HERMAPHRODITISM. 



73$ 



denoe, tlicro is every reason to believe, with a 

 slight predominance in size in the hemispheres 

 of the encephalon of the same side. In ad- 

 ducing these two cases we do not wish to draw 

 any inference with regard to the relation of 

 causation between the size and development of 

 the encephalic mass and the determination of 

 the sex, but would merely point out the facts 

 thrinsi'lvr.s in the meantime, for the purpose of 

 drawing attention to the subject in the observa- 

 tion of any future similar instances that may 

 happen to occur. 



In connection with the question of the causes 

 of hermaphroditism, it is interesting to remark 

 that in some instances malformations of the 

 genital organs giving rise to appearances of her- 

 maphroditism have been observed both to be 

 lureditary in particular families, and in other 

 cases to occur among several of the children of 

 tin' same parents. Thus Heuremann* mentions 

 an example of a family the females of which 

 had for several generations given birth to males 

 who were all affected with hypospadias ; and 

 Ix>catf alleges that a degree of hypospadias 

 is nut uncommon among families in Nor- 

 mandy. In Rust's Magazine an instance is 

 related of a degree of hypospadias existing in a 

 father and son.J Haum, in his essay on con- 

 genital fissures of the urethra, has referred to 

 two instances of the existence of hypospadias 

 in brothers of the same family, the first men- 

 tioned by Walrecht,|| and the second by 

 Gockel.1l Sir Everard Home** found two 

 cases of hypospadias in two children belonging 

 to the same parents. Kauw Boerhaaveft men- 

 tions an example of four hypospadiac brothers, 

 and Lepechin another instance of three.JJ 

 Naegele has reported a case in which two male 

 twins were both hypospadic, and Katsky|||| 

 and Saviardm have mentioned similar in- 

 stances. 



We have already, when treating of transverse 

 hermaphroditism, alluded to another fact long 

 and extensively known among our agriculturists, 

 but first prominently brought l>efore the notice 

 of physiologists by Mr. Hunter, that the free- 

 martin cow, or the cow that is born a co-twin 

 with a male, is generally barren and has its 

 sexual organs more or less defectively developed 

 or hermaphroditically formed.*** In three dif- 



* Medicin. Beobacht. Bd. ii. 9. 234, and Laroche 

 lur Ion Monstrosites de la Face, p. 30. 



t Annaud, 1. c. p. 312. 



J Magazin fuer die Gesammte Hcilkundc, Bd. 

 xviii. s. 113. 



$ De lissiuis urethra: virilis fissuris congcnitis, 

 p. 54. 



|| Burdach's Metamorphose dcs Geschlechter, p. 



IT Eph. Nat. Car. Dec. ii. Ann. 5. (1686), p. 85. 

 Comp. Anat. iii. p. 320. 

 tt Nov. Com. Acad. Sc. Petropolit. t. i. p. 61. 

 tab. xi. 

 tt Ibid. t. xvi. p. 525. 



Meckel's Archiv. Bd. v. 1. 136. 

 Acta M. Bcrol. Dec. 1. torn, ix, p. 61. 



Observ. Chirurg. p. 284. 

 "" From the Romans employing the female noun 

 Mum to signify a barren cow, it has been ingeni- 

 ously conjectured that they w^re not unacquainted 

 with the free-martin. Thus Columolla de Re Rui- 



ferent instances Mr. Hunter confirmed the feet 

 of the anomalous sexual development of such 

 anini.il> by dissection; and Scarpa* and 

 ( iiirli t have published some additional ob- 

 servations and cases. We have lately had 

 an opportunity of dissecting the sexual parts of 

 two adult free-martins, and found them, as 

 already detailed, formed after an abnormal and 

 imperfect sexual type ; and our friend Or. 

 Allen Thomson made some years ago a. similar 

 observation upon a free-martin twin ftrtal calf. 

 Cases, however, exceptional to the general fact 

 of the sterility and imperfect sexual conforma- 

 tion of the free-martin twin cow are not unfre- 

 quently met with. Mr. Hunter found the 

 sexual organs of a free-martin calf that died 

 when about a month old apparently naturally 

 constituted. He speaks also of having heard of 

 some free-martins that were so perfectly formed 

 in their sexual parts as to be capable of 

 breeding; and different instances of their fe- 

 cundity have been published by Dr. Moulson 

 and others i since the time that Mr. Hunter 

 directed attention to this subject. In some 

 pretty extensive inquiries which we have made 

 in regard to this point among the agriculturists 

 of the Lothians, we have learned only of two 

 instances in which free-martins proved capable 

 of propagating, and such cases seem to be 

 always looked upon as forming exceptions to 

 the general rule. 



We are not aware that among other uni- 

 parous domestic animals, as the goat, mare, 

 &c , when a female is bom a co-twin with a 

 male, this female is sterile, and has its sexual 

 organs hermaphroditically formed, as in the 

 free-martin cow ; and we are sufficiently as- 

 sured that no such law holds with regard to 

 twins of opposite sexes among sheep. Sir 

 Everard Home, in his essay on monstrous for- 

 mations, mentions that in warm countries 

 nurses and midwives have a prejudice that such 

 women as have been bom twins with males 

 seldom breed ; and we have found the same 

 prejudice existing to a considerable degree 

 among the lower orders in Scotland. Mr. 

 Cribb,|| of Cambridge, published in 1823 a 

 short paper in order to refute this notion as far 

 as regarded the human subject. He refers to 

 the histories of seven women who had been 

 born co-twins with males. Six of these had 

 children, and the remaining seventh subject 

 alone had been married for several years 

 without any issue. We have ourselves made 

 a series of extensive inquiries of the same nature 



tica, lib. vi. chap. 22, speaks of " timrre which 

 occupy the place of fertile cows ;" and Varrn in 

 like manner (lib. ii cap. 5.) states that " the cow 

 which is barren is called tttura" (quas ftterilis rst, 

 taura vocatur). There is no evidence, however, 

 that they were acquainted with the particular cir- 

 cumstances relative to birth under which free-mar- 

 tins are produced. 



Mem. della Societa Italiana, t. ii. p. 846. 



t Lerbuch der pathol. Anat. Bd. ii. s. 188. 



J London's Magazine of Natural History, vol. 

 v. p. 765. See also Youatt on Cattle, p. 539, 

 Fanners' Magazine for Nov. 1806 and Nov. 1807. 

 Comp. Anat. vol. iii. p. 333-4. 

 London Mcd. Repos. vol. xx. p. 213. 



