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THAT the testes are related to the sexual characteristics of the individual and have reproductive power was observed at an early time in history. One of the earliest descriptions of this relationship in men and in animals was made by Aristotle, three centuries before Christ. He described how the castration of immature male birds prevented the development of sexual characteristics, such as the coloring of the crest and the attraction to females. He linked these changes in the bird to those observed in castrated boys who experienced the persistence of a high-pitched voice of childhood into adulthood and the lack of sexual hair development. The first convincing evidence of the role of the testis in the maintenance of male sexual characteristics was given in the middle of the nineteenth century by Berthold (1) who showed that atrophy of the cock's comb observed after castration was prevented by implantation of the testis into the abdominal cavity.
J.M. Saez (1994) studied this question.