522 



V. D. LESPINASSE 



Satyriasis 



The psychic centers have a marked influence upon the sexual libido. 



If an individual's thoughts are concentrated upon sexual matters, there 



is usually a response by an increase in libido. When .this condition be- 

 comes markedly pathological, it is 

 termed satyriasis, and is due to a stimu- 

 lation from the higher centers in the 

 brain. Necessarily, the testicular tis- 

 sues must be normal to enable them to 

 respond to this stimulation by an excess 

 secretion. The fact that fear and worry 

 over the individual's sexual abilities 

 oftentimes produces inability to per- 

 form coitus properly is an interesting- 

 fact in the light of modern endocrin- 

 ology, and to my mind at least, suggests, 

 if it does not absolutely prove, that the 

 sexual libido is dependent upon secre- 

 tion from the interstitial cells. It is 

 well known that fear, anxiety and 

 worry check secretions of other organs 

 and render them temporarily function- 

 less. The stomach is a well marked ex- 

 ample of this. 



Is it not possible that the real etiol- 

 ogy of psychic impotence is a similar 

 phenomenon? Of course, at present we 

 have no definite means of proving this, 



but with careful clinical examinations and future experimental work this 



theory may be proved. 



Fig. 31. Barred Rock pullet whose 

 ovary was removed, and in place of 

 which two testicles were transplanted 

 on the ovarian site. Xote the en- 

 largement of the head, comb, wattles, 

 ear-lobe, the curved tail feathers, sad- 

 dle feathers, spurs, and hackle charac- 

 teristic of the male. This bird was 

 three months old when operated upon 

 and when the photograph was taken 

 was ten months old. 



Summary 



The testicle is an organ having both an external and an internal secre- 

 tion. The structures producing the external secretion are extremely sensi- 

 tive to nutritional changes in the testicle, to changes in position of the 

 testicle, and to nerve lesions involving either the centers or the nerves 

 themselves. The structures producing the internal secretion are extraor- 

 dinarily resistant to all these adverse conditions. They persist and func- 

 tion as small groups of cells in any location of the body wherever they can 

 receive nourishment. 



