SEX SPECIFIC ACTION OF HORMONES 305 



the testicular graft may cause a masculinization, not only of the 

 somatic sex characters, but also of the psycho-sexual behaviour. 



The masculinization of a female stag was brought about by 

 Brandes. The female showed the "Adam's apple," which is 

 characteristic of the male, and jumped like a male. There 

 were signs of a beginning of horn growth on the forehead. 



Microscopical examination has shown that the testicular 

 graft in females often undergoes a degeneration in the semini- 

 ferous part. There is frequently a more or less complete 

 degeneration of the tubules, and an increase of the interstitial 

 cells, as in auto- and homoiotransplantation. In the fore- 

 going section of this chapter we saw that there may be certain 

 indications of an hyperfeminization, as seen in the great 

 development of the mammary glands. We have explained 

 this hyperfeminization as due to the histological changes which 

 the ovarian graft undergoes ; an increased number of endocrine 

 cells caused by intense folicular atresia is the factor involved. 

 Now the question arises as to whether there is a correspondence 

 between the histological changes in the graft and the hormonic 

 effect produced in the masculinized female. According to 

 Steinach (19 16) the vigorous psycho-sexual behaviour of the 

 masculinized female and its greater size and weight are to be 

 considered as signs of an hypermasculinization caused by an 

 increased activity of the interstitial cells, which are now present 

 in an augmented number. On comparing the histological 

 results of eight experiments on rats, Sand came to the conclusion 

 that the degree of masculinization of the female (psycho- 

 sexual behaviour and hypertrophy of the clitoris) is the more 

 intense the greater the number of the interstitial cells in the 

 testicular graft. But against all these quantitative conclusions 

 may be set the same objections as were considered in Chapter 

 IV., in describing other experiments with transplantation as 

 well as observations on cryptorchid animals. The question 

 has been lately discussed by Moore (1921) who describes 

 microscopical sections of testicular grafts in two cases of 

 masculinization in guinea pigs. There was little or no 

 hypertrophy of the interstitial cells in one case, the germinal 

 epithehum being not so greatly degenerated as usually in 

 testicular grafts. There was a considerable degeneration of 

 the seminiferous tubules in the second case, the entire mass 

 of germinal epithelium having disappeared, and only a single 



