718 



HERMAPHRODITISM. 



when the various male sexual peculiarities have 

 been already developed, the effect is seldom 

 so striking; the sexual instincts of the animal, 

 and the energy of character which these in- 

 stincts impart, are certainly more or less com- 

 pletely destroyed, and the tone of the voice is 

 sometimes changed to that of puberty; but the 

 general male characteristics of form, such as 

 the beard in man, and the horns in the Ru- 

 minantia, most commonly continue to grow. 

 In animals, such as the stag, which possess 

 deciduous horns, the removal of the testicles 

 during the rutting season causes the existing 

 horns to be permanent ; and if the operation is 

 performed in an adult animal when out of heat, 

 no new horns in general appear.* In the ox, 

 the effect of castration upon the growth of the 

 horns, even when performed before the time 

 of puberty, is quite remarkable ; for instead of 

 having their development altogether stopped, 

 or their size at least diminished by the opera- 

 tion, as occurs in the ram and stag, the volume 

 of these appendages is even increased by the 

 operation, the horns of the ox being generally 

 larger but less strong than those of the entire 

 bull. Castration in the boar causes, according 

 to Greve,f the tusks to remain small, and pre 

 vents altogether the replacement of the teeth. 

 This author also states that the same operation 

 on the horse prevents the full development of 

 the neck, renders the teeth smaller and slower 

 in their growth, increases the growth of the 

 hair, and the size of the horny protuberances 

 on the inside of the legs. The prostate gland, 

 he further alleges, as well as the vesiculae se- 

 minales, become augmented as much as a 

 third in their volume in consequence of the 

 operation .J 



The removal of the testicles both before and 

 after the period of puberty commonly gives 

 rise to another singular effect, to an increased 

 deposition of fat over the body, as has already 

 been mentioned in the article ADIPOSE TISSUE, 

 and from this circumstance the general form 

 of the body, and in man that of the mammae, 

 is sometimes modified in a degree that in- 

 creases the resemblance to the opposite sex. 

 In the sterile of both sexes in the human sub- 

 ject an unusual corpulency is not uncom- 

 mon, and the same state is often met with in 

 old persons, and particularly in females, after 

 the period of their child-bearing life is past. 



The nature of the effects produced by the 

 existence and functional activity of the testicles 

 and ovaries upon the development of the se- 

 condary sexual characters of the male and 

 female, may be further illustrated by what 

 occurs in the season of heat to animals such 

 as the deer, sheep, birds, &c. that have peri- 

 odical returns of the sexual propensity. At these 

 periods all the distinctive general characters 

 of the sexes become much more prominently 

 developed, in conjunction with, and apparently 

 in consequence of, the changes which have 



* Buffon, Hist. Nat. torn. vi. p. 80. 



t Bruchstuecke zur Vergl. Anat. und Physiol. 

 p. 41. 



* Loc. cit. p.. 45. 



been ascertained by observation to occur at that 

 time in the relative size and activity of the in- 

 ternal organs of generation. Thus with the 

 return of the season of sexual instinct the 

 dorsal crests and cutaneous ear-lobes of tritons 

 enlarge; in Batrachian Reptiles the spongy 

 inflations of the thumbs become increased in 

 size; the various species of singing birds re- 

 acquire their vocal powers ; and some, as the 

 cuckoo and quail, appear capable of exercising 

 their voice only at this period of the year. 

 At the pairing season also the plumage of birds 

 becomes brighter in tint, and in some instances 

 is in other respects considerably changed, as 

 in the male ruff ( Trlnga pugnax), who then 

 reassumes the tuft of feathers upon his head 

 and neck, and the red tubercles upon his face 

 that had fallen off during the moulting, and 

 thus left him more nearly allied in appearance 

 to the female during the winter. In reference 

 to this subject, it appears to us interesting to 

 remark, that in certain birds, as in the different 

 species of the genus Fringilla, the male pre- 

 sents in winter a plumage very similar to that 

 of the female,* and in the present inquiry it is 

 important to connect this fact with the very 

 diminutive size and inactive condition of the 

 testicles of these birds at that season. (See 

 AVES.) 



From the remarks that we have now made 

 upon the influence of the ovaries and testicles 

 in developing the general sexual peculiarities 

 of the female and male, it will be easy to con- 

 ceive that when, in cases of malformation of 

 the external genital organs giving rise to the 

 idea of hermaphroditism, there is at the same 

 time, as sometimes happens, a simultaneous 

 want of development in the internal organs of 

 reproduction, particularly in the ovaries and 

 testicles, the general physical and moral pecu- 

 liarities distinctive of the sex of the individual 

 may be equally deficient, or have a tendency 

 even to approach in more or fewer of their 

 points to those of the opposite sexual type. 

 In this way we may, it is obvious, have general 

 or constitutional hermaphroditic characters, if 

 they may be so termed, added to those al- 

 ready existing in the special organs of gene- 

 ration, and rendering more difficult and com- 

 plicated the determination of the true sex of 

 the malformed individual. Some cases of spu- 

 rious hermaphroditism in the male published 

 by Sir E. Homef may serve to illustrate this 

 remark. 



A marine soldier, aged twenty-three, was 

 admitted a patient into the Royal Naval Hos- 

 pital at Plymouth. He had been there only a 

 few days, when a suspicion arose of his being 

 a woman, which induced Sir Everard to ex- 

 amine into the circumstances. He proved to 

 have no beard; his breasts were fully as large 

 as those of a woman at that age ; he was in- 

 clined to be corpulent; his skin was uncom- 

 monly soft for a man ; his hands were fat and 

 short, and his thighs and legs very much like 

 those of a woman : the quantity of fat upon 



* Stark's Elements of Nat. Hist, vol.i. p. 243. 

 t Comp. Anat. vol. iii. p. 320. 



