306 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 



only hoUow-horned Ruminant that periodically sheds its horns, 

 the effects of castration are also quite distinct. The horns, instead 

 of rising vertically as in normal individuals, curve forwards 

 from the roots, and then bend downwards and backwards so 

 as to terminate in incurved points in the close vicinity of the 

 eyes. The anterior tine is almost completely suppressed. 

 The horn-sheath is never shed, and as a consequence a com- 

 posite sheath is developed, and this seems to go on growing as 

 long as new sheaths are formed from the horn-core.''^ 



It is interesting to note that in the eland, in which both 

 sexes possess horns, the development of these structures is not 

 appreciably affected by castration.^ A similar statement may 

 be made about horned cattle, in which (in common with other 

 cattle) castration in early hfe produces changes in the general 

 proportions of the body. 



In the sheep, also, castration during immaturity brings about 

 changes in the bodily conformation. Thus, in breeds in which 

 the males only are horned, the skulls of the wethers may 

 resembles the females rather than the males. ^ Differences in 

 the form of the body have also been noted in eunuchs and other 

 castrated animals. Thus, the bones of the limbs tend to be 

 longer than the normal, producing a condition of gigantism. 

 This is due to an arrest in the ossification of the epiphyses (which 

 is one of the effects of castration). The same phenomena have 

 been described in castrated guinea-pigs, oxen, capons, and various 

 animals.* 



It is well known that caponisation or the removal of the 



1 Pooock, "The Effects of Castration on the Horns of the Prong-buck," 

 Proc. Zool. Soc, 1905. It is to be noted that horns are occasionally present 

 in the female prong-buck. 



" Seligmann, " Exhibition of a Skull of a Domestic Sheep which had been 

 Castrated when Young," Proc. Zool. Soc, 1906. Changes in conformation as 

 a result of early castration have also been described in other animals. 



' Lannois and Roy, " Des Relations qui existent entre I'jfitat des Glandes 

 genitales males et le Developpement du Squelette"; and Poncet, "De 

 rinfluenoe de la Castration sur le Developpement du Squelette," C. R. de la 

 Soc. de Biol., vol. Iv., 1902. See also Pittard, C. R. de I' Acad, des Sciences, 

 vol. cxxxix., 1904), who gives statistics showing that there is often an increase 

 in size in eunuchs, especially in the legs. For accounts of other anatomical 

 differences in eunuchoid persons, see Duckworth, Jour. ofAnat. and Phys., vol. 

 xli., 1906, and Tandler and Gross (Arch. f. Entwick.-Mech., vol. xxvii., 1909). 

 The latter authors discuss the general effects of castration on the organism. 



