194 THE SEX-COMPLEX 



Disturbances of the Pineal Secretion 



Sexual Beyond what has already been said of the influence of 



precoci y. ^ e pineal on sexual precocity and on the sex-character- 

 istics (p. 153, etseq.), very little is known of the relation- 

 ship, if there be any, of the pineal to the genital functions. 

 Ott and Scott 1 state that injections of pineal extract 

 have a galactogogue effect ; but this was not confirmed 

 by Schafer and Mackenzie 2 . It is probable that since 

 partial involution occurs at puberty the pineal exerts 

 but little influence in normal circumstances on the 

 genital functions. 



Kidd 3 , in a comprehensive review of the literature 

 concerning the pineal body, gives no case in which a 

 lesion of this organ has been recorded in an adult woman ; 

 indeed, practically all the known cases have occurred 

 in male children. 



Disturbances of the Pituitary Secretion 



The unity of In any attempt to understand the influence pituitary 



and^sterior l es i° ns exercise over the normal genital functions we are 



lobes of the forced to recognize the unity of the pituitary body. By 



this statement I do not mean to create a paradox, for 



it has already been demonstrated that extracts of the 



two main portions of the pituitary do not produce the 



same physiological effects, and that removal of the two 



lobes separately in different individuals in the same 



species of mammal may lead to different results. At the 



same time these results in themselves are somewhat 



paradoxical, for the extract of the posterior lobe is 



active — and extremely so — while that of the anterior 



lobe is, so far as we know, inactive from an experimental 



point of view ; and, although removal of the anterior 



1 Ott, I., and Scott, J. C.,Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol, and Med. s 1910-11, 

 vol. viii, p. 48. 



2 Schafer, E. A., and Mackenzie, K., Proc. Roy. Soc, Ser. B., 1911, 

 vol. lxxxiv, p. 22. 



3 Kidd, L. J., Rev. Neurol, and PsycMat., 1913, vol. xi, p. 1. 



