28 TABOO AND GENETICS 



with a male -type metabolism (that is, as the 

 result of a union between an X and a Y chromo- 

 some, not two X's), all his glands, as well as the 

 body structures they control, developed in its 

 presence. Not only the sex glands, but the 

 liver, suprarenals, thyroid — the whole body in 

 fact — became adjusted to the male type. He 

 had long before birth what we call a male sex 

 complex. Complex it is, but it is, nevertheless, 

 easy enough to imagine its nature for illustra- 

 tive purposes. It is simply all the endocrine or 

 hormone-producing organs organized into a 

 balanced chemical system — adjusted to each 

 other. 



When the horse had had this body and this 

 gland system for nearly three years (eleven 

 months within his mother's body and twenty- 

 four outside), it had become pretty well organ- 

 ised and fixed. When a single chemical 

 element (the hormones from the sex-glands) was 

 withdrawn, the system (thus stereotyped in a 

 developed body and glands) was modified but 

 not entirely upset. The sex complex remained 

 male in many respects. It had come to depend 

 upon the other chemical plants, so to speak, 

 quite as much as upon the sex glands. The 

 later the castration is performed — the more 

 fixed the body and gland type has become — the 

 closer the horse will resemble a normal male. 

 Much laboratory experimentation now goes to 



