t
soon after the onset of pregnancy, without interference with the
gestation.

Castration is comparable in every way with the menopause or the
time of cessation of sexual life, a process that might be called
self-castration. It produces certain general constitutional effects.
Adiposity often develops, undoubtedly associated with underfunction of
the thyroid and pituitary glands. The woman breathes less oxygen per
minute and burns up less food and tissue. There is some disturbance
of the lime balance with an increased excitability of the vegetative
nervous system. Concomitant is the release of some brake upon the
blood pressure mechanisms, so that a family tendency to high blood
pressure will flare up. Some women are rendered unstable by the
process, others are completely transformed, and still others adapt
themselves, with little or no discomfort, to the new situation. The
response to the revolution in the cell-republic of the castrate by
the other endocrines, the thyroid, the pituitary, and the adrenals,
determines which it is to be.

For normally, with feminine puberty, there is an increased activity of
the thyroid, the posterior pituitary and the adrenal medulla. These
changes indeed constitute the formula of normal feminization. In the
male, the ripening of the testes is accompanied or perhaps preceded by
augmented function of the adrenal cortex and the anterior pituitary.
This difference in biochemistry accounts for the contrast between the
sexes in the skin, hair, fat, cartilage (voice) and bone changes.
Ovary and adrenal medulla and posterior pituitary and thyroid
predominance constitute the feminine formula. Testis and adrenal
cortex and anterior pituitary predominance comprise the masculine
endocrine directorate.

THE REACTIONS OF THE OTHER GLANDS

As in so many other aspects, the facts about the various influences
exerted by the endocrine glands upon the reproductive system are
complicated and disjointed. A chink of light has been let in upon a
dark cave, and slowly the chink will widen. But the gross effects are
clear.

Around the ovary and the uterus, the endocrines gyrate as the planets
around the sun. The ovary is the organ for the preservation and
maturation of the germ plasm, that treasure which the body is built
but to cherish and hand on as a sacred heirloom. The ova, the female
egg cells, are the fundamental concern of the ovary. Secondarily, it
secretes its messengers to keep the rest of the