CHAPTER III

The Sex Gland

"I think I have told you before of the work and the experiments I have been making in that fascinating study-sexology," said Professor Neville amiably.

Arnold nodded, with a lack of interest quite unnoticed by Neville who was sealing down to his subject.

"Well now, my boy," continued the older man enthusiastically, "I have brought my experiments to a conclusion, with results such as were beyond my wildest dreams. I will tell you of this shortly, but first, so that you will appreciate my discovery, I must give you a brief idea of the workings of the sex machine."

Without realizing it, Neville relapsed into his lecture room style and addressed Gilmour as though he were a roomful of students.

"You may be aware," he said, "that the reproductive organs of both human sexes are built upon a common type. Take an obvious example: the male has rudimentary nipples although he will never suckle his young.

"It is possible to go through the whole system, part by part, and show how the male and female correspond. Now the early embryo has a generalized system, one that is of neither sex, but containing rudiments capable of developing into either male or female form."

The Professor paused thoughtfully; he had to choose his words and avoid becoming too technical. "It would take too long for me to tell you what determines sex," he continued, "so I will be content with saying that it is the appearance of a tissue which injects certain secretions into the blood of the embryo, These substances affect the body, and by enlarging some of the parts and retarding the growth of others, makes them develop into the characteristic type of one sex or the other. But, and this point is most important, just because the subdued organs are not encouraged in their growth we must not lose sight of the fact that they are still there. Lying dormant, they are never called upon, except in one case in many million, while the whole cycle of life is completed."

"However, to return to this secretion. It now logically follows that its sex determining powers not only affect the body physically, but mentally. For instance, we have the more gentle and motherly instincts of the female as against the way of the male. Differences of instinct are too obvious to point out. Do you follow?"

"Perfectly, but I don't see your point," answered Arnold, now thoroughly bored; physiology was not his hobby.

For a moment Neville's eyes gleamed. "To some very strange and wonderful facts, my boy," he said impressively, "I have shown you that before the accident of sex occurs, for accident it is, Nature lays down the physical and mental parts of both sexes. The scales are evenly balanced. It is like a two-way switch; it needs but the injection of a minute quantity of fluid and we have either male or female.

"Now, during experiments, other scientists have found that by grafting certain organs of a chicken to a rooster, the results have been surprising. After a short time, a cock has ceased to crow, its comb and spurs have fallen away, and it has acted in every way like a normal chicken.

"This threw new light upon my inquiries and led me to think that there is still some secretion at work, perhaps, having to preserve the permanence of one sex. I worked upon this for a long time and met many problems. As the embryo reaches maturity, does Nature still have to dominate the latent organs it formerly rejected? Suppose, and I have found that this is what does actually sometimes happen, she should lose control of these organs. The switch would then be thrown over to the other side, and it would not be long before the sex of the person would change completely, and quite naturally, without pain or consciousness!"

The Professor paused, and with a look of quiet pleasure upon his face, he relapsed into profound thought. Gilmour shifted uneasily and brought him back to earth.

"But enough of this," he said apologetically. "I am sometimes apt to forget that I am not holding a scientific discourse. Let me tell you of the results of my work. You know, perhaps, that the study of ductless glands and internal secretions is one of the youngest, and at the present time, one of the most fruitful branches of physiological research-most fruitful, for it was here that I found the answer to my questions."

Neville's voice dropped abruptly and his eyes gleamed with a strange light. N longer was he calmly discussing an abstruse scientific question. Almost trembling with excitement, he came up to Gilmour and bent over his chair, speaking quickly right into his face.

"The key to the problem was found in a hitherto unsuspected ductless gland! I found it ceaselessly discharging into the blood a secretion to control the sex. There it is, a thing like thyroxine pituitrin, adrenelin; and without it our sex could change with the seasons. Yes, young man, after years of exhausting research I found it-the sex gland, a gland of my discovery. The Neville gland, I've named it. But wait-I've done much more than discuss the gland-look at this!"

"The Professor turned to his desk, and Gilmour could almost bear him purring with joy as he opened a drawer and produced a small phial, such as are used by chemists. It was corked and contained two or three drops of milky-white fluid. With a trembling hand, he held it out for the younger man's inspection. CLICK HERE TO GO TO CHAPTER III (part 2)