VOL. LXXXIX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 487 



lected in 1 point of view, the histories of reputed hermaphrodites, from almost every 

 author that preceded him*; and his conclusions are in confirmation of what is now 

 advanced. In considering the malformations of the male organs of generation, 

 which put on the appearance of both the male and female organs, I cannot better 

 illustrate the description, than by taking up the cases mentioned in Cheselden : 

 one is a Negro, the other a European. From an examination of the engravings 

 of that work -j~, no superficial observer would harbour a doubt of their being com- 

 plete hermaphrodites ; and the opinion of Dr. Douglas, which is annexed, in fa- 

 vour of the existence of the female organs, strengthens Cheselden's authority. In 

 these cases however there is much reason to believe, that the parts were entirely 

 those belonging to the male, only very much distorted by an imperfection of the 

 scrotum, which was divided into 2 separate bags, with a deep slit between them, 

 resembling very much the labia pudendi, and the opening into the vagina ; over 

 these hung down the penis : the imperfection of the septum of the scrotum ex- 

 tended to the canal of the urethra. This is not unlike the fissure in the hare-lip 

 being continued through the bony palate, a circumstance often met with. The 

 under surface of the penis was attached, through its whole length, to the two bags 

 containing the testicles, looking like a preternatural clitoris, to which it bore a 

 more perfect resemblance, from the absence of the urethra. The urine passed 

 through a preternatural termination of the urethra in the perinaeum, and came out 

 externally, in the space between the testicles, which formed an enlarged aperture, 

 that had been mistaken for a narrow vagina, in consequence of its allowing an in- 

 strument to pass to some distance, by conducting it to the bladder. 



Haller dissected a ram, in which the parts had been supposed to be those of an 

 hermaphrodite. He found the animal to be a male, with the imperfections above 

 mentioned ; and, on comparing the dissection with many instances which have 

 been stated by different writers, both in the human species and in quadrupeds, he 

 considered them all to have been similar in the conformation of the parts of gene- 

 ration. Such malformation of the parts in the male, is particularly deserving of 

 attention, as it is that which, more than any other, has been mistaken for a mix- 

 ture of those of both sexes. It often occurs in different degrees of imperfection ; 

 and in some instances can be materially diminished by the assistance of the sur- 

 geon, though the greater number of cases are beyond the reach of art. 



It may be supposed, that so great an imperfection in the structure of the penis, 

 is necessarily attended with others in the more essential organs of generation ; I 

 shall therefore give an instance to the contrary. In a case of this kind, in which 

 the canal was continued to the external orifice at the glans penis, the deficiency of 

 the urethra behind the scrotum was so great that every attempt to close the aper- 

 ture necessarily left in perinaeo proved ineffectual ; and, under these circum- 

 stances, the person married. When he had connexion, the emission was complete, 



* Comment. A. Haller, de Hermaph. Comment. Soc. Reg. Scient. Coll. Tom. 1. — Orig. 

 + Cheselden's Anatomy of the Human Body, 8vo. — Orig. 



