EUXUCHOIDISM 41 1 



It is also conceivable that traumatic and infectious insults in early youth may 

 damage the sexual glands and thus lead to eunuchoidism. This is especially 

 true of mumps, perhaps also of scarlet fever, measles, etc. We shall meet 

 with these etiological factors again in the consideration of late eunuchoidism. 

 Not rarely, eunuchoidism is hereditary. The case concerned in direct repro- 

 duction can be only the lightest cases, those principally associated with obes- 

 ity in childhood. On the contrary, it is conceivable that cases that do not 

 reproduce may now and then crop up in a family. Such a familial occur- 

 rence has been reported by Sainton. Of five living brothers and sisters, 

 three were eunuchoids and besides this an uncle and great uncle. 



Grandfather Great-uncle 



Uncle Mother 



99 d 1 <? cf d 1 



Died early + + + 



9 



Very noteworthy is the observation that eunuchoidism and chlorosis 

 can occur in the same family (Tandler and v. Noorden) (see also Obser- 

 vation H). 



Differential Diagnosis.- Differential diagnostically, infantilism and hypo- 

 physial dystrophy come chiefly into consideration. The former in the 

 pure forms shows retention of the childish dimensions. Also the psyche 

 remains infantile; but the psyche of male eunuchoids although mannish, 

 can hardly be called childish. Peretz and Wolf are wrong in their attitude 

 against the delimination of the eunuchoid type. When they call eunuchoid- 

 ism a pure form of infantilism, they are confused as to the meaning of the 

 diseases. Both the female individuals that Peretz describes are to my mind 

 not eunuchoids, but infantiles (see Chapter XII, Infantilism). Naturally 

 there occur also mixed forms of infantilism and eunuchoidism, hence cases 

 of infantilism in which the development of the sexual glands not only remain 

 at a childish stage, but their function is much more seriously disturbed. 

 It must not be forgotten that normally the interstitial glands functionate 

 also in children, even if a subordinate degree only. Such cases show in 

 addition to the infantile features also more or less distinct eunuchoid dimen- 

 sions and the typical distribution of fat such as is not a feature of true in- 

 fantilism. The four female cases of Walk are not true eunuchoids. One 

 of them is apparently a true dwarf, the others are cases of infantilism, or 

 at least transitional cases which tend nevertheless more toward infantilism. 



The differentiation from hypophysial dystrophy is on the whole not 

 difficult. Common to both are the genital disturbance and the association of 

 fat distribution or obesity. Hence there are an eunuchoid and hypophysial 

 form of dystrophia adiposo-genitalis. The two forms are different from each 

 other: 



