622 on the practice of ovariotomy, 



On the practice of Ovariotomy by the Natives of the 

 Herbert Eiver, Queensland.* 



By N. de Miklouho-Maclay. 



While in Queensland last November, I visited Dalby and met 

 there Mr. Rotsch, who was recommended to me as a man of 

 remarkable personal acquaintance with the country and people 

 of Western Queensland. Mr. Rotsch told me, inter alia, that 

 on his way from the Diamantina to the Herbert River, (about 

 23° Lat. and 139° Long.), he met with a man who had been 

 staying some time with the Natives living a little up the stream 

 of the Herbert River in the vicinity of the Rarrapitshuri Lake. 



This man told Mr. Rotsch, that he had noticed amongst these 

 natives, who mostly had indured the " Mikse " operation,! a 

 peculiar looking girl who appeared to avoid the society of other 

 females and remained always with young men, sharing with them 

 their occupation and toils. This girl was almost destitute of 

 breasts, was very slim limbed, had some hair on the chin, and 

 altogether had a kind of " boyish" appearance.j" 



Though this girl appeared to shun other females, she never 



showed a particular inclination for the young men to whose 



sexual use she was given. 



Two long cicatrices on the groins of the girl were explained by 



a native, who had been some time on a Station and could speak 



*I have seen some time ago a paper on the same subject in the Anthro- 

 pological Society of Berlin, which was published in the proceedings of the 



same. 



fVide my letter to Prof. K. Virchow, about the Mikae operation : Verhand- 

 lungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthropologic Ethnologie und Urges- 

 chichtie Sitsung vov 17 April, 1180. 



Jin the well known case of Pott, the woman (of 23 years of age) after the 

 operation (ovariotomia) had been performed, never menstruated, her breasts 

 fell away and the muscular system became developed as in a man. (Rob. 

 Barnes, " A Clinical History of the Medical and Surgical Diseases of Women 

 1878, page 184." 



