448 



HOMER WHEELON 



Interstitial Cells and Eunuchoidism and False Hermaphroditism. 

 Further evidence of the dependence of the sex characters upon the inter- 

 stitial cells is afforded by a consideration of the characters and con- 

 dition of the gonads in cases of eunuchoidism and false hermaphroditism. 

 In such individuals the loss of sexual desire and characters is in proportion 

 to the degree of withdrawal of the gonadal influence. Those showing 

 complete loss of sexual desires and incomplete stigmata of masculinity 

 demonstrate marked atrophic alterations in the testes. Often the seminif- 

 erous tubules are solidified cords demonstrating marked degenerative 

 changes. The interstitial cells are usually few and abnormal in appear- 

 ance. Individuals showing such atrophic changes of the testes are the 

 equivalent of castrates, for they show neither functional spermatic nor 



Fig. 9. Photograph of the urogenital apparatus of an adult castrated pig. (Hanes, 

 1911, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 7.) 



interstitial tissues. As pointed out above, the disappearance of spermatic 

 tissue or the sustentacular cells does not in any way alter the normal 

 progress of sexual characteristics. That it is the degeneration of the inter- 

 stitial cells, rather than that of the spermatogenic tissue, which causes 

 the absence of libido and sex characters in the eunuchoid and false her- 

 maphrodite, is substantiated by the evidence from infertile hybrids and 

 cryptorchkl individuals. In these, spermatogenesis is incomplete or want- 

 ing, but the interstitial cells are normal, and as long as these latter cells 

 remain functional the characters of sex and libido are normal (Jordan, 

 Climenko and Strauss, Falta, Biedl, and Gushing). 



The facts set forth in the above discussion demonstrate that the male 

 secondary characters of sex are not dependent upon the formation or 

 nourishment of spermatids ; therefore, the elaboration of an internal secre- 

 tion by the male reproductive organ appears to be the sole function of the 

 interstitial cells. It is true that weighty arguments have been set forth 

 to reverse the above statement. An evaluation of available data, however, 

 justifies the contention set forth relative to the interstitial tissue. 



