Cell Changes in tlie Testis due to X Rays. 
245 
large spaces were seen bounded by a narrow rim of shrunken cells, whose 
protoplasm appeared often to have undergone mucous degeneration. 
No spermatogenesis was anywhere to be seen. No inflamniatory process 
took place, tlie supporting framework of the testis being unaltered. The 
action of X rays is therefore limited to the production of a degenerative 
process affecting the cells of the seminiferous tubules. 
A year later Philipp 1 ) reported two similar observations made 
upon man, which, however, are not comparable in point of completeness 
to thöse carried out upon animals. The first patient submitted to daily 
exposures of 10 to 15 minutes duration to X rays for 30 days. Repeated 
examination failed to reveal any change in the sperin, which contained 
normal spermatozoa unchanged in number or form and showed no 
signs of nuclear degeneration or pigmentation. At the end of six months 
a few drops of semen were extraeted with the aid of a hypodermic needle 
from the testis and no spermatozoa were found. The testes atrophied, 
but sexual power remained normal. In the second case X ray exposure 
over the perinaeum was practised for the treatment of intertrigo and 
pruritus ani. The latter was cured by a daily exposure of 10 minutes, 
195 minutes exposure in all being given. Seven months later a small 
quantity of sperm was examined, and no trace of spermatozoa was found. 
Brown and Osgood 2 ) have also reported a number of cases of 
azoospermia or oligonecrospermia occurring in X ray operators. 
Tlie action of X rays upon the testis has been further studied by 
Bergonie and Tribondeau 3 ), Regaud 4 ), and Harvey 5 6 ). Of these re- 
searches, however, only those of Bergonie and Tribondeau and of 
Regaud, which were carried out upon rats, need be considered here. 
O Philipp. Quoted by Osler & Mc Crae, System of Medicine. London 1907. 
Vol. I. p. 61. 
2 ) Brown and Osgood. American Journ. of Surgery. 1903. 
3 ) Bergonie and Tribondeau. 1. Action des rayons X sur le testicule du rat 
blanc. Comptes rendus de la Societe de Biologie 1904. T. II. p. 400. 
2. Action des rayons X sur le testicule du rat blanc. Ibid. p. 592. 
3. Action des rayons X sur les spermatozoides de l’homme. Ibid. p. 595. 
4. L’Aspermatogenese experimentale complete obtenue par les rayons X est-elle 
definitive. Ibid. 1905. T. I. p. 678. Cp. also Tribondeau, De l’influence des rayons X 
sur la structure histologique du testicule (3/. rattus). Anat. 1906. 8. Reun. p. 80. 
4 ) Regaud. Action des Rayons de Röntgen sur repithelium seminal. Appli- 
cation des resultats ä certains problemes concernant la structure et les fonctions de 
cet epithelium. Anat. 1907. 9. Reun. p. 30. 
6 ) Harvey. On the pathological effects of Röntgen rays on animal tissues. 
Journal of Pathologv and Bacteriology. 1908. Vol. XII. p. 549. 
