FERTILITY 607 



Complete sterility, i.e. inability to procreate owing to the 

 absence of fertile semen, is due to various causes, and may be 

 either congenital or acquired. Congenital sterility occurs when 

 the testicles are never developed, or are so imperfectly de- 

 veloped that they fail to produce ripe spermatozoa. In cases of 

 incomplete descent of the testicles fertility is rare, but it may 

 exist for a short time as in young men from twenty to twenty- 

 three years of age. Acquired sterility results from the various 

 diseases to which the generative organs are subject, such as 

 tubercle, syphilis, attacks of inflammation, urethral stricture, 

 epididymitis, prostatic enlargement or diminution, &C. 1 



A more special cause of sterility in men is one which operates 

 in the case of workers with radium or the Rontgen rays. Several 

 years ago Albers-Schonberg 2 noticed that the X-rays induced 

 sterility in guinea-pigs and rabbits, but without interfering with 

 the sexual potency. These observations have been confirmed 

 by other investigators, 3 who have shown, further, that the 

 azoospermia is due to the degeneration of the cells lining the 

 seminal canals. In men it has been proved that mere presence 

 in an X-ray atmosphere incidental to radiography sooner or 

 later causes a condition of complete sterility, but without any 

 apparent diminution of sexual potency. 4 As Gordon observes, 

 for those working in an X-ray atmosphere adequate protection 

 for all parts of the body not directly exposed for examination 

 or treatment is indispensable, but, on the other hand, the X-rays 

 afford a convenient, painless, and harmless method of inducing 

 sterility, in cases in which it is desirable to effect this result. 5 



1 Corner, loc. cit. 



2 Albers-Schonberg, " Ueber eine bisher unbekannte Wirkung der Rontgen- 

 strahlen auf den Organismus der Tiere," Munchener med. Wochenschr., No. 

 43, 1903. 



3 See Gordon, "Diseases caused by Physical Agents," Osier's System 

 of Medicine, vol. i., London, 1907. See also Regaud and Dubreuil, "Action 

 des Rayons de Rontgen sur la Testicule de la Lapin," C. R. de la Soc. de 

 BioL, vol. Ixiii., 1907. 



4 Brown and Osgood, " X-Rays and Sterility," Amer. Jour, of Surgery, 

 vol. xviii. (April), 1905. 



5 Gordon, loc. cit. It has been shown also that the Rontgen rays may 

 induce degeneration of the follicles, corpora lutea, and interstitial cells in 

 the ovaries and cause sterility in the female. See Bourn, Ancel, and Villemin 

 (C. R. de la Soc. de BioL, vol. Ixi., 1906), Bergomie and Trabondeau (C. R. de la 

 Soc. de Biol., vol. hdi., 1907), and Specht (Arch. f. Gyndk., vol. Ixxviii. 1907). 



