THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS 77 



atrophy, while in other cases they appear to increase in size. 

 This latter result, when it occurs, may be attributed to obesity, 

 which is the usual result of the operation. It is difficult to 

 obtain information as to the effects on sexual desire, It 

 appears, however, that it may not be much affected for some 

 time after the operation. 



After extirpation of the ovaries it is stated that the hair 

 becomes more luxuriant and the skin lighter in colour. The 

 nipples become smaller and the pigmentation of the areolse 

 becomes less marked. 



The metabolic results have not yet been fully worked out. 

 In the human subject extirpation leads to a series of symptoms 

 which are usually attributed to excitation of the autonomic 

 nervous system. These consist of emotional disturbances, 

 headache, fainting, intestinal disturbances, and feelings of heat 

 and cold. 



In some female animals removal of the ovary has been stated 

 to lead to the appearance of male characters. Cases are 

 recorded in which female deer possessed horns. In these the 

 ovaries were abnormal or the animals were old. Similar cases 

 are not uncommon in birds. Such cases are difficult to explain 

 on any other hypothesis than that the secondary male charac- 

 ters are normally present in a latent form in the female, and 

 that the ovaries exert an inhibitory influence over their 

 development. As we have seen above (p. 69), castration in 

 the male never induces a condition in any respects resembling 

 the female type. 



Carmichael and Marshall have furnished some further details 

 of the effects of ovariotomy in rabbits. The degree of uterine 

 degeneration was proportional to the time after the operation 

 (see fig. 12.) After six months the organ was fibrosedand the 

 glands had disappeared. The epithelium was greatly thinned 

 and the muscle fibres disintegrated. The Fallopian tubes had 

 undergone atrophy. When the operation was performed upon 

 very young rabbits the uteri remained infantile. The same was 

 the case with the Fallopian tubes. In dogs ovarian extirpation 

 results in a marked increase in the vaso-motor response to a 

 standard dose of nicotine. This phenomenon is interpreted as 

 indicating overexcitability of the sympathetic nervous system 

 (Hoskins and Wheelon). These effects are very similar 

 to those observed after ovariotomy in the huma.n subject. 



