THE SEX CYCLE OF A NORMAL WOMAN1

Abstract

HE IMPORTANCE of determining the hormonal output of normal women hardly needs to be emphasised. To the clinician attempting to diagnose abnormalities of sexual functions on this basis, the establishment of normal values is essential. Insofar as this approach may contribute to our knowl-edge of reproductive physiology, especially to the much-debated question of the time of ovulation, it is of practical concern to many. No doubt other meth-ods, uterine motility tests, biopsies and laparotomy findings will provide needed information; nevertheless, the method of urine assays is a promising one. The three types of hormones primarily involved, gonadotropin, estrogens and progestin (as pregnan-diol), are excreted in the urine and their concentrations may be followed. Further, long-time studies on the same subject are possible only by this method. As is true in so many studies of this sort, the establishment of the ‘normal’ presents difficulties. The fact of individual variation in all functions, plus the admitte...