700 



HERMAPHRODITISM. 



Europe in regard to the true sex of this indivi- 

 dual. Even the different parts of his body were 

 at one time referred to the male type, and at 

 another time, and by other persons, to the fe- 

 male. The pelvis was the only part that was 

 generally considered as decidedly female, yet 

 the inspection of the body after death by Pro- 

 fessor Mayer shewed that even in this respect 

 all were in error. 



Of the female sexual organs there existed an 

 uterus, vagina, two Fallopian tubes, and an 

 ovary ; and of the male, a testicle, and prostate 

 gland and penis. The uterus was placed in 

 its normal situation between the urinary bladder 

 and rectum, but with its fundus directed in some 

 degree to the left. The organ was extremely 

 narrow, and two and a half inches in length. 

 The cavity of its cervix presented on its inner 

 surface some slight folds, but would scarcely 

 admit a quill ; the cavity of its fundus was 

 nearly half an inch across. The small canals of 

 two Fallopian tubes opened into the fundus 

 uteri. Their abdominal extremities were shut, 

 but the corpora fimbriata were present. Near 

 the extremity of the right Fallopian tube, which 

 was four inches and four lines in length, a small 

 flattened almond-shaped body was placed, which 

 on examination proved to be distinctly a testi- 

 cle. It was completely enveloped in perito- 

 naeum, and received a cord composed of muscu- 

 lar fibres, and of a spermatic vein and artery. 

 Its internal structure was yellow and filamen- 

 tous, like that of the testicle, and its seminiferous 

 tubes could be easily separated. The left Fallo- 

 pian tube was an inch shorter than the right ; 

 and a little outside and behind its abdominal 

 extremity another small flattened body was 

 found inclosed in the peritonaeum. It resembled 

 an ovary rather than a testicle. Its tissue was 

 composed of small granules conglomerated 

 together. The penis was two inches and nine 

 Jines in length, and was for the greater part 

 concealed underneath the mons veneris. During 

 life it was capable of erection, and was then 

 elongated to more than three inches. The pre- 

 puce covered only half the glans. There was 

 not any corpus spongiosum. A fossa or groove, 

 representing an urethral canal divided inferiorly, 

 ran along the under surface of the penis. The 

 two folds of skin forming the sides of the 

 groove separated from each other posteriorly, 

 and might be compared to nymphae. Towards 

 the root of the penis, by uniting inferiorly with 

 a puckering of the skin of the labia majora or 

 divided halves of the scrotum, they formed a 

 circular orifice not larger than a quill, having 

 some bodies, supposed to be vestiges of the ca- 

 runculae myrtiformes, at its lower edge, and lead- 

 ing to a short vestibule, or common canal, into 

 which the urethra, surrounded by a firm but 

 small prostate, entered from above, and the va- 

 gina, encircled at its entrance by a vascular 

 ring of varicose veins, opened from below. The 

 vagina was two inches and eight lines in length, 

 and only ten lines at its greatest breadth. Its 

 inner surface was somewhat wrinkled an- 

 teriorly, but smooth behind. It terminated 

 above in a kind of spongy isthmus representing 

 the blind orifice of the uterus, and from four to 



six lines in length. The diameters and form of 

 the pelvis were, on dissection, found to be most 

 evidently masculine. 



The general character of Doerge was a mix- 

 ture of the male and female type. When be- 

 tween twenty and thirty, he had been examined 

 by d ifTerent medical men inGermany , France, and 

 England, and, as we have already mentioned, 

 the most contradictory opinions were offered 

 upon his real sex. The breasts were not 

 much developed, and there was no distinct 

 mammary glandular structure. His stature was 

 small (five feet). As he had advanced in 

 age, his voice had become more firm and 

 grave, and a slight trace of beard had ap- 

 peared ; but his head and face presented the 

 aspect of that of an old woman. His neck was 

 short, and the thyroid cartilage did not project 

 much : his chest was fat and full. During the 

 last few years of his life he was subject to 

 epistaxis and haemorrhoids, but did not present 

 any trace of sanguineous discharge from the 

 genital organs, a phenomenon which was 

 alleged to have manifested itself three times 

 during his twentieth year. 



The right hemispheres of the cerebrum and 

 cerebellum, particularly that of the latter, were 

 smaller and less developed than the left, and the 

 left side of the occiput was externally more 

 prominent than the right. He is stated by 

 Professor Mayer to have shewn a certain pred i- 

 lection for females, without, however, feeling 

 any sexual desire. 



2. Testicle on the left, and ovary on the 

 right side. An instance of malformation of the 

 reproductive organs minutely described by 

 Maret,* and which is in all its more essential 

 anatomical points an example of lateral herma- 

 phroditism, may be included under this head. 



a. The subject of the case (Hubert Jean 

 Pierre) died in the hospital at Dijon in 1767, 

 at the age of seventeen. On the left side a 

 perfect testicle was discovered with its usual 

 spermatic vessels, vas deferens, and vesicula 

 seminalis, all occupying the natural situation 

 in which they are placed in the male adult. 

 The vesicula seminalis contained a fluid of the 

 colour and consistence of semen. On the right 

 side an oblong cystic tumour was found lying in 

 the iliac fossa, and stretching outwards into the 

 inguinal region. On opening it a quantity of 

 reddish limpid fluid escaped, and then the solid 

 contents of the tumour were seen to consist of a 

 somewhat flattened body, that gave off from the 

 upper part from its right side a short Fallopian 

 tube ; and at the fimbriated extremity of this 

 tube an ovary of the natural size, consistence, 

 and figure, was situated. The roundish shaped 

 body to which the tube was attached was about 

 an inch and a half in its greatest, and an inch in 

 its smallest diameter. It contained in its 

 centre a small cavity continuous with that of 

 the tube, a circumstance, which, along with the 

 structure of its walls, left little doubt that the 

 body itself was an imperfectly formed uterus. 

 No other opening except that of the tube could 

 be traced into its cavity. Its external surface 



* Mem. de 1' Acad. dc Dijon, t. ii. p. 157. 



