Читать книгу Old Age Deferred. The causes of old age and its postponement by hygienic and therapeutic measures онлайн

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That the sexual glands also influence the intellect is best proved by the observation that in cases of testicular or ovarian insufficiency intelligence is often diminished. Thus we were consulted by the parents of a young man of eighteen years who was mentally backward; he could not remember anything; his arms and legs were abnormally long, but his body short, thus resembling a eunuch’s—and indeed I found his testicles were not yet descended. His voice was that of a child, and he also exhibited the other symptoms of testicular insufficiency described in the second chapter of this book.

On the other hand we may see a precocious highly developed intellect in children with a premature sexual development. We know of a boy of six years who tried to have sexual intercourse with a little girl of the same age, and who at the age of four and one-half years knew all the capitals of the world by heart. Hence the education of precociously bright children should be especially guarded, for they can become great men but also not rarely, if neglected, great criminals.