call the ova the sex glands is to confer
upon them a name which really belongs to a chain of glands.

All of the members of the sex chain, including those of the thyroid,
the adrenal and the pituitary, are necessary to the functions of
menstruation, impregnation, settlement of fertilized ovum in the wall
of the uterus, labor and lactation. A disturbance of one of them will
set up disturbances all along the line, and a resonance of distress
or compensation upon the part of all of them. As an interlocking
directorate over the sexual functions of the female, they are members
one of the other. So what helps or hurts one, helps or hurts all.

THE CYCLE OF MENSTRUATION

Essentially, the ovary is a collection of follicles, nests of
cells, acting as safe deposit vaults for the ova that are to become
candidates for fertilization. At birth, there are some 30,000 to
200,000 of these, of which a good many atrophy during childhood so
that there are no more than about 30,000 left at puberty. Of the
30,000, only an elite 400 actually mature between the ages of fifteen
and forty-five. About every twenty-eight days, one of the follicles
swells, becomes filled with liquid, pushes or is pushed to the surface
of the ovary, there to rupture and expel into the abdominal cavity the
tiny ripe ovum. The rest of the torn follicle makes itself over into
a peculiar yellowish body, the true corpus luteum, should pregnancy
occur. If pregnancy and the consequent placenta do not occur, it
shrinks and turns into a scar, the false corpus luteum. The true
corpus luteum resembles closely the adrenal cortex in make-up and
staining reactions. It seems as if, once successful impregnation has
been achieved, the feminine organism adrenalizes itself, makes itself
more masculine and less feminine, inhibiting the posterior pituitary
and the adrenal medulla, as well as the ovaries. Besides, the corpus
luteum stimulates the thyroid to prepare for the heavy demands to be
made upon it during pregnancy.

Before menstruation, there is a stage of preparation, a stir and
twittering of the endocrines, the premenstrual state. Currents of
communication flow between the different glands, messages and replies
pass to and fro. When these are properly balanced, so that all goes
well, the consciousness of the woman will be disturbed by no knowledge
of them. In some women abnormal sensations appear, a sense of fullness
in the breasts, or of weight in the back or pelvis, or p