356 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 



Furthermore, it is to be noted that, according to Magnus- 

 Levy and Falk, 1 the period of puberty in boys and girls is not 

 associated with any increase in the gaseous metabolism. 



Certain further experiments upon the effects of administer- 

 ing ovarian extract may also be referred to here. Neumann 

 and Vas 2 record losses of nitrogen, phosphorus pentoxide, and 

 calcium monoxide after injecting glycerine extract of ovary 

 subcutaneously. Loewy 3 and Neumann found no change in 

 the nitrogen metabolism in castrated animals after administering 

 ovarian extracts, but Neumann observed a loss of phosphorus 

 pentoxide and calcium monoxide in the faeces. Certain other 

 less satisfactory experiments, dealing with more or less con- 

 tradictory observations, are briefly referred to by van Noorden. 



The influence of castration upon the blood has formed the 

 subject of a research by Breuer and Seiler, 4 who employed 

 bitches whose ovaries were removed shortly after puberty. 

 They record marked diminution in the haemoglobin and the red 

 cells. 5 



In concluding this brief summary of the recorded results of 

 castration upon the metabolism, the necessity for further in- 

 vestigation must be emphasised, since it is hardly possible that 

 the totality of the effects produced is of as slight a nature as the 

 experimental evidence at present seems to indicate. 6 



1 Magnus-Levy and Falk, " Lungengaswechsel des Menschen," Arch. f. 

 Phys., Supplement, 1899. 



2 Neumann and Vas, "Einfluss der Ovariumpraparate auf den Stoff- 

 wechsel," Monatsachr. f. Geburtsh. u. Gyru'ik., vol. xv., 1902. 



3 Loewy, "Ueber den Einfluss des Oophorins," Berl. klin. Wochcnschr., 

 1899. 



Breuer and Seiler, " Einfluss der Kastration auf den Blutbefund weib- 

 licher Tiere," Experim. Archiv, vol. 1., 1903. 



8 It has also been stated that castration may improve the quality of the 

 milk (Oceanu and Babes, " Les Effets Physiologiques de l'Ovariotomie chez 

 la Chevre," C. R. de I'Acad. des Sciences, vol. cxl., 1905). For some 

 account of the effects of disease in the ovaries and other reproductive organs 

 upon the rest of the body, see Wilson, "The Reciprocal Relations between 

 the Affections of the Uterus and its Appendages upon the Rest of the Body," 

 (iMncet, Part II., Nov. 1906). Further references are given in this paper. 



6 For the effects of hypophysectomy see Crowe, Gushing, and Homans, 

 "Experimental Hypophysectomy" (Johns Hopkins Hasp. Bull., vol. xxi., 

 May 1910). These investigators found that partial removal of the anterior 

 lobe caused hypoplasia of the generative organs in adult dogs, but persistent 

 infantilism if operated on before puberty. 



