158 



THE SEX-COMPLEX 



Ovaries in 

 the cretin. 



Ductless 

 glands in 

 the cretin. 



Cortical 



suprarenal 



tumours 



before 



puberty. 



Sexual 

 ateleiosis. 



smooth, and the uterus was well formed. On histological 

 examination the ovaries were found to be devoid of 

 Graafian follicles, but bands of hyaline substance, which 

 represented the remains of atretic follicles, or possibly 

 of corpora lutea, were seen (fig. 51). The stroma of the 

 ovary, which was very dense, was not composed of 

 fibrous tissue for it was stained yellow by van Gieson's 

 method. The endometrium contained but few glands, 

 and these were embedded in a very dense stroma (fig. 52). 

 The thyroid was entirely absent, but the parathyroids 

 were present and showed a tendency to form colloid 

 (fig. 53). The pituitary was enlarged and altered in 

 structure. The pars anterior was very rich in chromo- 

 phobe and basophil cells, but there were very few eosino- 

 phil cells. This lobe was divided up by broad bands 

 and masses of a structureless substance that might be 

 secretion. There was a thick fibrous tissue capsule 

 surrounding the whole pituitary body. The pars inter- 

 media contained some ' colloid ' and appeared normal. 

 The pars nervosa also appeared almost normal. It was, 

 however, more teased out in appearance than is usual. 



This patient had taken thyroid extract for some 

 years. It is possible that if she had been treated from an 

 early age the genital functions might have been aroused, 

 for there was no doubt that development of the repro- 

 ductive organs had advanced far beyond the fcetal 

 stage, and had, indeed, reached that seen at puberty. 



Again, cortical neoplasms in the suprarenals which, 

 as we have seen, lead to sexual precocity and muscular 

 development in boys, cause atrophy of the genitalia in 

 women, and when present before puberty would prob- 

 ably, if the child survived, prevent that period of 

 development occurring. 



In the type of infantilism described by Hastings 

 Gilford 1 under the name of ' sexual ateleiosis ', and 

 in that defined by Byrom Bramwell 2 as ' pancreatic 



1 Gilford, Hastings, ' Infantilism ', Hunterian Lect., Lancet, 1914, 

 vol. i, p. 587. 



2 Bramwell, Byrom, Edin. Med. Journ., 1915, New Ser., vol. xiv, 

 p. 323. 



