THE GENERATIVE GLANDS 383 



as in eunuchs, was dolichocephalic; and that the epiphysal carti- 

 lages persisted longer than in normal animals. 



The experiments of Launois and Roy and those of Tandler 

 and Gross supply undoubted proof that in man, as in animals, 

 castration is followed by excessive longitudinal growth, a lack 

 of proportion between the length of the extremities and that of 

 the trunk, and persistence of the epiphysal synarthroses (as seen 

 in skiagrams) beyond the normal age. 



Protracted epiphysal separation may result not only from 

 the operative removal of the generative glands, but also from 

 hypoplastic sub-development of them. The presence of this 

 symptom in combination with the persistence of other juvenile 

 traits, is described as immaturity of the organism or eunuchoidia 

 (Tandler and Gross). These cases do not altogether fall into the 

 group of pathological conditions classed as infantilism. For 

 infantilism is characterized by the small size of the skeleton and 

 its infantile proportions, namely, long trunk and short extremi- 

 ties. But hypoplasia of the genital glands is presumably accom- 

 panied by symptoms analogous to those of suppression ; namely, 

 abnormal longitudinal growth, especially in the legs, and con- 

 siderable increase in the fat-body. Thus the only true cases of 

 hypogenitalism would be those of infantile gigantism, already 

 described, which are characterized by abnormal growth of the 

 long bones, imperfect secondary sex characteristics, and deficient 

 mental development; and in which the testicular atrophy and the 

 absence of any signs of pituitary disease justify the assumption of 

 primary hypogenitalism. Several authors (Alt, Schiiller) ascribe 

 mongolism to insufficiency of the genital glands. Moreover, 

 genital insufficiency may well play a part in the pathogenesis 

 of general hypoplasia (Bartel), for these cases are also charac- 

 terized by abnormal height, well developed fat-body, and 

 imperfect secondary sex stigmata. 



That pregnancy is accompanied by reduced ovarian activity 

 is shown by the changes which take place in the skeleton. Young 

 women frequently grow in height during pregnancy (Halban), 

 and changes are known to take place in the pelvis in this con- 

 dition (Breuse and Kolisko). 



According to Tandler, the age at which genital maturity takes 

 place has a paramount influence upon the growth of the skeleton. 

 The effect of late maturity, like that of genital hypoplasia, is to 

 increase the height, and especially the length of the legs; while 

 early maturity brings about premature closing of the epiphyses, 

 and is consequently associated with shortness of the legs. In 

 women, the upper part of the body is usually long in proportion 

 to the legs, and inhabitants of warm countries are generally small 

 of stature; these results are attributable to early sexual maturity. 

 Among animals, those which develop early are characterized by 

 the shortness of their extremities. 



