duce the hormone of the opposite sex as a by-product and they ex- crete most of it. Curiously, the most potent source of natural fe- male sex hormone is the urine of stallions. It is manufactured by the male organism and is excreted as unneeded. It may be pointed out here, while passing, that the ovaries and the testes are not the only places in the body where hormonally active chemicals are made. The adrenal gland cortex is also intimately involved in these matters and diseases of the cortex lead to outward sex changes too.
Again the
Modern medicine has found the hormone of the so-called weaker sex is beneficial to the male in at least three pathological states. (1) It has been used for sometime in treatment of cancer of the prostate---8 specifically male disease. (2) It has recently been reported that it is beneficial in certain types of heart disease. Apparently the male builds up more fatty deposits on the walls of the arteries leading to reduced diameter, restriction of blood flow and therefore of increased blood pressure. The female does not do this to such an extent and it has been found that administering small amounts of female hormone...estrogen...in amounts less than those which promote feminization or loss of sexual potency helps control these fatty deposits. (3) Quite recently the hormone has been claimed to be beneficial in cases of lung cancer. conclusion was arrived at by the observation that women did not have such a high incidence of the disease. So nature evidently makes use of both hormones in the same individual. Life is a balance. The FP is interested in taking female hormone for the purpose of promoting a certain amount of breast development. This can us- ually be accomplished, though the action of hormones varies widely from individual to individual and results cannot always be assured. While breast development is the desired end of such administration, it must be pointed out that over a certain threshold the adminis- tration of estrogenic substances to the male results in loss of sex- ual potency...erection becomes less common and sometimes impossible. This condition is not permanent since it will revert to normal after discontinuing treatment. The administration of such hormone substances should not be undertaken promiscously, however, or with- out a doctor's knowledge and advice. The uninitiated would not know which of the many types to take nor how much or how long. On top of this is the fact that it is illegal to dispense such drugs without a doctor's presciption.
It is probable that the administration of amounts of hormone
75.