It is important to remember that there are different degrees of castration, for in current language these are seldom distinguished. The Romans recognized four different degrees: 1. True _castrati_, from whom both the testicles and the penis had been removed. 2. _Spadones_, from whom the testicles only had been removed; this was the most common practice. 3. _Thlibiæ_, in whom the testicles had not been removed, but destroyed by crushing; this practice is referred to by Hippocrates. 4. _Thlasiæ_, in whom the spermatic cord had simply been cut. Millant, from whose Paris thesis (_Castration Criminelle et Maniaque_, 1902) I take these definitions, points out that it was recognized that _spadones_ remained apt for coitus if the operation was performed after puberty, a fact appreciated by many Roman ladies, _ad seouras libidinationes_, as St. Jerome remarked, while Martial (lib. iv) said of a Roman lady who sought eunuchs: "Vult futui Gallia, non parere." (See also Millant, _Les Eunuques à Travers les Ages_, 1909, and articles by Lipa Bey and Zambaco, _Sexual-Probleme_, Oct. and Dec., 1911.) In China, Matignon, formerly physician to the French legation in Pekin, tells us that eunuchs are by no means without sexual feeling, that they seek the company of women and, he believes, gratify their sexual desires by such methods as are left open to them, for the sexual organs are entirely removed. It would seem probable that, the earlier the age at which the operation is performed, the less marked are the sexual desires, for Matignon mentions that boys castrated before the age of 10 are regarded by the Chinese as peculiarly virginal and pure.[10] At Constantinople, where the eunuchs are of negro race, castration is usually complete and performed before puberty, in order to abolish sexual potency and desire as far as possible. Even when castration is effected in infancy, sexual desire is not necessarily rendered impossible. Thus Marie has recorded the case of an insane Egyptian eunuch whose penis and scrotum were removed in infancy; yet, he had frequent and intense sexual desire with ejaculation of mucus and believed that an invisible princess touched him and aroused voluptuous sensations. Although the body had a feminine appearance, the prostate was normal and the vesiculæ seminales not atrophied.[11] It may be added that Lancaster[12] quotes the following remark, made by a resident for many years in the land, concerning Nubian eunuchs: "As far as I can judge, sex feeling exists unmodified by absence of the sexual organs. The eunuch differs from the man not in the absence of sexual passion, but only in the fact that he cannot fully gratify it. As far as he can approach a gratification of it he does so." In this connection it may be noted that (as quoted by Moll) Jäger attributes the preference of some women--noted in ancient Rome and in the East--for