6 Animal castration. 



physical cliaracter, siicli as a modification of the 

 entire organism, manifested in the external symme- 

 try, and the expressive physiognomy of the creature^ 

 when deprived of its virility. 



The animal becomes more quiet, and its general 

 form is modified. If altered at an early age, the 

 skeleton will be arrested in its growth, and the mass 

 of muscles attached to it will participate in the de- 

 fective development ; the head will become elongated, 

 the legs will continue to be lighter, and the body 

 will show a corresponding lack of development. In 

 other words, the male animal will tend to assume the 

 characters of the female, in form and feature, the 

 gelding, indeed, resembling the mare, not only in the 

 ensemble of his appearance, but in his voice, which 

 loses the resonance of the stallion's, and his physi- 

 ognomy, which becomes milder and less expressive ; 

 while his neck is lighter and his mane more scanty, 

 with the hairs which comi^ose it more fine and silky. 



A like tendency exists in other male animals to 

 acquire a resemblance to the female as an effect of 

 the operation of castration. The altered bull has a 

 weak and feminine voice ; his head is narrower and 

 elongated ; his horns become lengthened and more 

 curved ; he has exchanged his wild and threatening 

 aspect for a mild and gentle visage ; his neck also is 

 lighter and his chest narrower ; his bony structure 

 is less massive ; and he has, besides all the rest, ac- 

 quired a quality of essential imjjortance to mankind 

 in a dietetic view, that of accumulating fat. This 

 last phenomenon sho'S's us that besides the other 



