716 



IJERMAPHRODITISM. 



woman at the middle period of life, without 

 any indications of the catamenial fluid being 

 merely mechanically retained, we may perhaps 

 suspect with reasonable probability the exist- 

 ence of a diseased state which has destroyed 

 eithei successively or simultaneously the func- 

 tions of both ovaries. In such a case the dis- 

 tinctive secondary peculiarities of the female 

 sex come to give place to those of the male. 

 Thus Vaulevier mentions an instance in which 

 menstruation suddenly ceased in a young and 

 apparently healthy woman ; no general or local 

 disease followed ; but soon afterwards a perfect 

 beard began to grow upon her face.* Again, 

 in women who have passed the period of their 

 menstrual and child-bearing life, and in whom 

 consequently the functions and often the healthy 

 structure of the ovaries are lost or destroyed, we 

 have frequently an opportunity of observing a 

 similar tendency towards an assumption of 

 some of the peculiarities of the male ; an in- 

 crease of hair often appears upon the face, the 

 mammae diminish in size, the voice becomes 

 stronger and deeper toned, the elegance of the 

 female form and contour of body is lost, and 

 frequently the mind exhibits a more determined 

 and masculine cast. Women, both young 

 and aged, with this tendency to the male cha- 

 racter, are repeatedly alluded to by the Roman 

 authors under the name of viragines ; and Hip- 

 pocrates f has left us the description of two 

 well-marked instances. 



Among the females of the lower animals a 

 similar approach to the male character in the 

 general system not unfrequently shows itself 

 as an effect both of disease and malformation 

 of the sexual organs, and also in consequence 

 of the cessation of the powers of reproduction 

 in the course of advanced age. Female deer 

 are sometimes observed to become provided at 

 puberty with the horns of the stag,j and such 



* Journ. deMed. torn. Ixix. and Meckel in Reil's 

 Arch. Bd. xi. s. 275. Meckel quotes other similar 

 cases from Seger in Ephem. Nat. Cur. Dec. i. 

 Ann. ix. and x. obs. 95; Vicat, sur la Plique 

 Polonaise, in Murray's Pr. Bibl. Bd. i. s. 578 ; 

 and Schurig's Parthenologia, p. 184. Burlin pub- 

 lished an express treatise on the subject, De barba 

 mulierum ex menstruorum suppressione, Altorf. 

 1664. See also Haller's Elera. Phys. torn. v. p. 

 32 ; Reuss, Repert. Comment, torn. x. p. 205 ; 

 Eble, Die Lehre von den Haaren in der organischen 

 Natur. Bd. ii. s. 222. Vien. 1831 ; and Mehliss, 

 Ueber Virilescenz und Rejuvenescenz thierischer 

 Korper. Leipz. 1838, who quotes several cases 

 additional to those of Meckel. 



* De Morb. Vulg. lib. vi. ss. 55,56. '< Abderus 

 Phaetusa, Pythei conjunx, antea per juventam 

 foecunda erat ; viro autem ejus exortante, din ar- 

 ticulos exorti sunt. Quas ubi contigerunt, turn cor- 

 pus virile, turn in universum hirsutum est reddi- 

 tum, barbaque est enata, et vox aspera reddita. 

 Sed cum omnia quae ad inensss deducendos facerent 

 tentassemus. non profluxerunt, verum hand ita 

 multo post vita functa est. Idem quoque in Thaso 

 Namysiae, Gorgippi conjugi, contigit." Hippocr. 

 Op. ed. Foesii, p. 1201. 



t Camden's Angl. Norm. (1603) p. 821. Lan- 

 gelot Eph. Nat. Cur. Dec. i. ann. ix and x. obs. 

 88. Ridinger's Abbild. Seltener Thiere Tat'. 79, or 

 Meckel in Reil's Archiv. filr die Physiol. Bd. xi. 

 p. 273. 



animals are generally observed to be barren,* 

 probably in consequence either of a congenital 

 or acquired morbid condition of their ovaries 

 or other reproductive organs. In old age, also, 

 after the term of their reproductive life has 

 ceased, female deer sometimes acquire the 

 horns of the male in a more or less perfect de- 

 gree;! and Burdach alleges that roes sometimes 

 become provided with short horns when they 

 are kept from the male during the rutting sea- 

 son, and at the same time furnished with abun- 

 dant nourishment.! Mehliss alludes to two 

 cases in which a virilescent type was shewn 

 principally in the hair of the female deer. In 

 one of these instances the hair of the head, 

 neck, and abdomen, the shape of the ears and 

 extremities, and the odour of the animal, gave 

 it the closest resemblance to the male, and it 

 followed the other females as if urged by sexual 

 desire. 



This kind of acquired hermaphroditism in 

 aged females has, however, been moie fre- 

 quently and carefully attended to as it occurs 

 in Birds than as met with among the Mamma- 

 lia, the change to virilescence in the former 

 being more marked and striking than in the 

 latter, owing to the great difference which gene- 

 rally exists between the plumage of the male 

 and female. || When old female birds live for 

 any considerable period after their ovaries have 

 ceased to produce eggs, they are usually ob- 

 served to assume gradually more or less of the 

 plumage and voice, and sometimes the habits 

 also of the male of their own species. This 

 curious fact, first pointed out by Aristotle If in 

 relation to the domestic fowl, has now been 

 seen to occur in a number of other species of 

 birds, but particularly among the Gallinaceae. 

 It has been in modern times remarked in the 

 common fowl ( Phasianus gallus) by Tucker, 

 Butler, and Jameson; in the common pheasant 

 (P. colchicus) by Hunter and Isidore St. 

 Hilaire; in the golden pheasant (P.plctus) 

 by Blumenbach and St. Hilaire ; in the silver 

 pheasant (P. nychemerus) by Bechstein and 

 St. Hilaire ; in the turkey ( Meleagris) by 

 Bechstein ; in the pea-hen (Pavo) by Hunter 

 and Jameson ; and in the partridge ( Tetrao 

 penlrix) by Montagu and Yarrell. Among 

 the Cursores it is mentioned as having occurred 

 in the bustard (Otis) by Tiedemann, and in 

 the American pelican (Platalea aiaia) by 

 Catesby. In the order Palmipedae it has been 

 observed by Tiedemann and Rumball in the 



* Wildungen, Taschenbuch fur Forst- und Jagd- 

 freunde, s. J7. 



t Otto's Path. Anat. by South, p. 166, s. 123, 

 n. 18, for list of cases. 



t Phys. vol. i. 183, p. 318. 



Ueber Virilescenz Thierisch. Koerper ; or 

 British and Foreign Med. Review, vol. vi. p. 77. 



|| It occurs also more frequently among birds 

 than among mammalia, from the former possessing 

 only a single ovary. 



1l " Gallini, cum vicerint gallos, concurrunt ma- 

 rcsque imitandi subagitare conantur. Attollitur 

 etiam crista ipsis, simul et clunes (uropygium) ; 

 adeo ut jam non facile diagnoscantur an fceminaj 

 sint. Quibusdam ctiam calcaria parva surriguu- 

 tur." Hist. Animal, lib. ix. cap. 36. 



