162 OBSTETRICAL PHYSIOLOGY. 



human species, it has been asserted that twins are less prolific than 

 those born single at a birth, and their vitality is also diminished. 



The fact that twin Calves are sometimes unfruitful is well known in 

 many countries, where the female Calf receives a particular designation : 

 as " Free-martin " in Britain ; in Holland, " Queenen "; in Germany, 

 " Zwitter," or "Zwilling"; in Swabia, " Z wicker "; in Piedmont, 

 " Mugne "; in France, "Loures," " Taures," etc. The old Eoman 

 agriculturists knew these animals as " Taurae." It is generally believed 

 that the defect is only present when both Calves are females, and 

 certainly it is very rare indeed that the male is infecund. Baumeister, 

 however, gives an instance in which a Bull — a twin — was put to a 

 hundred Cows, none of which produced a Calf. In Switzerland it is 

 the belief that when the Cow-calf is born first, it will not be sterile ; 

 and that when, on the contrary, the male is born before the female, it 

 will be unproductive. The female twin is generally a hermaphrodite, 

 and in form more of a male than a female ; the vulva is excessively 

 contracted, and the vagina a cul-de-sac. The mammae are also feebly 

 developed, sometimes appearing as a mere trifling fold of skin, at others 

 as a voluminous sack. The animal is usually long-legged, with 

 muscular hind quarters. Internally, in some instances, the uterus is 

 undeveloped ; in others the ovaries are absent, and instead of them there 

 are testicles. With others, again, there is no trace of a uterus, the 

 vagina ending in an infundibulum — a condition which is readily ascer- 

 tained in the living animal by introducing the finger. The clitoris is 

 sometimes enormously developed, and not unusually the urine is ex- 

 pelled powerfully backwards. Ordinarily, the "free-martin" evinces 

 sexual desire very rarely, if at all.^ 



1 One of the recorded e.xaminations of these creatures is given in the (Esterreichische 

 Viertcljahre^fichrift for 1875 (p. 78), and was brought to the notice of the Gresnter 

 Land and Forest Society of Austria, the veterinary surgeon to which furnished the 

 anatomical details. The society purchased the Calf three and a half years previously, 

 and it had never exhibited any signs of sexual instinct during that period. It was 

 therefore killed. It was in good condition, and of the Miirzthaler breed. The head and 

 physiognomy had a most singular appearance, resembling that of a Monkey, though the 

 horns were strongly developed. The udder was little and hard, and the vulva small and 

 contracted, although normal ; on opening the labia no trace of a clitoris could be found. 

 The vagina was nine to ten centimetres in length, and instead of extending forward to 

 the cul-de-nac, which is often very dilated in Cows, it terminated abruptly in a funnel- 

 shaped aperture, and here the genital organs ended, for the cervix uteri was absent, as 

 was the uterus and Fallopian tubes, and it was only in the vicinity of the external angle 

 of the ilium that were found small ovaries closely and curiously enveloped in fat, so that 

 they could scarcely be recognised. The glands of Bartholin in the vagina were almost 

 as large as an egg, and were full of blood ; instead of the valve in the vagina there was 

 a small impermeable opening. On incising the mammte the gland substance was foimd 

 to be absent, and in its stead was fibrous and adipose tissue. In fine, this twin was 

 destitute of uterus and oviducts, and the vagina was short and constricted. 



In the Q^titerreichisrhes Landivirthscha/tlkhe Worhcuhlatt for 1878, the observations 

 of Professor F. Mliller are published. These are based on the examination of three 

 twin Calves. The first was a female in an early stage of uterine development, and in it 

 he found testicles in conjunction with external feminine organs. The other two were 

 full-grown, sterile Cow-calves ; one was aged three years and two months, the other being 

 more than two years. In both cases the external pudenda were normal, the labia firm, 

 puffy, and well closed, and the clitoris not unduly prominent. The udder and the four 

 teats were small in development. Both animals had in some degree a male appearance 

 generally, and neither of them had ever been observed to be in " rut." Examination of the 

 internal genital apparatus revealed almost exactlj' the same state of affairs in each case. 

 The female generative organs were not fully developed in either. In both of them two 

 gland-like bodies connected with the sexual apparatus were present, viz., small bodies in 

 place of normal ovaries, and larger bodies further back in the neighbourhood of Giirtner's 

 duct. Whether these latter bodies, which Midler is inclined to consider remnants of 



