460 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



jury or disease of the ovaries, not removal. There is certainly 

 no obvious reason why removal of the gonads in either sex 

 should cause the appearance of the characters of the opposite 

 sex. If this were the case, castration of both sexes would 

 cause the complete reversal and interchange of their secondary 

 characters : the entire male would have the male secondary 

 characters, the castrated male would have the secondary char- 

 acters of the female, and vice versa. This would be in 

 direct contradiction of the fact that the development of the 

 secondary characters is due to the sexual hormones. A 

 female deprived of the ovaries may be regarded as consisting 

 of soma alone. If this neutral soma regularly developed the 

 male secondary characters, there would be no reason why the 

 castrated male — which is also a neutral soma — should not do 

 the same. Thus, it would be impossible — if the statement of 

 the Mendelians were correct — to understand the absence of the 

 secondary male characters in the castrated male. 



The evidence on the subject at present available does not 

 bear the interpretation put upon it by Bateson and Doncaster. 

 It is true that cases frequently occur of the female assuming, 

 more or less completely, the secondary characters of the male ; 

 but this does not occur in castrated females, but in exceptional 

 individuals whose ovaries have not been removed. The effects 

 of removal of the ovaries have not been so fully studied as 

 those of removal of the testes. Mr. Shattock informs me 

 that he found it practically impossible to remove the ovary 

 in birds entirely. It is so closely adherent to the vena cava, 

 that after the operation a portion was always left — and from 

 this the organ grew again. In the human species removal 

 of both ovaries is sometimes necessary, and has been carried 

 out ; but I have not been able to ascertain that in such cases 

 any marked development of male secondary characters has 

 been observed. In old women, after the reproductive organs 

 have become functionless, a certain development of beard 

 and moustache usually occurs — showing that the character is 

 latent in the female ; but I have found no record of such 

 development as a consequence of ovariotomy. Spaying is 

 frequently carried out in pigs ; but I know of no evidence 

 that male characters are developed as the result. There is 

 some evidence that the effect of removal of the gonads in 

 the female is (as in the male) the suppression of the secondary 



