INTERNAL SECRETION OF TESTICLE 131 



Whereas it seems impossible by means of ligature of the vasa 

 deferentia to exclude the possibility that some parts of the 

 tubules are involved in the internal secretion of the testicle, 

 other experiments of Boiiin and Ancel (1904 d) of the same kind 

 showed beyond doubt that the cells of Sertoli and spermato- 

 gonia in the absence of fully developed interstitial cells are unable 

 to perform the internal secretory function. They ligatured 

 the vasa deferentia in rabbits seven to eight r^, 



weeks old. Some of these animals developed : 1 "^-:. 



as "castrates," as was shown by their penis. 

 On examining the testicles of such animals 

 Bouin and Ancel found that the generative 

 part remained in an infantile condition; 

 this means that the tubules were in a state 

 like that in adult animals with ligatured 

 vasa deferentia after degeneration has taken 

 place. Further, Bouin and Ancel found in 

 these cases that the interstitial cells were 

 infantile. We were able to confirm this 

 observation of Bouin and Ancel in experi- 

 ments with partial castration of young ^ ^ 

 rabbits in which only a fragment of a testicle 

 was left in the body (1921 f, 1922 e, i) 

 (Figs. 62 to 64). An animal operated on at 

 an age of one month had, when about eight 

 months old, the infantile penis of a 

 "castrate"; the tubules in the testicular 

 fragment were infantile, but their diameter 

 was enlarged, and they were full of cells of 

 Sertoli and spermatogonia; the interstitial 

 tissue was in an infantile stage {Figs. 65, 66). 

 Ancel and Bouin consider observations of 

 this kind as evidence for their theory that only the inter- 

 stitial cells are involved in the internal secretion of the 

 testicle. It would be safer to conclude merely from 

 the experiments here recorded, that they are sufficient 

 to show that the interstitial cells are necessary for the 

 internal secretion of the testicle (1922 h, i). The same result 

 was obtained by Lipschutz and Wagner (1922 g and h; 

 Wagner, 1922) and by Wagner and Loeper (1923) with two 

 rabbits which had a normal testicular weight with normally 



Fig. 62.— Testicle oj 

 adult guinea pig 

 (Prot. Nr. 77; 450 

 gr.). Nat. size. 

 The small caput 

 epididym. covered 

 by the fatty body 

 which covers also 

 the ductus epidid. 

 The Cauda epidid. 

 is attached to 

 the gubernaculum. 

 To be compared 

 with Figs. 63 and 

 64. 



