INTERSEXUALITY 377 



hermaphroditism in mammals based upon an examination 

 of the sex gland. The same view was held by Pick. To this 

 group belong also cases like that of Bolognesi (1921), in which 

 an uterus and tubes may be present in an otherwise normal 

 man with a normal functioning testicle. 



Let us now consider the cases of intersexuality described 

 in recent years by Bah (1920), Benda (1921), Blair Bell 

 (1920), Schmincke and Romeis (1920), Sternberg (1921), Peyron 

 (1922 b) and others. Most of these cases belong to what is 

 called pseudo-hermaphroditismus masculinus externus. The 

 external sex characters of these individuals are rather female, 

 though some traces of maleness may be also present; the 

 internal sex characters are either male or underdeveloped 

 female. The gonad was found in general to be an underde- 

 veloped testicle in which seminal tubules in an infantile stage 

 were to be found; most of the authors claim to have found 

 also real interstitial cells sometimes even in great quantities. 

 When confining attention to what is present at the moment 

 of clinical or pathological examination, an extraordinary dis- 

 crepancy may appear to exist between the sex of the gonad 

 and the sex characters, and most of the authors who observed 

 such cases are opposed to the assumption that an hormonic 

 intersexuality of the sex gland was involved. But I think 

 that the question is by no means negatively decided by these 

 numerous observations. Ovarian tissue present during em- 

 bryonic life or during childhood may have disappeared in 

 some of these cases, and the interstitial cells, as present in the 

 underdeveloped testicle, may be functionally inactive. Further, 

 it must be taken into consideration that the result of an 

 hormonic activity of a sex gland will depend, not only upon the 

 mutual quantities of male or female active endocrine tissues, 

 but also upon the condition of the soma, which varies greatly 

 according to the stage of development. 



The clinical and pathological observations likewise supply 

 no evidence as to the question whether generative cells or 

 special endocrine cells (interstitial cells) are actively involved 

 in the glandular intersexuality. Moreover it must not be 

 forgotten that a disturbance of some other endocrine gland 

 may have temporarily interfered with the hormonic activity 

 of the gonad itself, as shown by those cases of intersexuality 

 where interference of hypertrophied adrenals is evident. 



