THE GENERATIVE GLANDS 363 



The presence of heterologous sex characteristics has been 

 explained in various ways. Benda adopted the view that in the 

 higher vertebrates the primitive trace of the entire sexual apparatus 

 is female, and that the male type is a modified form of the female, 

 the outcome of specific influences at present unknown. Herbst, on 

 the contrary, assumes a primary male primitive trace, together 

 with stimulatory and inhibitory activities on the part of the 

 genital glands, by wfiich the development of the sex characteristics 

 is affected. 



These hypotheses are superfluous, however, in view of the 

 now certain fact, that the primitive genital trace is originally in- 

 different, therefore bi-sexual and, in the true sense of the term, 

 hermaphroditic. Moreover, true hermaphrodites are not so rare 

 as was formerly believed to be the case. 



We now know that true hermaphroditism, in the morpho- 

 logical sense of the term, is observed in man, and that it occurs 

 in the form which formerly appeared most doubtful, namely, 

 hermaphroditism of the glands (ovotestis). 



It has been asserted that physiological hermaphroditism, by 

 which is meant the presence of both sets of glands in a state of 

 physiological activity, is never encountered among the higher 

 vertebrates ; that certain species of fish (myxina, serranus, and 

 some carp) are the only representatives of physiological herma- 

 phroditic vertebrates. 



If, by the function of the genital glands, we understand the 

 production of semen and the release of ova, this pronouncement 

 is undoubtedly right. But in view of the internal secretory func- 

 tion of these glands, we are justified in describing as physiological 

 hermaphroditism those cases where tissue of the genital glands 

 of both sexes is morphologically demonstrable ; or rather, those 

 tissue elements to which a specific internal secretory activity is 

 ascribed. From the accounts of zoologists and veterinary sur- 

 geons, it appears that hermaphroditic glands, that is to say, 

 genital glands composed of both testicular and ovarian paren- 

 chyma, are of very frequent occurrence. A communication made 

 by Tourneux is particularly interesting; he states that in the 

 female mole there is, in addition to a functionally active ovary, 

 a rudimentary testicle, that is, rudimentary seminiferous tubules 

 with interstitial cells. 



It is highly probable that the cells of Leydig in the testicle 

 and analogous cells in the stroma ovarii, represent the internal 

 secretory tissue of the genital glands. If this is the case, the 

 findings described in the previous paragraph must be regarded 

 as proofs of the existence of physiological hermaphroditism in 

 mammals. 



Whether glandular hermaphroditism, either partial or com- 

 plete, occurs in man is a question which can be settled only by 

 exact anatomical and histological investigation. But, owing 



