276 J. r, GUDERNATSCH 



by laymen. Reuter, however, found among three pigs of one 

 Utter one true and two spurious hermaphrodites, and in a later 

 litter from the same sow a pseudo-hermaphrodite occurred. 



From this investigation the sex of the individual remains unde- 

 termined. According to Virchow it is an ' individuum utriusqua 

 generis.' According to Klebs the condition is a typical herma- 

 phroditismus verus. Klebs regards an individual as a true her- 

 maphrodite, when the genital glands of both sexes are united in it. 

 The physiological state is of no importance, simply the anatomical 

 fact. An anatomical hermaphroditism seems to be all we can 

 expect to find in vertebrates. The physiological hermaphroditism, 

 as is normally the case in invertebrates, may hardly be looked for 

 in man. In the higher vertebrates the persistence of both genital 

 glands, is looked upon as an imperfect development and under such 

 circumstances it is only natural that their physiological faculty 

 should be reduced. 



Our knowledge of the etiology of these malformations is almost 

 nil, since in general our conceptions of the principles involved in 

 the development of sex are still rather vague. It remains for the 

 anatomist and embryologist, perhaps for the experimenter, to 

 bring about a deeper understanding of these abnormalities. 

 So long as the interest in them is reserved for pathologists and 

 clinicians, and the malformations of the external genitals remain 

 the only thing of interest, the literature regarding such anomalies 

 will be as Benda states ''overcrowded with sensational reports," 

 with no exact investigation of the anatomical and histological 

 features. 



Hermaphroditism in the sense that separate testicles and ova- 

 ries are found has not been demonstrated in man, nor even in other 

 mammals beyond doubt. Yet there are four cases of the so- 

 called ovotestis on record, two of these with neoplastic changes 

 in the male portion. The present is therefore the fifth recorded 

 case of true hermaphroditism in man. 



