462 HOMER WHEELON 



development of the testes eunuchoidism on the other hand, results in 

 protracted epiphyseal separation. 



Sellheim (b) has shown that castration of cocks has a modifying in- 

 fluence npon the growth of the osseous structures. Changes take place in 

 the skull, pelvis, and bones of the extremities which consist in increased 

 longitudinal growth with retarded ossification of the epiphyseal cartilages. 

 Similar results are also reported for dogs, horses and cattle. Koudeleka ob- 

 served that the epiphyses of the bull join the shaft by the time the animal is 

 two years old. In bullocks, on the contrary, the processes of endochondral 

 ossification is not completed until the animal is three or four years old. 

 The investigations of Launois and Ray (&) (c), Tandler and Gross, Gru- 

 ber, Ecker, Lortet (c), Teinturier, Becker, Pittard (a), Pirsche, Pelikan, 

 Geddes and others, have shown that castration in man, as in animals, is fol- 

 lowed by excessive longitudinal growth of the bones, with a lack of propor- 

 tion between the length of the extremities and that of the trunk and persist- 

 ence of the epiphyseal synarthroses beyond the normal .age. Following cas- 

 tration endochondral ossification is stimulated and prolonged. However, 

 this does not affect all the cartilages equally and, therefore, the distribution 

 of resulting growth is unequal. Although growth is unequal, it is not for- 

 tuitous, but follows a uniform scheme of distribution. The bones most 

 markedly affected are those of the leg, forearm, thigh, arm, pelvic girdle, 

 and lastly the vertebral column. Within the limits of these variations 

 the distribution of osseous alterations is again unequal, the thoracic re- 

 gional segment being most affected. The skull is altered, with the result 

 that the cranial capacity develops less completely than is normal. The 

 expansion of the antrum of Highmore is retarded as the result of which 

 the face remains narrow. The alveolar processes of the superior maxilla 

 grow out of proportion to the rest of the bone, as also do the mandibular 

 syniphysis and coronoid process. Such growth changes are clearly the 

 result of an uncomplicated testicular failure, for they occur in otherwise 

 healthy males if the gonads are removed before the cartilages of the 

 synchondroses are obliterated. 



Geddes, who thoroughly reviewed the osseous changes in man follow- 

 ing castration, concludes that such changes are the result occasioned by 

 the setting free for general use of foodstuffs which would otherwise have 

 been used to provide for the drain of spermatogenesis. That such is not 

 the case is shown by the fact that the loss of other structures does not result 

 in similar changes, A more logical view is that abnormal bone growth is 

 not due to the fact that the testis is not acting as an organ of reproduction, 

 but to the fact the normal internal secretion from the organ is not avail- 

 able for the controlling of growth of bone in the body (Swale Vincent). 



"Feminized" rats and guinea pigs develop osseous structures which 

 resemble the female more closely than the male; the bones are smaller 

 throughout. The reverse is true of "masculinized" animals (Steinach) 



