PHYSICAL CHARACTERS IN MAN 131 



now be classed as intersexual. Metchnikoff (1903) 

 concludes, from the presence in each sex of traces oi 

 the sexual organs belonging to the other sex, that at 

 a very remote period the ancestral vertebrates were 

 hermaphroditic, and that the sexes have only gradu- 

 ally become separated since. This is, however, a 

 ver}" doubtful line of reasoning. Bulloch ( 1 909) shows 

 that in man the condition may occur in several 

 members of a family or in several generations, a fact 

 which was known to Bauhin as earl}* as 161 4. But 

 the known pedigrees are incomplete, and little is 

 known of its inheritance. Blacker and Lawrence 

 (1897) and Lawrence (1906) discuss the cases of 

 " true hermaphroditism "in man. Thirty-three cases 

 of hermaphroditism (intersexualit}') are on record in 

 the medical literature. Of these only five, and one 

 which the authors describe, are regarded as true 

 hermaphrodites, defining the condition as one in 

 which the specific tissues of both ovary and testis 

 are present in any amount. Anatomical details of 

 these six cases, which vary greatly, are given. Xo 

 other cases are regarded as fully proven. Human 

 gynandromorphs, having male secondary sexual 

 characters on one side of the bodv, and female 

 secondar}^ sexual characters on the other, are not 

 unknown. Klebs classified " hermaphrodites " as 

 unilateral, bilateral, and lateral. 



In these individuals there is frequenth' a tendency 

 for transformation from one sex towards the other 

 during the lifetime of the individual, as shown both 

 in behaviour and by anatomical examination. That 

 hens with diseased ovaries take on male characters 

 is, of course, well known. It is not our purpose to 

 discuss the various causes and phenomena of inter- 

 sexuality here, but it ma}' be pointed out that there 

 are several types of intersexualit}' in animals, in some 

 of which there is transformation from one sex to the 



