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Abstract
The pathogenesis of the increase in hair growth was obscure, but they argued that it was likely to be the result of one or more complex interactions between different endocrine glands. They suspected primary genital dysfunction and quoted a case (of Hofbauer, 1909) in which a 43-year-old woman was found to have an ovarian tumour. However, they also acknowledge that it was equally possible that any genital disorder which was present was itself the consequence of trouble fonctionnel relevant de l'alteration d'autres organes. They commented that the most commonly reported pathological association of hirsutism was with lesions of the adrenal. The earliest case of an adrenal tumour presenting with hirsutism and obesity had apparently been reported by Cooke in 1756 (no reference given). In 1911, Launois, Pinard, and Gallais had reported the case of a 19-year-old girl who had had an epithelioma of the adrenal with pulmonary and hepatic metastases, and who presumably had [Cushing]'s syndrome caused by carcinoma of the adrenal. More recently, Apert had described 30 cases in which hirsutism was associated with adrenal lesions. In searching for an explanation for the association between adrenal dysfunction and abormalities of sexual function, [Achard] and [J Thiers] drew attention to the common embryological origin of the adrenals and the gonads in the coelomic epithelium, and clearly predicted modem concepts of the functional integration of the adrenal and the ovary.