TABOO AND GENETICS 53 



type of body, as we saw it to be in cattle — 

 though it apparently could not occur unless 

 compensated for in some way by the other 

 secretions. This is a very great departure from 

 birds, rats and guinea pigs, whose bodies change 

 ' over their sex type when the gonads are trans- 

 planted. Birds take on the male appearance 

 when the sex glands are removed (or retain it, 

 if they are males). This is not true of man. 

 The chemical life processes of the two sexes 

 after puberty in the human species are quite 

 characteristic. The male and female types are 

 both very different from the infantile. When 

 it becomes necessary to desex men, the resulting 

 condition is infantile, not female. (23.) 



The desexed man is of course the eunuch of 

 ancient hterature. If desexed near maturity, 

 he might look like a normal man in many 

 respects ; but if the operation were performed 

 before puberty, his development is simply 

 arrested and remains infantile — incomplete. 

 Only in 1878 was the practice of desexing boys 

 to get the famous adult male soprano voices 

 for the Sistine Choir discontinued. 



Removal of the ovaries in women likewise 

 produces an. infantile condition, which is pro- 

 nounced only in case the operation takes place 

 very young. (24.) From his clinical experi- 

 ence, Dr Bell (2, p. 160) concludes that no very 

 definite modifications can be produced in an 



