Evidently nature will not be trifled with, and the ovaries and testicles are made by the Almighty to serve a certain purpose, just as any other organ. Their remaining in total idleness is no less harmful than in the case of any other organ. We fail to see for what reason this organ alone should be made an exception, and to deny this fact would be hypocrisy. Persons who live in total sexual abstinence are very often of a nervous, neurasthenic, or even melancholic disposition. If we consider how intimate are the relations of the sexual organs with the thyroid, we cannot exclude the possibility of changes in this important gland under such conditions. The relationship between the sexual glands and the thyroid is also demonstrated by experimental evidence. Thus Cecca found, after extirpation of the ovaries or testicles, that the thyroid shows an accumulation of colloid substance; again, Jayle saw the appearance of exophthalmic goiter in a case after castration; and, on the other hand, Prof. Hoffmeister, of Strassburg, found a premature ripening of the follicles in the ovaries after thyroidectomy. Freund constantly found goiter in cases of fibromyoma of the uterus, and in two cases the goiter has disappeared after operation on the uterine tumor. It is a well-known fact that exophthalmic goiter can be improved by ovarian extracts, as Latzko, of Vienna, and others, have shown. Changes in the thyroid, as a rule, produce certain changes in the sexual glands. Thus, in exophthalmic goiter menstruation is usually irregular and often disappears. In myxœdema there is atrophy of the ovaries and sterility. The above conditions in man often produce sterility. In partial cases of myxœdema metrorrhagia is frequent. By giving thyroid extracts these uterine hæmorrhages may be stopped. After having shown that old age can be caused with more or less certainty by degenerative changes in the sexual organs, we will now try to show that it can also be caused by various kinds of intoxication. Especially is this true of large quantities of alcohol continued for many years. Alcohol specially influences the ductless glands. Small quantities may at first stimulate their action, but large quantities, if taken for a very long time, will cause degeneration. In the third chapter of this book we have already briefly mentioned the bad effects of alcohol upon the ductless glands. We have seen that, as de Quervain, Hertoghe, etc., have shown, alcohol produces very marked degeneration of the thyroid gland. This has been proved by autopsies on chronic drunkards. As well as on the thyroid, alcohol also acts upon the other ductless glands. It acts, for instance, upon the adrenals. Its action in small doses is similar to that of adrenalin. Alcohol in small tonic doses excites the activity of the splanchnic nerves, and so may produce an increased flow of adrenalin and a higher blood-pressure (see Chapter XV).