Actually, the average male does finish developing at 17-18. There are cases where a man will grow into his early 20s, but these are not the norm.

Aside from weight I've put on, I am the same size I was when I was 18. Looking back at pictures, my facial structure appears to be fully developed at age 18 as well. So my overall bone structure growth had likely terminated by that point, which is also true for the average male.

If you castrated someone at 17-18, it would likely have minimal to no impact on his bone structure or height, assuming he is an average male who started puberty years earlier. All it would really do is decrease things like facial hair and body hair, and also inhibit further masculinization as a whole, which would leave him always looking younger.

What Euniquee is asking about is the fusion of the epiphyses of the ribs in a castrato. The epiphyses are the little end pieces, connected to the long part of the bone by cartilage. The cartilaginous gap is the area of growth in length and the bone will continue to grow only until the gap fuses to create a single bone.

The absence of testosterone in a prepubertal eunuch results in later fusion of the ribs and the stopping of their growth. Young castrati who exercised their lungs with intensive singing had ribs that grew much longer, allowing for larger lung capacity. Those who did not exercise their lungs did not seem to grow the longer ribs – e.g., Chinese eunuchs, eunuchs of the Ottoman court and the Russian Skoptzy. Arm and leg length is also affected by later fusion of the epiphyses in prepubertal eunuchs, and they grow longer than usual even without any special exercise.

I would need to check a medical text in the library to discover the normal age of the fusion of the epiphyses of the ribs, but my guess would be that it occurs before 16 or 17.

JesusA (imported) wrote: Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:15 pm What Euniquee is asking about is the fusion of the epiphyses of the ribs in a castrato.

I would need to check a medical text in the library to discover the normal age of the fusion of the epiphyses of the ribs, but my guess would be that it occurs before 16 or 17.

I am not sure, but there is an event during puberty called growth spurt. When growth has stopped after that event, then the epiphyses are almost fused and further growth is not possible. For boys growth spurt happen normally between ages 14-15. With some exceptions of course. I remember that at age 16 I had my final height.

Castration after that event should not alternate skeleton proportions anymore.

There is a common and known problem of young eunuchs. As they age they tend to loose bone density. they will loose their height and tend to develope humpback. But this is much later. But still earlier than in normal males.

There is breast growth during puberty - I had boobs, got a pic of me that looks like I'm a girl - and people used to mistake me for such in high school.

Neighbor boy had size C or D cups, he was overweight too but eventually as he hit 16 or 17 they all but diminished...

JesusA (imported) wrote: Tue Jun 10, 2008 12:15 pm What Euniquee is asking about is the fusion of the epiphyses of the ribs in a castrato. The epiphyses are the little end pieces, connected to the long part of the bone by cartilage. The cartilaginous gap is the area of growth in length and the bone will continue to grow only until the gap fuses to create a single bone.

The absence of testosterone in a prepubertal eunuch results in later fusion of the ribs and the stopping of their growth. Young castrati who exercised their lungs with intensive singing had ribs that grew much longer, allowing for larger lung capacity. Those who did not exercise their lungs did not seem to grow the longer ribs – e.g., Chinese eunuchs, eunuchs of the Ottoman court and the Russian Skoptzy. Arm and leg length is also affected by later fusion of the epiphyses in prepubertal eunuchs, and they grow longer than usual even without any special exercise.

I would need to check a medical text in the library to discover the normal age of the fusion of the epiphyses of the ribs, but my guess would be that it occurs before 16 or 17.

Jesus,

Different bone epiphyses fuse at different times. If memory serves me correctly one of the last bones to fuse is not the long bones but the clavicle ends, als the illiac crests fuse very late. This can happen in some individuals as late as 21 or 22 years of age.

I shall look some of this up and get back to you all. I beleive that you may be right about some of the bony thorax being the last to fuse.

Later, friends...

Hello, me again.

Turns out that castration SLOWS skeletal maturation thus in principle making the individual's period for growth longer. This would be why early eunuchs (before puberty) would have skeletons that could be physically larger than than their non-eunuch counterparts.

This accounts for the larger skeletal size of some individuals. Thus if the growing time was longer and the areas that fuse last normally would fuse at an even later age thus making their skeletal structure larger (lankier) than it would have been otherwise. Also, this could account for certain areas be disproportional (larger) when compared to that of an individual with gonads.

Also, the difference in the effects of male and female hormones account for the statistically different growth rates, periodic growth spurts and the tendancy of males to be of larger physical stature than females in the human species adults.

Source#1 (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articl ... tid=423317)

Source#2 (http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/jour ... 1&SRETRY=0)

Hormones are linked to skeletal maturation and growth. Castration at an early age without hormone replacement will cause late skeletal maturation.

A-1 (imported) wrote: Mon Jul 07, 2008 3:28 pm Hello, me again.

Turns out that castration SLOWS skeletal maturation thus in principle making the individual's period for growth longer. This would be why early eunuchs (before puberty) would have skeletons that could be physically larger than than their non-eunuch counterparts.

skeletal maturation.

I've seen a survey where final adult height was found to be related to start of puberty. Basic rule was that the earlier puberty started the shorter would be final adult height.

Basically people who are taller than average tend to had puberty later than average.

E.