410 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS depend on the presence of pituitary (33). Finally, the effect of oestrogens can be demonstrated in adrenalectomized or in spayed rats (32,33). In animal experiments oestrogens can thus be shown to act independently of androgens at the peripheral site and independently of tbe presence of androgen-secreting glands but this does not, perhaps, exclude the possi- bility that they could have some systemic action as well. The possible effect of progesterone on the sebaceous glands has been a matter of controversy. Some authors have stated that sebum production is increased during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle (34), others that it has not (35), and the claim of Smith (36) that progesterone increases sebum production in elderly women is not consonant with other negative findings (35,37). Rothman et al published evidence that progesterone stimulated the sebaceous glands of spayed adult rats, claiming that its effect was comparable to that of testosterone (38). Although administra- tion of progesterone has been tried in a number of different circumstances, an effect of physiological doses has not been confirmed (39). However, some slight effect of progesterone may be detected in rats given the extremely large dose of 10 mg/day (40). CONCLUSIONS The evidence in support of the traditional view that the secretion of the sebaceous glands plays a part in maintaining the hydration and pliability of the stratum corneum and in inhibiting the growth of pathogenic fungi and bacteria is by no means conclusive. It is difficult nevertheless to accept the view that in man sebum is functionless and the sebaceous gland is vestigial. Over much of man's body the hair follicle is reduced to a vestige producing a wisp of veilus hair, and the arrector muscle is similarly degenerate. Yet it is in these very regions that the sebaceous gland shows its greatest development. If the sebaceous gland were truly vestigial and the sebum had no function, why has it not suffered the same fate as the apocrine gland, which becomes visible during development but subsequently disappears in most regions of the body ? Moreover, the sebaceous gland in both men and women has retained a response to male hormones no less sensitive than that of the accessory male sexual structures themselves. Zoological hypothesis would thus appear to be at one with the vested interest of the cosmetic chemist in maintaining a functional status for the gland. But why is sebum secretion so clearly linked with the sex hormones? Is the true function of the sebaceous glands and their product yet fully understood ? (Received: 23rd March 1965)

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