142 INTERNAL SECRETIONS 



caused degeneration of the tubules by operative interference 

 with the nervous system; Ceni (19 14) observed degeneration 

 of the tubules after an experimentally produced cerebral 

 commotion; Houssay and Hug (1923) found that a lesion of the 

 infundibulum and of the hypothalamic region in the dog does 

 not interfere with the development of the testicle and of the sex 

 characters ; there was only one out of a great number of operated 

 animals which exhibited testicular atrophy; Takahashi (1922) 

 claims to have caused testicular atrophy by extirpating the 

 lumbosacral part of the sympathetic nerve in guinea pigs. 

 But it may be mentioned that the testicle of the guinea pig is 

 very sensitive to all abdominal operations. I am not aware 

 whether the experiments of Takahashi, which gave contra- 

 dictory results, justify the conclusion that the sympathetic 

 nerve has some kind of trophic influence on the testicle. In 

 cats I removed the fifth and sixth lumbar ganglia on one side 

 without any disturbance of spermatogenesis being caused by 

 the operation. 



The papers of Bolognesi (1921 a, 192 1 b) also may be referred 

 to here. 



3. The Retained Testicle. 



It has long been known that with men having both testicles 

 retained in the abdominal cavity a condition of sterility may 

 be present whereas the somatic sexual characters and the 

 sexual libido are normal. Similar observations have been 

 made on animals, especially on the horse. A stallion with a 

 unilaterally retained testicle preserves the behaviour of a 

 stallion when only the normal testicle is removed, becoming a 

 gelding when the retained testicle also is extirpated. Numerous 

 investigations have shown that the seminiferous tubules in the 

 retained testicle of men and animals are often in a state of 

 degeneration. The retained testicle consists in some cases 

 only of interstitials cells and cells of Sertoli, whereas in other 

 cases generative cells in different stages may be observed 

 (Michon and Porte, 1920). Sometimes a condition of eunuch- 

 oidism exists when both testicles are retained. In these cases 

 there is a complete sclerotization of the testicles, in which the 

 interstitial cells are absent. Retention of testicle has been 

 produced also experimentally in rats, guinea pigs and dogs by 

 different workers ; all record the atrophic state of the testicle or 



