ome
remarked, while Martial (lib. iv) said of a Roman lady who sought
eunuchs: "Vult futui Gallia, non parere." (See also Millant, _Les
Eunuques a 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 vesiculae 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) Jaeger attributes the
preference of some women--noted in ancient Rome and in the East--for
castrated men as due not only to the freedom from risk of impregnation in
such intercourse, but also to the longer duration of erection in the
castrated.

When castration is performed without removal of the penis it is said that
potency remains for at least ten years afterward, and Disselhorst, who in
his _Die accessorischen Geschlechtsdruesen der Wirbelthiere_ takes the same
view as has been here adopte