37& INTERNAL SECRETION 



external secretion ; and that for this reason the total suppression 

 of the testicles may lead to the involution of the enlarged prostate, 

 a result which is not obtainable by the suppression of the testicular 

 external secretion only. 



The secondary male characteristics do not as a rule attain 

 complete development where castration is performed before the 

 age of puberty. Observation of man and of animals of widely 

 different species shows, beyond any manner of doubt, that castra- 

 tion does not impart characteristics peculiar to the opposite sex, 

 and that transformation into the heterosexual type is never 

 observed (Tandler and Gross). 



All eunuchs show one male skeletal characteristic, namely, 

 the development of the margo supraciliaris. The pelvis, moreover, 

 is not female, but infantile in type. The hair on the body is 

 scanty and is absent from the neighbourhood of the anus, but is 

 present, though in small quantity only, at the pubes and the 

 axillae. The face is usually hairless, though well-developed beard 

 and moustache may be present, especially in old age. 



The larynx of eunuchs is not of the female type, but resembles 

 the enlarged organ of a child ; there is no prominentia laryngea, 

 and ossification has not taken place. For this reason the voice 

 retains its childish character and in no way resembles a woman's 

 voice ; it is a childish soprano which, late in life, undergoes the 

 changes in timbre and tone characteristic of mutation. The 

 general increase in the fat-body, which is sometimes very striking, 

 is the only feature which may give to the eunuch a somewhat 

 feminine appearance. Moreover, the mental and psychic develop- 

 ment after castration in no w r ay approaches that of the female, 

 though the quiet, phlegmatic temperament of castrated men and 

 animals is very characteristic. 



The dependence of the secondary sex characteristics upon the 

 genital glands is well seen in the domestic fowl. The cock, the 

 male bird, is distinguished by well differentiated sexual signs, 

 and it has been customary from the earliest times to castrate the 

 cock in order, for domestic purposes, to produce the capon, in 

 which the male characteristics are merely rudimentary. That 

 there is a direct relationship between the genital gland and the 

 sex characters of the cock, is shown by Berthold's experiments, 

 but the incontestable proof of this w ? as reserved for more recent 

 researches. It has further been shown by various authors 

 (Rieger, Sellheim, Foges) that the capons of commerce are not 

 physiological capons ; that is to say, they are not eunuchs, but 

 animals produced by a combination of factors ; namely, attempted, 

 but rarely complete, castration ; simultaneous removal of the 

 primitive origin of the external sex characteristics; and forced 

 feeding. 



It may be remarked in passing that Sellheim showed that 

 castration is never really carried out with hens, for the reason 



