Results of Experimental Removal of Pineal Gland in Young Mammals

Since the beginning of the present century there has existed a quiet but continuous dissension among neurophysiologists on the question of the significance of the epiphysis. Indeed, the argument goes back much further, for in 1576 Galen1described the conarium and called it a gland; Descartes,2in 1649, conceived the structure to be the seat of the soul; Majendie,3in 1795, with more practical application, expressed the belief that the pineal body played a mechanical role in the flow of the cerebrospinal fluid. Since then, many investigators have studied the epiphysis and assigned to it various roles: a stimulator of sexual growth; an inhibitor of sexual growth; a rudimentary third eye carried over from the reptile stage; a true endocrine gland; a nonglandular structure with regressive characteristics as the phyla ascend, and a structure with no function of any nature whatever. Regardless of its degree or nature