Chapter IX. 

 Intersexuality/ 



A. TRUE HERMAPHRODITISM AND PSEUDO- 

 HERMAPHRODITISM. 



There are individuals which combine within themselves char- 

 acters of both sexes. Such individuals are generally divided 

 into two groups: the so-called true hermaphrodites and the 

 pseudo-hermaphrodites. An individual is said to be a true 

 hermaphrodite when within the organism there are combined 

 not only somatic characters but also generative cells of both 

 sexes. We speak of pseudo-hermaphrodites when only somatic 

 characters of both sexes are combined in an individual in which 

 generative cells of one sex are to be found. Most hermaphro- 

 dites in man and other mammals belong to the second group. 



In many species of invertebrates both generative cells and 

 accessory organs of both sexes, serving for the expulsion of 

 the secretion of the gonad and for copulation, are normally 

 present in the same individual. When speaking of true herma- 

 phroditism occurring rarely as a monstrosity in mammals and 

 man we are thus referring to a condition which is normally 

 present in these species of invertebrates. When speaking of 

 pseudo-hermaphroditism we imply a condition which deviates 

 from normal hermaphroditism, since, although generative cells 

 of only one sex are present, somatic characters of both sexes 

 are combined in the same individual. 



There is another principle tacitly implied in such a classifi- 

 cation. After learning that somatic sex characters are con- 

 ditioned by the internal secretion of the gonad, it seems to be 

 very strange to find somatic characters of both sexes in one 

 individual with generative cells of only one sex. The want of 

 consistency apparently implied in this condition could not be 

 better expressed than in the term pseudo-hermaphroditism. 



Now, we have seen in Chapter IV. that male sex characters 

 can be normally developed when no spermatozoa or different 

 stages of male seminal cells other than spermatogonia are 

 present; and we learned further that female sex characters 



^ The term has been introduced by Goldschmidt (1917). 

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