224 



THE SEX-COMPLEX 



functions. 



influence of The influence of psychoses on the genital 

 tnTge™ttai° n functions. — Psychoses may arise quite independently 

 of the genital functions, and, nevertheless, be associated 

 with anomalies of those functions. Thus, it is quite 

 common to see amenorrhcea in association with insanities 

 ■ — indeed, some alienists describe an ' amenorrhceal in- 

 sanity' 1 ; but most observers look upon the ameno- 

 rrhcea as a concomitant phenomenon, and not as the 

 cause of the mental derangement. That atrophy of 

 the ovary is the causal factor in these cases is some- 

 what disproved by the fact that recovery frequently 

 takes place in regard both to the mental and menstrual 

 disorders. 



Mott has laid stress on the fact that the ovaries are 

 often found to be atrophic in cases of insanity, but, 

 while this is undoubtedly true in some cases, it is 

 unfortunate that this author selects for an example the 

 case of a woman, who at the post-climacteric age of 57 

 years was found post mortem to have an " infantile 

 uterus " and atrophic ovaries ! One would expect to 

 find the ovaries atrophic and the uterus senile (not 

 infantile) at this time of life, apart from gonorrhceal 

 infections or hypothyroidism, which, also, were said to 

 have existed. The sexual and reproductive history of 

 this case, although of considerable importance, is not 

 given. 



In 1917, after the first edition of this work had 

 been published, two papers, which may be of some im- 

 portance in regard to the condition of the sex-glands in 

 insanity, appeared. The researches on which they were 

 based had been conducted under the supervision of Mott. 

 In the first, by the late Laura Forster 2 , which was 

 published with an addendum by Mott, it is stated that 

 there is a definite scarcity in the number of healthy 

 Graafian follicles in the ovaries of women suffering with 



1 Ewart, C. T., and others, Proc. Roy. Soc. Med. (Obstet. and 

 Oynmcol. Sect.), 1911, vol. v, p. 81. 



2 Forster, Laura, Proc. Roy. Soc, Med. {Sect. Psychiat.), 1917, 

 vol. x, p. 65. 



Dementia 

 prsecox and 

 genital 

 atrophy. 



