356 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 



a very moderate or doubtful success, while a few state that the results 

 are nearly always unsatisfactory.^ The method of administering the 

 extract by the mouth is open to the criticism that the "active 

 principle " of the ovarian secretion may be altered in the metabolic 

 processes of digestion. Moreover, it is by no means certain that the 

 "active principle" may not be destroyed in the manufacture of the 

 preparations. Again, it is not unlikely that the effects of ovarian 

 medication may depend, not only upon the method of preparing the 

 extracts, but also upon the condition of the ovaries from which the 

 extracts are made, and it would seem unreasonable to expect to obtain 

 uniform results from the indiscriminate usage of ovaries in different 

 stages of cyclical activity {e.g. ovaries with prominent follicles like 

 those from animals " on heat/' or ovaries with corpora lutea like those 

 of pregnant animals, or ovaries in a state of relative quiescence like 

 those of anoestrous animals). Nevertheless ovarian medication 

 frequently in conjunction with the usage of other gland extracts 

 (mammary gland or thyroid) continues to be practised, and in many 

 instances valuable results are said to be obtained. 



The effects are discussed at some length in a memoir by Bestion 

 de Camboulas,^ who describes a large number of experiments upon 

 dogs, rabbits, and guinea-pigs, as well' as a series of clinical observa- 

 tions. Experiments were performed on male animals as well as on 

 female ones. The lethal injection of ovarian extract was found to be 

 about twice as much in non-pregnant females as in males or pregnant 

 females. With non-toxic doses the females gained weight, but the 

 males lost weight. The lesions discovered after lethal doses were 

 congestion of the viscera, and minute haemorrhages in the dorsal and 

 lumbar regions of the spinal cord. Bestion also administered ovarian 

 extract to his patients, and states that he obtained distinctly beneficial 

 results. Menopause troubles are described as either disappearing 

 altogether or becoming much ameliorated, while rapid improvement 

 was observed in cases of chlorosis and amenorrhoea. Bestion says 

 that ovarian extract should never be administered to pregnant 

 women, since it causes such grave results when given to pregnant 

 animals. 



Jentzner and Beuttner ^ found that the subcutaneous injection of 

 ovarian extract in castrated animals did not supply the place of living 

 ovarian substance, and Mr. Carmichael and the present writer* 

 ■experienced a similar result after making a series of intra-peritoneal 



1 For references to the literature of ovarian medication, see Andrews,, 

 "'Internal Secretion of the Ovary," •Tov/r. of Obstet. and Gyn., vol. v., 1904. 



^ Bestion de Camboulas, Le Sue Ovarien, Paris, 1898. 



3 Jentzner and Beuttner, " Experimentelle Untersuchungen zur Frage der 

 Castrationsatrophie," Zeitsch. f. Gehurtsh. u. GynaJc., vol. xlii., 1900. 



* Carmichael and Marshall, loc. dt. 



