Letters to Editor

Abstract

DR. CRAMER alleges “several inaccuracies” in my letter, but the only “inaccuracy” specified, is the failure to cite a paper by himself and Dr. Horning dealing with pathological conditions in the adrenals. It was obviously impossible to give a full bibliography of the subject, and reference was made to the more recent paper (Cramer and Horning, Lancet, June 1937). The main facts regarding the sex difference in the mouse adrenal are well established, and various histological techniques have been successfully used by different workers. No good purpose would be served by controversy on the subject in these columns. The size of the X-zone in the female may vary in different mice, but its presence is certainly independent of inbreeding or pathological conditions. The dwarf mice referred to in my letter are born from phenotypically normal parents carrying a recessive Mendelian factor, and their production is not dependent on inbreeding. Their interest lies in the congenital pituitary deficiency, to which one may reasonably ascribe the absence of the usual response of the adrenal cortex to castration.