INFLUENCE OF OVAEY ON GENERATIVE TRACT 613 



dictum of, "Propter uterum solum mulier eat quod est" has become 

 obsolete. It was Vircbow who said, "Woman is woman by reason of her 

 generative glands. All the peculiarities of her body and mind, everything, 

 in fact, which in the true woman we admire and revere as womanly, is 

 dependent upon the ovary." 



The various distinctive signs of sex which make themselves evident 

 in each sex at the age of puberty the difference in voice, in body contour, 

 in mammary development, etc. were designated by John Hunter as the 

 "secondary sex characteristics." It is still a moot question as to whether 

 these are due to the activity of the gonads, or whether they are to be 

 looked upon as innate racial characteristics of the two sexes, irrespective 

 of a possible gonad influence. The latter view is ably championed by 

 Tandler and Grosz (/), and endorsed also in the recent comprehen- 

 sive contribution of Hofstatter. Biedl, on the other hand, believes that 

 the secondary sexual differences are dependent on the activity of 

 the gonads. While the question is not to be looked upon as settled, it is 

 perhaps true that the gonad theory is held by the majority of inves- 

 tigators. 



Although the ovary, at the age of puberty, may be said to dominate 

 the endocrine activities of the female, it must not be assumed that the 

 other endocrine organs plan no role in the characteristic developmental 

 changes of this period. That the thyroid, pituitary and suprarenal are of 

 great importance in this connection is amply illustrated by the influence 

 of functional abnormalities of these organs on both the primary and 

 secondary sex characteristics of the female. This idea is epitomized by 

 Bell (a) (c), in his revision of Virchow's dictum, already quoted, viz,: 

 "Propter secretiones internas totas mulier eat quod eat." 



From a local standpoint, the most conspicuous change of puberty is 

 the marked increase in size of the uterus, which may almost double in size 

 within a very short period. The increase affects almost altogether the 

 body of the uterus, which portion is apparently under the direct control 

 of the ovary. The cervix may remain almost stationary in size. These 

 changes are well shown by a comparison of two of my specimens, one 

 representing the uterus of a child of 9, the other that of a child of 14. 

 The length of the 9-year-old uterus is 35 mm., while the 14-year-old organ 

 is 57 mm. in length. The cervices are almost equal, one measuring 22 

 mm., the other 27 mm. The body of the 14-year-old girl's uterus, how- 

 ever, is more than twice as large as that of the 9-year-old child, measuring 

 30 mm. as against 13 mm. 



