92 



HERMAPHRODITISM. 



male genital organs are liable may be traced to 

 stoppages in the above process of development, 

 the character of the malformation depending 

 upon the period of the development at which 

 the arrest takes place, and varying consequently 

 in degree from the existence of a cloaca or 

 permanent primitive fissure common to the 

 intestinal, urinary, and generative organs,'* to 

 that want of closure, to a greater or less extent 

 in different instances, of the inferior surface of 

 the canal of the urethra in the body of the 

 penis, or in its glans, which is generally known 

 under the name of hypospadias. When the 

 development of the male organs is arrested, 

 immediately after the two septa respectively 

 separating the canals of the intestine and urethra 

 from the original perinaeal cleft are formed, 

 and consequently when this perinaeal fissure 

 and that running along the inferior surface of 

 the penis are still open, the external genital 

 parts often come to present at birth, and during 

 the continuance of life, a striking resemblance 

 to the conformation of the external organs of 

 the female, and the resemblance is frequently 

 rendered gi eater by the coexistence of other 

 malformations of the male organs. In these 

 cases the imperfect and undeveloped penis is 

 generally of small size, and, at the same time, 

 from being imperforate, may readily be mis- 

 taken for the clitoris ; the two halves of the 

 divided scrotum have the appearance of the 

 two labia externa ; the two labia externa or 

 nymphse are sometimes represented by the 

 lateral divisions of the penis forming two folds, 

 which run backwarks along the internal surfaces 

 of the split scrotum; and the cleft in the 

 perinaeum corresponds in situation and direc- 

 tion, and occasionally also in size and form, 

 with the canal of the vagina; this cleft is 

 generally lined also by a red mucous membrane 

 that is kept, like the natural female parts, con- 

 stantly moistened by the secretions of the 

 follicles with which it is provided; its mucous 

 membrane occasionally presents irregular eleva- 

 tions imperfectly representing the carunculse 

 myrtiformes; and, further, the opening of the 

 urethra at the root of the diminutive and im- 

 perforate penis serves still more to assimilate 

 the malformed parts to the natural conformation 

 of the female organs. In a number of cases, 

 however, the apparent analogy to the female 

 parts is rendered less striking by the perinaeal 

 cleft being small or altogether absent, the 

 urethral orifice at the root of the penis often 

 forming the only opening leading to the internal 

 urinary and generative parts, and the halves of 

 the scrotum in such instances being frequently 

 more or less perfectly united. Generally the 

 seminal ducts, and sometimes also the ducts of 

 Cowper's glands, are seen opening on the 

 surface of the urethra or supposed vaginal 

 canal, at a short distance from its external 

 orifice. 



In males malformed in the manner described, 

 the testicles are seldom found in the divided 



* See on this malformation in the human subject 

 (the normal form of structure in birds, &c.) Meckel 

 on Kloakbiltlung in his Path. Anat. Bd. i. s. 693. 



scrotum at birth, but commonly they descend 

 into it through the inguinal rings towards the 

 period of puberty ; and in several instances on 

 record, in which the sex of the individual had 

 been mistaken for that of a female, the tumours 

 formed in the groin at that time by the organs 

 in their descent have been erroneously regarded 

 and treated as hernial protrusions. At the 

 same time it occasionally happens that with 

 the descent of the testicles, and the arrival of 

 puberty, the diminutive penis enlarges in size, 

 and the individual assumes more or less fully 

 the habits arid attributes of the male. In 

 several instances on record this change has, 

 under venereal excitation, appeared to occur 

 suddenly, and persons formerly reputed female 

 have thus unexpectedly found themselves pro- 

 vided with an erectile male penis. These 

 various changes are occasionally postponed for 

 a considerable period beyond the usual term 

 of puberty. 



In a few rare instances one testicle only de- 

 scends through the inguinal ring, and occasion- 

 ally they both remain throughout life within the 

 abdomen, in or near the situation in which they 

 are originally developed, imitating in this ab- 

 normal state the normal position of the same 

 organs in many of the males among the lower 

 animals. In a number of instances in which 

 the testicles are thus retained within the cavity 

 of the abdomen, they are found small and im- 

 perfectly developed, and from the want of their 

 usual physiological influence upon the consti- 

 tution, the whole physical and moral character 

 of the malformed individual frequently presents 

 a considerable approximation to that of the 

 female, or, as we should perhaps more justly 

 express it, never attains the perfection of the 

 male, but preserves that kind of common or 

 neutral state exhibited by the constitution of 

 both sexes before the specific sexual characters 

 of each are developed at the time of puberty. 



Numerous curious examples of mistakes 

 having been committed with regard to the sex 

 of males affected with the above species of mal- 

 formation have now been put on record, from 

 the time at which Iphis, the daughter of Ligdus, 

 king of Crete, was conceived to be changed 

 into a man by the miraculous interference of 

 Isis, down to the present day. Pliny, (lib. vii. 

 chap.iv.) has noticed several cases; and in the 

 treatise of Duval on hermaphrodites a number 

 of additional instances are collected from Livy, 

 Trallian, and others, some of them no doubt 

 invested (as most cf the details regarding her- 

 maphrodites in the older authors are) in much 

 misrepresentation and fable, but others bearing 

 every mark of accuracy and authenticity. In 

 more modern times the sexes of individuals 

 have often been mistaken in consequence of 

 this variety of malformation. Jean Chroker* 

 relates, in apparently the most authentic man- 

 ner, the case of Magdelain Mugnoz, a nun of 

 the order of St. Dominique in the town of 

 Ubeda, who was changed, as he supposes, into 

 a male, seven years after having taken the vows. 



* Fa*. Histor. cent. i. and Arnaud, Dissertation 

 sur les Hermaphrodites, p. 200. 



