40 SMITH ELY JELLIFFE 



This interrelationship hypothesis is that destruction of the pineal calls 

 forth an over-compensatory hypertrophy of the gonadal systems, which 

 results in the early sexual ripening of the vegetative, sensori-motor and 

 symbolic sexual factors. Timme has described a series of resultant end- 

 products in the vegetative field. 



Since Pellizzi's (1910) cases are known practically only through ab- 

 stracts of his original paper they are here reported more in detail ; neither 

 of the cases were autopsied. According to a personal communication from 

 Pellizzi (1920) his first patient is still alive in South America. 



Case i e [G. B.] A boy five years of age of healthy parents. Growth was 

 normal in infancy. At seven months the penis began to enlarge and the body 

 weight was above the average. The dentition was retarded, the first teeth 

 appearing at fourteen months; speech was retarded slightly until about the 

 twentieth month, when he commenced to use a few words. Erections were 

 noted at the age of two and followed shortly by ejaculation. The body weight 

 was above the average but the general mental development was not as robust 

 as the physical development. Ejaculation occurred at night and also in the 

 day time at weekly intervals; was not apparently induced by masturbation, and 

 the semen contained "hemaspermi numerosi." The psychical development of the 

 boy was retarded. He spoke many words badly, was capricious, bad tempered, 

 vicious, and very irritable. 



At his entrance into the clinic at Pisa he was four and a half years of age. 

 His head was comparatively large, the body robust and strong, the skin was 

 pink, the fat was ample, but not excessive, and muscular development was good. The 

 bony development was in good proportion. The teeth were sound, twenty in 

 number. The penis was large, the entire genital apparatus like that of an adult, 

 and well covered with dark hair. The testicles were well developed. The axillary 

 hair was also well developed. Radiographic study showed the ossification of 

 an adult of from sixteen to nineteen years of age. The sella turcica was normal. 

 The Binet Simon tests showed a psychological age of about four. 



The diagnosis of pineal involvement was evidently made solely upon 

 the hypothesis that the macro genitosomia precoce was per se due to pineal 

 disease as no symptoms referable to this organ were present in the history. 

 ^N"o pineal shadow was demonstrable on the X-ray plate illustrating the 

 head, which, as the author remarks, is not very good, as it was hard to 

 keep the boy quiet. 



Case II. This history was taken from the notes of the clinic and not 

 seen by the author : 



A. R. had entered the clinic in 1901. He was then five years of age. The 

 parents were healthy. He was normally born, being one of ten children. He 

 had a severe enteritis as a baby and then had some, slight convulsive movements 

 limited to the ocular muscles at the age of six months. They then became general, 

 but were not severe. When he was a year old he was somewhat rachitic and 

 hydrocephalic. The head was large, with prominent frontal bosses. The mental 

 development was slow. At about the age of two the penis and testicles began to 

 increase in size, the body remaining proportionate to the age. The muscles of 

 the arms were larger than normal, those of the leg were flaccid and hypotonic 

 Marked voracity was present. 



At five the boy was markedly hydrocephalic, with large asymmetrical head. 



