268 THE ENZYME TREATMENT OF CANCER
a
short paper in the Anatomischer Anzeiger, 1897, bearing the title “ The
Rhythm of Reproduction in Mammalia.” This is merely a brief abstract of a small
book of 132 pages published for me in 1897 by Gustav Fischer, Jena, under the
title of “ The Span of Gestation and the Cause of Birth.” The corpus luteum is
mentioned on pp. 82 and 118. As the full original paper is still on sale, it is
not clear why Dr. Loeb refers merely to the author’s abstract, published for
the sake of drawing the attention of anatomists, physiologists, and
embryologists to the former. Then, as a perusal of the complete paper would
have shown, I was concerned only with the influence of the corpus luteum on
ovulation, and in a paper treating of the Rhythm of Reproduction and the Span
of Gestation there was no particular reason why other influences of the corpus
luteum should be inquired into. Dr. Loeb now confirms this influence, and a
very significant power it is, especially in the light of our present knowledge
that the cells of the corpus luteum are sister cells of the egg— its degraded
sisters—which provide for its welfare in the ovary and after fertilization. It
is interesting and important to note the find of Dr. Loeb that the corpus
luteum “delays ovulation also in non-pregnant animals.” The research on the”
Span of Gestation “ revealed many, many things to its author, but, while it
taught him that the “span” had been prolonged, and the ovulation intervals
(units) also, it failed to disclose to him the mechanism of this latter. Now,
in my opinion, Dr. Loeb is right in saying that “ it (i.e., the corpus
luteum) changes the sexual cycle,” but in error in adding the words, “a
conception rather contrary to what Beard assumed.” His conclusions fit in remarkably
with the results published in 1897 in my “ Span of Gestation.” I cannot feel
other than grateful to Dr. Loeb for the words written in the latter portion of
the citation from his paper, albeit—” Es lässt mich ganz kalt.” It is not by
any means an isolated instance in my career since 1882 to have my results and
conclusions adopted by others