CASTRATION. 235 



body has, by which means its views become more extensive ; and thence 

 it may be said that ' Conscience makes heroes of them all.' "Whether 

 this superiority of mind be an original formation, or be dependent on 

 this consciousness of the superior strength of body, I will not pretend 

 to say ; but it is most likely an original formation of the mind, but which 

 is capable of being improved or increased by this consciousness. 



The testes in the male and ovaria in the female are not only employed 

 themselves and influence other parts in simple generation, but they 

 influence the whole body and also the mind. This is only known by ob- 

 serving the difference between those animals that are allowed to keep 

 their testes or ovaria, and those that are deprived of them. The males 

 naturally incline as they grow (from the time they lose their testes) 

 into the shape, &c. of the female of the same species, except that they 

 do not lose the other genital parts peculiar to them, which however do 

 not become so large as they otherwise would have done. They not 

 only grow like the female; but, especially if deprived of the testes 

 when very young, they exceed her in many particulars ; for, to what- 

 ever degree the male has advanced in that shape that is peculiar to him, 

 he keeps it after the testes are removed, and advances no further in 

 that course. And if the male has arrived at full age before the testes 

 are removed, he remains nearly in that state, and does not fall back into 

 the female [state or form]. But, as the body becomes weaker, or rather 

 does not grow so strong as it would have done in the perfect male state, 

 and as the parts of offence and defence do not grow at all (as we shall 

 see hereafter), the mind becomes suitable to such condition, and the 

 castrated becomes of a milder disposition than he otherwise would have 

 been, and indeed more so than the female. The desire for offence is 

 much less, and the instinct for defence is soon overcome ; so that a great 

 degree of cowardice results. 



This, however, is only in those animals which do not prey upon others 

 for their food. Those that do so have the addition of the parts which 

 serve for such purposes, and they retain the desire to use them. For 

 example, a puppy that is castrated does not continue mild, nor does a 

 kitten, because they are ferocious from the first. This is agreeable to 

 our universal principle ; for the females of such [beasts] as have destruc- 

 tive parts and corresponding dispositions, differ from the males in fewer 

 circumstances, and of course the castrated male differs less from the un- 

 castrated [than we find in herbivorous animals]. 



In the human species the shape of the whole body is altered, or rather 

 takes another form, whenever the male is deprived of the testes. He 

 becomes larger in his body ; a greater quantity of fat is spread over the 

 surface of the body under the skin. The muscles do not swell so much, 



