SEX IN LIVING FORMS 133 



account, and were buried in tlie church, where the tablet 

 was erected to their memory. 



Superfetation.— It occasionally happens that a 

 child is born of the same mother a few weeks or a few 

 months subsequent to the previous childbirth, but not 

 sufficiently long afterward to make it possible to con- 

 sider the second child the result of a second period of 

 gestation. These curious cases are accounted for by the 

 supposition that superfetation may occasionally occur, 

 that is, the second ovule may pass down into the womb, 

 and become impregnated, some time after the devel- 

 oi)ment of the first has begun. This certainly must 

 be a very unusual circumstance, but that it has occurred, 

 is attested by testimony which cannot be doubted. In 

 one case, reported by Dr. Janeway, surgeon in the late 

 war, one of two infants born of a mulatto mother under 

 these peculiar circumstances was a negro, while the 

 other was nearly white,— a fact which offered the most 

 indisputable evidence, not only of the distinct paternity 

 of the two infants as to time, but also as to individuals. 



Monsters.— Defects and abnormalities in the devel- 

 opment of the embryo produce all degrees of deviation 

 from the typical human form. Excessive development 

 may result in an extra finger or toe, or in the pro- 

 duction of some peculiar excrescence. Deficiency of 

 development may produce all degrees of abnormality, 

 from the simple hair-lip to the most frightful deficiency, 

 as the absence of a limb, or even of a head. It is in 

 this manner that those unfortunate individuals known 

 as hermaphrodites are formed. An excessive develop- 

 ment of some parts of the female generative organs 

 gives them a great degree of similarity to the external 

 organs of the male. A deficient development of the 

 masculine organs renders them similar in appearance to 



