I.C. McMannus
Mittwoch and Kirk’ have claimed that “Right and left mammalian gonads do not usuaIly differ noticeably either in size or developmeat . .“. Chang et al.’ investigated the well-known asymmetry of the scrotum in man and showed that in right-handed subjects the right testis tended to be higher, whereas the converse applied in left-handed subjects. To investigate whether this was simply due to the greater eight of the left testis in right-handed subjects theq measured the weight and volume of the testes in (presumably mainly righthanded) cadavers and found, paradoxically, that the right (that is, the higher) testicle was also the heavier and of greater volume, a result in accord with Mittwoch and Kirk’s foetal data’. Interest in testicular asymmetry may however be traced back much further. Winckelmann” in 1764 commented that: “Even the private parts have their appropriate beauty. The left testicle is always the larger, as it is in nature;“. He went on, however, “ so likewise it has been observed that the sight of the left eye is keener than the right”, an observation which, to my knowledge, has not been confirmed. To test Winckelmann’s claim, I observed the scrotal asymmetry of 107 sculptures, either of antique origin or Renaissance copies, in a number of Italian museums and galleries. Table 1 shows that although the ancient artists were correct in tending to place the right testicle higher, they were wrong in so far as they also tended to make the Iower testicle the larger: we may postulate that they were also using the common-sense view that the heavier ought to be Iower. Although Winckelmann’s observations of antique sculpture were correct, his observations of nature are clearly in error. The reason for the artists placing the right testicle higher than the left is not clear. It may reflect the true observed state of things, but it may also be a function of Greek left/right symbolism. in which right and male, and left and female were regarded as equivalent, and thus for instance, the male child was presumed to come from the right (and thus higher?) testis, and vice versa for the female child’.
Fuente: Nature, Vol. 259, February 5, 1976
Thomas Dolby - Hyperactive
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