CHAPTER X 



THE INTERNAL SECRETION OF THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS 



A. The Internal Secretion of the Testis 



SOME of the effects due to the absence of the internal secretion 

 of the testis have been known from the remotest times. The 

 transformation of the bull into the ox and the cock into the 

 capon are examples which will occur at once to the reader. 



Brown-Sequard found that subcutaneous injections of 

 extracts of testis exercised considerable influence upon the 

 general health, as well as the muscular power and mental 

 activity. The experiments were performed upon himself when 

 he was seventy-two years of age, and he describes very marked 

 rejuvenating effects. It is probable that some at least of 

 Brown-Sequard's personal benefit under this treatment is to 

 be attributed to suggestion. 



More recently Poehl asserts that he has prepared a substance, 

 spermin, to which he assigns the formula C 5 H 14 N 2 , which has 

 a very beneficial effect upon the metabolism of the body. He 

 believes that this spermin is the substance which gives to the 

 testicular extracts prepared by Brown-Sequard their stimulat- 

 ing effect. He claims for this substance an extraordinary 

 action as a physiological tonic. It is recommended that 

 testicular preparations be employed in cases of deficiency of 

 testicular substance, or in old age, when the testes lose their 

 functional capacity. Zoth and Pregel seem to have obtained 

 definite proof, by means of ergographic records, of the stimulat- 

 ing action of the testicular extracts upon the muscle-nerve 

 apparatus in man. They find that injection of such extracts 

 not only causes an increase in the amount of muscular work 

 which can be accomplished, but lessens the subjective fatigue 

 sensations. 



The chemical composition and physiological action of Poehl's 

 spermin and other orchitic extracts have also been investigated 



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