382 INTERNAL SECRETION 



is not confined to the organs which are functionally related to 

 them ; that this influence extends to other physiological activities 

 is shown by the following observations. 



The menstrual flow is sometimes accompanied by certain 

 nervous phenomena known as the molimen menstruale, and by 

 regular fluctuations affecting different functions, such as tempera- 

 ture, pulse, blood-pressure, and muscular power. For this 

 reason it is customary to speak of " undulations " in the female 

 vital processes. These menstrual waves are not dependent upon 

 the periodic loss of blood nor upon the activity of the uterus 

 during menstruation ; for the phenomena persist for a varying 

 length of time after hysterectomy. In such cases, moreover, 

 molimen menstruale without menstruation is also sometimes 

 observed. But both menstruation and the menstrual wave dis- 

 appear after suppression of the ovarian function, as at the meno- 

 pause ; after the operative removal of the ovaries ; and as an after- 

 consequence of hysterectomy (Mandl and Burger). 



It is a common clinical experience (Chrobak, Landau) that 

 the symptoms which follow cessation of the ovarian function, all 

 the derangements, in fact, by which the climacteric is accom- 

 panied, are favourably influenced by the exhibition of ovarian 

 extract. Bucura has recently recommended the milk of rutting 

 cows in the management of the physiological or artificial meno- 

 pause. 



THE SEXUALLY UNDIFFERENTIATED ACTIVITY OF 

 THE HORMONE IN THE GENERATIVE GLANDS. 



The influence of the internal secretion of the generative 

 glands is not confined to the development of the secondary somatic 

 sex characteristics, but has a far-reaching effect upon a large 

 number of organs and upon the general metabolism. The pro- 

 found influence which this hormone has upon the organism is 

 apparently independent of sex, and is thus not specific to the 

 male or the female genital gland. 



Of paramount importance is the effect of the genital glands 

 upon the growth of the skeleton. That this is the case in man 

 (eunuchs, and young males with atrophied testicles) was known 

 to, and pointed out by, the older authors. Sellheim found that 

 the castration of cocks has a modifying effect upon the growth of 

 the bones. Changes take place in the skull, in the pelvis, and in 

 the bones of the extremities ; and these consist in increased longi- 

 tudinal growth with retarded ossification of the epiphysal carti- 

 lages. Similar changes were afterwards observed by Sellheim in 

 castrated dogs, horses, and cattle; and his results are confirmed by 

 Poncet, Briau, Pirche, Mobius, and many others, whose observa- 

 tions extended, to animals of other species. Poncet found that 

 the entire skeleton was more powerfully formed ; that the skull, 



