Clinical Syndromes due to 

 Suprarenal Diseases 



Pseudohermaphrodism 



WM. C. QUINBY 



BOSTON 



English Pseudohermaphrodism. French .Erreur de sexe. German 

 Zivitterbildung. 



The term pseudohermaphrodism signifies an anomaly of either the 

 external or internal genitalia, which, combined with the bodily habitus 

 the so-called secondary sexual characteristics of Hunter, creates a con- 

 dition in which the true sex of the individual may at first glance be un- 

 certain. 



Such instances of doubtful sex have been noted from the earliest re- 

 corded history of the human race and have always gained marked at- 

 tention. In the earliest forms of man's conception of the deity both the 

 Indie religion and Egyptian writings frequently include a dual sex. This 

 godly attribute has been preserved in Greek mythological lore in the his- 

 tory of the adventure of the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, Hermaphro- 

 ditus, at the pool of Salamacis, from which story our present term for the 

 condition of dual sex originates. Since, however, more recent knowledge 

 has shown that the power of self-fertilization and procreation is not 

 possible for organisms of the class of vertebrates, the prefix pseudo has 

 been added to the word hermaphrodite. 



The final decision as to the sex of an individual must rest upon the 

 characteristics, gross or microscopic, of the gonad. But frequently such 

 an examination cannot be made, at least during life. The usual judg- 

 ment as to sex, therefore, is made from those bodily characteristics which 

 occur at the time of puberty and which differentiate the previously in- 

 fantile type of body into either the male or female type. As male char- 

 acteristics we find at this time the change in voice due to the growth of the 

 larynx, and the growth of the beard. In girls the breasts enlarge, fat is 

 deposited over the thighs, the pelvis expands and menstruation appears. 

 Whenever changes characteristic of secondary sexual habitus occur in the 

 presence of the opposite sex gland then a condition of mixed or doubtful 

 sexe ensemble is produced. 



Under such circumstances anomalies are also, usually found in the 



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