Clinical Syndromes due to 

 Suprarenal Diseases* 



Pubertas Precox 



HENEY D. JUMP 



PHILADELPHIA 



Synonyms: (Macro genito somia precox, Precocious Puberty, and Pre- 

 cocious Maturity. ) 



Pubertas precox may be defined as that condition in which the sec- 

 ondary characteristics of sex appear before the usual age of puberty, with 

 manifestations of sexual maturity. The subjects show rapid growth of 

 body weight and height often; increase in size of penis and testicles in 

 boys, of the labia and breasts in girls: growth of hair on the pubes, in 

 the axillae and also, in the case of boys, on the face: greater prominence 

 of the mons veneris. The girls menstruate more or less regularly: J. 

 L. Morse in 1897 referred to cases which became pregnant respectively 

 at 8, 81/2 years and 11 years. Beekman says sexual desires appear tardily, 

 but of the 151 cases which he collected 11 became pregnant. The boys 

 show frequent erections, pollutions and masturbation. Modesty is usually 

 no more developed than in children of the same age except at the menstrual 

 period, when bashfulness may also be manifested. The mentality of these 

 children is usually that of others of like age. In some, however, it is 

 precocious as in the case of Frankl-Hochwart, a boy who asked questions 

 concerning immortality. On the other hand in some the mentality is low. 

 In a few the child appears otherwise to be in normal health. Von Haller 

 quoted by Falta(d), reports a girl who began to menstruate at 2 years of 

 age, became pregnant at 8 and lived to be 75 years old. Many however 

 who have tumors of the brain exhibit other signs of brain tumor and die 

 fairly young. 



The condition must not be confused with the irregular genital bleed- 

 ing often seen in new born female infants, which lasts a short time and 

 does not recur. It must be differentiated from Virilismus, in which pre- 

 cocious bodily and mental development are associated with unusual growth 

 of hair on the mons and face and in the axillary regions; in this condi- 

 tion menstruation and other signs of sexual maturity do not occur. 



Evidence is cumulative that development of secondary sexual char- 

 acteristics is dependent upon influences emanating from certain endocrin- 



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