

EUNUCHOIDISM 397 



Cristofoletti saw after the administration of ovarian substances the glyco- 

 suric action of adrenalin become weaker. 



In woman, the acute loss of the sexual glands leads, as is known, to a series 

 of manifold excitatory states of the vegetative nervous system. Drawing 

 pains, emotional excitements, feeling of anxiety, headache, fainting spells, 

 heat and feeling of cold, disturbance of the intestinal tract, weakness of 

 memory, and mental depression occur. The wave-movement ceases. The 

 manifestations become intelligible when we consider what distinct revolutions 

 occur in the female organism after castration. 



Cristofoletti saw after castration (also in animal experiments) increase of 

 the glycosuric action of adrenalin. Alder found delay in the coagulation- 

 time of the blood and reduction of the calcium in the blood. 



As is known, all these manifestations occur also at the climacteric. 

 " Castration produces an artificial climax, that is like the natural one, and 

 often transcends it in pathological manifestations" (W. H. Freund). 



The treatment of eunuchoidism will be considered further on. 



3. Eunuchoidism 



Dystrophia adiposo-genitalis, gerodermia genito-distrofico, obesite 

 d'origine genitale. 



Definition. Eunuchoids we term, according to Tandler and Grosz, indi- 

 viduals who, without being castrated, entirely simulate in their clinical mani- 

 festations the true eunuch type, or at least are extraordinarily similar to it. 

 They are either tall, or if complications are absent, are at least not stunted in 

 growth; they show the typical fat distribution of eunuchs, and eventually pro- 

 nounced obesity; the epiphysial junctures persist abnormally long, the skeletal 

 dimensions are characterized by an especial length of the extremities, and fur- 

 thermore the individuals show a definite psychical habitus. Finally there is 

 found a more or less pronounced disturbance of development of the genitalia 

 with faulty development of the secondary sexual characters. It is probable that 

 in such cases we have to do with a developmental disturbance beginning primarily 

 in the sexual glands, and indeed especially the interstitial glands, as functional 

 disturbances of the generative glands alone do not lead to eunuchoidism. 



Historical and Case Histories. Such a case was first termed eunuchoid 

 by Griffith. A sharp delimitation of the clinical picture occurred only a 

 short time ago, when Tandler and Grosz first reported a series of cases and 

 then described the clinical picture thoroughly. Even before Tandler -and 

 Grosz, however, a great number of such cases had been reported in the litera- 

 ture under very different names. 



Meige mentions a case of Reichlin's that was a pronounced eunuchoid. 

 Moreover Tandler and Grosz regard as an eunuchoid the case of Redlich. 

 Similar cases were described by Kisch. Kisch distinguishes between heredi- 



