THE HORMONES IN HUMAN REPRODUCTION 



far he can hope to help the patient by treatment with andro- 

 genic hormones. 



I write about this subject of the medical use of the andro- 

 genic hormones with hesitation, because it is difficult on one 

 hand to avoid raising false hopes without on the other hand 

 underrating the progress that has been made and the future 

 possibilities in this field. To make the problem clearer, let us 

 consider a specific case.® Here is a boy in his middle 'teens who 

 is not exhibiting the usual signs of sexual maturation. We 

 know that if the deficiency persists he will grow to be a 

 eunuchoid man. He will have underdeveloped genital organs, 

 a delicate skin, the childhood type of hair distribution, a high- 

 pitched voice; possibly also he will be overfat and he may 

 suffer from muscular and circulatory difficulties causing easy 

 fatigability and inability to do hard muscular work. Another 

 important feature of his general immaturity will show itself 

 in the long bones of the skeleton. The growth zones (epi- 

 physeal junctions) will not close up at the usual time (18 to 

 20 years), but will go on growing, so that he will develop the 

 long delicate bones of the eunuch and will thus display his 

 defect in the entire configuration of his body. Although the 

 deficiency has nothing to do with intelligence or fundamental 

 character, he is very likely, as he grows up, to suffer from 

 psychological damage due to a sense of defectiveness and of 

 difference from other men. 



If this boy could be treated as simply as a guinea pig is 

 treated in the laboratory, we could control all these visible 

 defects by administration of androgenic hormone. The treat- 

 ment is fairly expensive and must be kept up by frequent 

 injections or inunctions. Administration by pellets buried in 

 the tissues may in time become practical, but is hardly yet 

 ready for use. We are, moreover, not yet free from insecurity 

 about possible danger from long continued administration of 



ej. B. Hamilton, "Testicular Dysfunction," in Glandular Physiology 

 and Therapy, 2d ed., Chicago, 1942. 



