102 THE SEX-COMPLEX 



Uterus not such a secretion, but I think the matter is unproven, 



fnternai 1 ° Evolutionary and morphological evidence is very much 



secretion. against the likelihood that an organ of so late origin, 



and one which when present is of so unequal functional 



value, is also an organ of internal secretion. 



I prefer now to consider that 'uterin' is the ex- 

 ternal secretion of the uterus, and that its richness in 

 calcium salts may account for some of its pressor 

 properties. 



PLACENTA 



The placenta Many writers look upon the placenta as an organ 

 secretion * 1 °^ m *ernal secretion, for the most part in consequence 

 of certain recorded injection experiments, the results of 

 which, however, have been shown to be erroneous. 



Halban 1 was the first to propagate the idea that the 

 placenta is responsible for mammary activity. 



In the interpretation of the results of experimental 

 research in regard to the placenta we find much error 

 and many assumptions that are not justified, for they 

 take no account of basal premisses in regard to the 

 definition of the term * internal secretion '. I mean by 

 this last criticism that we must at once either limit our 

 definition of ' internal secretory gland', to the well- 

 recognized hormonopoietic organs — the gonads, the 

 pituitary, the thyroid and parathyroids, the suprarenals, 

 the pancreas and probably the pineal — which regulate 

 the general and the reproductive metabolism, or we must 

 include every cell in the body with its assimilative and 

 excretive functions which concern its own metabolism. 

 We must also take into account phylogeny in regard 

 to the structures under consideration. Internal secretion, 

 in my opinion, as distinct from the conception of the 

 cryptorrhceic function of every cell in the body, is the 

 function of structures of ancient phylogenetic lineage 

 which have become specialized for the vital purposes 

 of the general metabolism (and characterization) and 



1 Halban, J., Archiv.f. Gynak., 1905, vol. lxxv, p. 353. 



