When man has attained his perfect development, the bonds which unite the genital organs to the rest of the body become less apparent and probably less intimate than before: they however are not destroyed. Castration certainly does not deprive the adult of all the characters, of all the faculties which had been developed by puberty: but it modifies them very much. The beard has been known to come out after the loss of the testes as if its existence were connected with theirs, as an effect is with its cause. The intellectual faculties particularly lose much of their energy, when the genital organs are removed. Those persons who have been mutilated not unfrequently become melancholy and finally commit suicide. (_Orfila, Leçons de medicine legale_, 1823, p. 126.) A remarkable case of enervation was observed by Richerand, in some soldiers whose testes had been shot away in action. Among other cases, he mentions a soldier who had previously been celebrated for his activity and valor, and who, after his mutilation took an aversion to any violent exercise, and to gain his livelihood, applied himself to such labours as are carried on by females, particularly to sewing gloves. (_Richerand, nosographie chirurgicale_, 2nd edition, vol. iv. p. 292.) Compare these facts with what takes place when age, that great operator, extinguishes the principle of virility. When one is old, is he as affectionate, as sensible, as devoted, as intelligent, as he was in youth? do not the general characters of an eunuch gradually come upon him? The genital organs then, even when in repose, regulate in more than one respect and at every period of life, the rest of the human body. But it is particularly before and during puberty that these organs deserve the most serious attention, for then they possess the most power. This power commences with them, and like them increases every day. Thus the tastes, the characters, the inclinations, and generally all which distinguishes the sexes in a moral and physical point of view, are marked from infancy. That poverty of body of heart and of spirit which characterizes eunuchism, is seen in young eunuchs, in those for instance who are born destitute of genital organs. The soldier whose case is stated by Bedor, always presented that indifference and languor common to eunuchs; he always avoided all trials of skill at wrestling, running, leaping and finally all youthful exercises, and as we have already remarked, never exhibited attachment to any one, even to his parents. The influence of the sexual organs then commences with life. But it does not attain all its intensity until puberty.