HERMAPHRODITISM. 



689 



with some of the female genital organs deve- 

 loped in so excessive a degree as to approach 

 in several points the more perfect structure of 

 them in man. The impossibility, however, as 

 mentioned by Beclard, of finding any bodies 

 like testicles in the labia or in the course of 

 the inguinal canals, and more particularly the 

 well-ascertained fact of the individual menstru- 

 ating, can leave no doubt as to the nature of 

 her sex. The perforation of the enlarged cli- 

 toris with the imperfect urethra is interesting, 

 when compared with the peculiarities that we 

 have formerly alluded to, of this part in the 

 female Loris, as pointing out, what we have so 

 often occasion to observe in human monstrosi- 

 ties, a type of structure assumed by a mal- 

 formed organ similar to the normal type of struc- 

 ture of the same organ, in some of the inferior 

 animals. 



Arnaud* has represented and described at 

 great length an interesting example of herma- 

 phroditic malformation that seems referable to 

 the head of spurious hermaphroditism in the 

 female, although there are two circumstances 

 in the history of the case which have led some 

 authors to doubt the accuracy of this opinion ; 

 and the opportunity that was afforded of ascer- 

 taining the true structure of the parts after 

 death was unfortunately lost through careless- 

 ness and neglect. The subject of the malfor- 

 mation, aged 35, passed in society for a female, 

 and came to Arnaud complaining of a small 

 tumour (fg. 288, e) in the right groin, which 



Fig. 288. 



had incommoded her much during her whole life. 

 On examining this body, Arnaud was led to 

 believe that it was a testicle, and he found a 

 similar tumour (f} situated nearer the inguinal 

 ring on the left side. The bags that contained 

 them represented very exactly the labia externa. 

 The clitoris (a) was two inches and nine lines 

 in length, and placed between the labia at their 

 upper angle. The glans (b) was well formed, 

 and though imperforate at its extremity, it pre- 

 sented a small depression which ran backwards 

 along the whole inferior border of the clitoris, 

 indicating the situation of a collapsed urethra! 

 canal, that seemed pervious for some length at 



* Dissertation sur les Hermaphrodites, p. 265, 

 pLx. 



VOL. II. 



its posterior part, as it became distended when 

 the patient evacuated the bladder. The ori- 

 fice (c), however, from which the urine actually 

 flowed, occupied the situation in which it exists 

 in the perfectly formed female. There was not 

 any vaginal opening, and the individual men- 

 struated per anum. At each menstrual period 

 a tumour (rf) always appeared in the perinaeum, 

 which gradually increased in size, becoming, in 

 the course of three or four days, as large as a 

 small hen's egg. When the perinaeal tumour 

 had reached this size, blood began to flow 

 from the anus, although no haemorrhoids or 

 other disease of the bowel was present. At 

 these periods the individual had often expe- 

 rienced very alarming symptoms, and in order 

 to avert these, Arnaud was induced to make an 

 opening into the soft yielding space at which 

 the perinaeal tumour above alluded to appeared; 

 and at a considerable depth he found a cavity 

 two inches in circumference, and about two 

 and a half in breadth, having projecting into it 

 at one point an eminence which was supposed 

 from its situation to be possibly the os uteri. 

 At the next period the menstrual fluid came 

 entirely by the artificial perinaeal opening, and 

 the usual severe attendant symptoms did not 

 supervene. From inattention, however, to the 

 use of the tent, the opening was allowed to 

 become completely shut, so that at the sixth 

 return of the menses they flowed again by the 

 anus, and were accompanied by the old train 

 of severe symptoms. The individual lived for 

 several years afterwards. Her conformation of 

 body was remarkable. Her skin was rough, 

 thick, and swarthy; she had a soft black beard 

 on her face ; her voice was coarse and mascu- 

 line ; her chest narrow ; her mammae were flat 

 and small ; her arms lean and muscular ; her 

 hands large, and her fingers of very considerable 

 length and strength. The form, in fact, of the 

 upper part of her body was masculine, but in 

 the lower part the female conformation predo- 

 minated. The pelvis was wide and large, the 

 os pubis very elevated, the buttocks large, the 

 thighs and legs round, and the feet small. 



In this remarkable instance, if we do not go 

 so far as to conceive the coexistence of some 

 of the internal organs of both sexes, we must, 

 from the well-ascertained fact of the menstrual 

 evacuations, allow the person at least to have 

 been a female. In that case we can only sup- 

 pose the tumours in the labia to be the ovaries 

 descended into that situation ; and to the same 

 excess of development which has produced this 

 effect, we may attribute the closure of the 

 vaginal orifice, and the formation of the imper- 

 fect urethral canal in the body of the clitoris. 



Spurious hermaphroditism from preternatural 

 enlargement of the clitoris has been recognised 

 among some of the lower animals. Rudolphi* 

 has noticed a mare of this kind that had a 

 clitoris so large as almost to shut up the en- 

 trance into the vagina. Lecoqf has detailed 



* Rudolphi's Bemerkungen auf einer Reise, &c. 

 Bd. i. s. 79. See a case also figured by Ruysch in 

 his Thesaurus Anat. lib. viii. no. 53. 



t Journ. Prat, de Med. Vet. 1827, p. 103. 



2 7. 



