66 TABOO AND GENETICS 



together at fertilization. The quantitative 

 theory merely means that this predominance of 

 one factor or the other (maleness or femaleness 

 — Gynase or Andrase) is more pronounced in 

 some cases than in others. 



In brief, then, the quantitative theory of sex 

 is merely the most reasonable explanation of 

 the known fact that intersexes exist — that is, 

 females with some male characteristics, or with 

 all their characters more like the female type 

 than the average, and vice versa. Laboratory 

 biology has established the phenomena of inter- 

 sexuality beyond question, and the word " inter- 

 sex " has become a scientific term. But the fact 

 that this word and the idea it represents are 

 new to exact science does not mean that it is 

 new in the world. 



Intersexes in the human species — not only 

 the extreme pathological cases represented by 

 the so-called " hermaphrodites," but also merely 

 masculine women and effeminate men — have 

 been the subject of serious remarks as well as 

 literary gibes from the earliest times The 

 Greeks called these people urnings. Schopen- 

 hauer was interested in the vast ancient litera- 

 ture and philosophy on this subject. The 19th 

 century produced a copious psychological treat- 

 ment of warped or reversed sexual impulses by 

 such men as Moll, Krafft-Ebing and Havelock 

 Ellis. Otto Weiniger (10) collected a mass 



