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Summary Serial assays of urinary FSH, LH, oestrogens and pregnanediol have been performed in 12 subjects approaching the menopause. Six of these women, designated premenopausal, were symptom free, while in the remainder, designated perimenopausal, symptoms of the menopause were present. LH levels were some seven times higher in women approaching the menopause than in normal young women studied early in reproductive life. The corresponding elevation in FSH output was only three‐fold, and the mean FSH/LH ratios in the premenopausal and perimenopausal groups were 0.43 and 0.29 respectively. Excretion values for oestrogens and pregnanediol tended to be lower in women approaching the menopause than in younger subjects, and in only 3 out of the 12 patients was there definite evidence on the basis of steroid assays that ovulation had occurred. In both the pre‐ and perimenopausal subjects high urinary LH levels could co‐exist with oestrogen readings which were within or at the upper end of the normal range, suggesting that at this time of life the feed back mechanisms operating between the pituitary and the ovary are disturbed. The data reported herein emphasize the differences which occur in endocrine function in late as opposed to early reproductive life.

MEDIAof measurements indicate that for any particular fundal level there is up to eight weeks' variation in gestational age. In practice, therefore, the clinical detection of a baby "large for dates" or "small for dates" necessitates at least four to six weeks' difference between the traditional level of the fundus and the fundal height observed.No standard rate of uterine growth was discovered in this study and sometimes no detectable increase in the level of the fundus occurred throughout four weeks of pregnancy. The most informative index of fetal maturity was the size of the whole uterus when assessed by pelvic examination in the first trimester of pregnancy. At a later stage neither the level of the uterine fundus nor its relationship to abdominal landmarks provided a reliable guide to geistational age.We acknowledge the work undertaken during this study by our research technician, Miss Susan Taylor. REFERENCE Campbell, S. (1969) J7ournal, 1970, 4, 406-408 S ummary: Serial assays of hormones and their metabolites are reported in the urine of three male and four female homosexuals. Urinary testosterone levels were abnormally low in the two men who practised exclusive homosexuality and were within the normal range in the third, who had both homosexual and heterosexual Irelationships. In the women assays were generally performed throughout one menstrual cycle; in three the pattern of hormone excretion was ovulatory in character, while in the fourth evidence for ovulation was equivocal. Levels of testosterone and luteinizing hormone (L.H.) were raised in the female homosexuals, while those for oestrogens, particularly oestrone, were below the range for normal heterosexual subjects during their reproductive life; readings of follicle-stimulating hormone (F.S.H.) and pregnanediol were normal in three women. The data reported here are in keeping with the view that abnormalities in endocrine function may occur in both male and female homosexuals. INTRODUCTIONIt is now recognized that overt homosexuality is not a rare occurrence in the general population and that the condition is more prevalent in men than in women. There remain, however, considerable differences of opinion among authorities in this field as to the precise incidence of homosexuality in either sex (Kinsey et al., 1948;Bancroft, 1970; Kenyon, 1970). Traditionally the condition has been regarded as essentially psychogenic in origin, and a very extensive literature now exists with respect to the psychological factors which are believed to be responsible for its causation.The emphasis on the psychogenic aspects of homosexuality has tended to obscure the possibility that abnormalities in endocrine function, and in particular some form of hormonal imbalance, might be present and might conceivably play a part in its pathogenesis. At the time of writing the literature contains little reliable information on the endocrinology of homosexuality, and detailed hormone assay studies in men and women with this condition have been reported to a very limited exte...

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