41 INTERNAL SECRETION 



may possess important secretory functions. With the exception 

 of the cyclic symptoms in the genital tract, and certain processes 

 which take place during pregnancy which are referable to the 

 activity of the hormone of the interstitial gland, the Graafian 

 follicles are probably responsible for all the chemical correlation- 

 ships which are ascribed to the ovary as a whole. There is proof 

 that the maintenance of one important sex characteristic, the 

 female genital tract, is dependent upon these follicles. The 

 question as to which tissue is the primary origin of this, as of the 

 other, female secondary characters, has scarcely as yet come under 

 discussion. 



That the tissue which performs the function of external 

 secretion is also the site of production of the ovarian non-sexual 

 hormone, which exercises an alterative influence upon a large 

 number of tissues and functions, is suggested by analogy with 

 the male sexual gland. 



In conclusion, reference must be made to Bucura's assump- 

 tion of an internal secretory function on the part of the parovarium 

 or epoophoron (remains of the Wolffian body), and his experi- 

 mental attempts to prove such secretion. Bucura's investigations 

 confirm the reports of earlier authors, that the epoophoron is an 

 organ which continues to develop after birth, that it attains the 

 summit of its development at puberty, that it apparently hyper- 

 trophies during pregnancy, atrophies with old age, and, from 

 the nature of its structure, may possess an internal secretory 

 function. He found that the uterus reacts differently to ovarian 

 extirpation if the parovarium is removed with it, and that both 

 these results differ from that which follows the customary method 

 of extirpating the uterine appendages. The difference in the 

 appearance of the uterus is due to the manner in which the con- 

 nective tissue is affected. Owing, however, to the extreme 

 scarcity of experimental material, it is impossible at present to 

 arrive at any definite conclusion concerning the function of this 

 appendage of the female genital gland. 



INTERNAL SECRETION OF OTHER PARTS OF THE 

 GENITAL APPARATUS. 



Prostate. It is well known that the prostate is a glandular 

 organ possessing an external secretion which promotes the activity 

 of the soermatozoa, partly by a scecific stimulatorv influence, 

 and partly by diluting and increasing the fluidity of the testicular 

 secretion (Fiirbringer, Exner, Steinach). From the results of 

 experiments and from clinical observation, Serralach and Pares 

 (1907) assumed an internal secretion on the part of the prostate. 

 They found that after removal of the prostate of dogs, there was 

 cessation of ejaculation of semen and suppression of the secretion 

 of the preputial glands, temporary cessation of spermatogenesis 



