DERANGEMENTS OF THE PITUITARY 195 



lobe or a large portion of it may be fatal, removal of the 

 posterior lobe produces no symptoms (p. 66 et seq.). 



This unexpected diversity in regard to experimental Supposed 

 results has led to much confusion when attempts have between 

 been made to correlate experimental data with clinical ex S er }j^j^ai al 

 observations ; indeed, so conflicting apparently were observations. 

 these two methods of investigation in the results they 

 gave, that Cushing 1 felt it necessary to discard experi- 

 mental findings in favour of clinical evidence. But 

 surely this is neither scientific nor helpful, especially 

 when there is one simple and obvious way out of all 

 these difficulties : namely, the acceptance of the view 

 I have put forward 2 concerning the unity of the whole 

 organ. There is certainly as much evidence in favour 

 of this opinion in connexion with the pituitary as 

 there is concerning the same views in regard to the 

 thyroid and parathyroids, and the medulla and cortex 

 of the suprarenals. I shall not enter into a long dis- 

 cussion of this question here, as I have considered it more 

 fully elsewhere 3 . 



Pituitary Insufficiency. — The degrees of pituitary Pituitary 

 insufficiency vary considerably. With all degrees of this J^ds to enCy 

 condition in women there is always scanty menstruation g eni *?i 



J J inactivity. 



or amenorrhcea. 



Since the development and normal functions of the 

 genitalia are dependent on the full development of the 

 pituitary body, it is only consistent that pathological 

 lesions causing insufficiency and withdrawal of its 

 secretion should lead to hypoplasia in the reproductive 

 organs with the cessation of their functions. 



Now the only specific lesions in the pituitary of which Lesions 

 we have any clinical knowledge occur in connexion with ^sufficiency 

 the anterior lobe ; and insufficiency may result from : in t t} Jf arv 

 (1) destructive lesions, such as cysts; (2) hypoplasia, 



1 Cushing, H., The Pituitary Body and Its Disorders, 1912. 



2 Bell, W. Blair, Arris and Gale Lectures, Lancet, 1913, vol. i, 

 pp. 809 and 937. 



3 Bell, W. Blair, The Pituitary, 1919. 



