90 ENDOCRINE THERAPEUTICS 



being almost completely absent in the adult. 

 After its removal in animals, the testes develop 

 more rapidly, and conversely castration delays 

 the atrophy of the thymus. The thymus thus 

 appears to exercise a restraining influence on the 

 development of the reproductive organs, and to 

 undergo atrophy when their function has been 

 accomplished." 



Rational organotherapy with this gland is up 

 to now impossible, yet so many observers have 

 thought that distinct results have been obtained 

 that we must keep an open mind and hope for 

 more light. Personally I have nothing to offer. 



The testes and the ovaries are not pure endocrine 

 glands, as they have a definite excretion, but all 

 must agree that they possess an individual 

 hormone, which largely influences the whole 

 body, both in its development and its behaviour. 

 Castration in the male before puberty produces 

 the appearance of eunuchism, and in the adult, 

 besides impotence, various abnormal mental 

 states. Some of us remember the disastrous 

 consequences of the attempts made some years 

 ago to cure prostatic disease by castration : even 

 in old men who seemed to have long passed 

 sexual life a fatal insanity appeared. In ovarian 



