenorrhea, or varying degrees 

 of actual amenorrhea." 5 



The menstrual history of a woman's life and the 

 part played in it by the ovary and other endocrine 

 glands is interesting. For approximately twelve or 

 fifteen years the thymus dominates the situation and 

 there is no development of secondary sexual char- 

 acteristics and no menstrual flow. At the end of that 

 time the ovary either begins to function or adds a new 

 secretion to its repertoire and the thymus fades away. 

 The thyroid certainly, and the pituitary probably, as- 

 sume added activities at that time and the menstrual 

 flow begins, a phenomenon that continues more or less 

 regularly for about thirty years. At the menopause 

 the ovary undergoes some atrophy and some related 

 change of function, menstruation ceases and probably 

 the pituitary becomes less active or ceases its endo- 

 crine service entirely. The role of the thyroid is dis- 

 puted, some claiming that there is a hypofunction and 

 others a hyperfunction. It seems to me about equally 

 divided, some being influenced the one way and some 

 the other. I hope soon to have something definite to 

 say on this point by measuring the basal metabolic rate 

 of a series of women at various stages in the meno- 



