The Organism as a Whole, from a Physicochemical ViewpointLoeb, Jacques
Science
The Organism as a Whole, from a Physicochemical Viewpoint
Loeb, Jacques
Biology; Life (Biology); Mendel's law
Bouin and Ancel had already suggested that the sexual glands of
mammals have two independent constituents, the sexual cells and the
interstitial tissue; and that the latter tissue is responsible for the
development of the secondary sexual character. This has been proved
definitely by Steinach,[199] who showed that when young rats are
castrated certain secondary sexual characters are not fully developed.
The seminal vesicles and the prostate remain rudimentary and the
penis develops incompletely. Such animals when adult recognize the
female and seem to follow it, but do not persist in their attention and
neither erection nor cohabitation occurs. When, however, the testes
are retransplanted into the muscles of the castrated young animal
(so that they are no longer connected with their nerves) seminal
vesicles, prostate, and penis develop normally, and these animals
show normal sexual ardour and cohabitate with a female although the
female cannot become pregnant since the males cannot ejaculate any
sperm. When the retransplanted testes were examined it was found that
all the sperm cells had perished, only the interstitial tissue of the
testes remaining. It was, therefore, proved that the development of
the seminal vesicles, the prostate, the penis, and the normal sexual
instincts and activities depends upon the internal secretions from this
interstitial tissue and not upon the sex cells proper. This agrees with
the conclusions at which Bouin and Ancel had arrived by ligaturing the
vasa deferentia of male animals.
[199] Steinach, E., _Zentralbl. f. Physiol._, 1910, xxiv., 551; _Arch.
f. d. ges. Physiol._, 1912, cxliv., 72.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account