The important role played by oestrogens in mammary development has been established by numerous experiments on small animals [for review see Folley, 1940]. Similar results for the ruminant were reported by de Fremery [1936, 1938] who caused mammary growth in virgin goats by inunction of the udder site with ointment containing oestradiol monobenzoate; lactation was subsequently induced in these animals, but only after further treatment with anterior-pituitary extract containing prolactin. This work agreed with current views according to which the effects of oestrogens on lactation, both potential and established, were regarded as purely inhibitory. The adequacy of this theory was first seriously called in question by the experiments of Folley, Scott Watson & Bottomley [1940, 1941a], who showed that copious lactation could be produced in virgin goats by inunction of the udder region with ointment containing diethylstilboestrol. No anterior-pituitary extract was necessary, and lactation was initiated and the yield
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Folley et al. (1944) studied this question.