NOVEMBEK 12, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



471 



sented furthemiore corroborates in a striking 

 manner the findings of Lillie (I.e.) and 

 Chapin' that the hormone influence makes 

 itself felt in the earliest stages of sex differ- 

 entiation. That this must be so is proved by 

 the fact that this animal is born ten days 

 after fertilization and five days after the 

 primitive streak stage. 



Again, since in the specimen the cortex of 

 the gonad is seen to be entirely absent we 

 have here a confirmation of Lillie's statement 

 that the gonad of the zygotic male, not pos- 

 sessing the homolog of the cords of Pfliiger, 

 is capable of less transformation than the 

 embryonic ovary.^ The absence of male sex 

 cells in the specimen and the presence of 

 healthy tubules (probably Sertoli cells only) 

 is precisely in keeping with the theory of the 

 influence of the female hormone in fetal life. 



The assumption of certain embryologists 

 that the embryo in the undifferentiated stage 

 is a true hermaphrodite, is, therefore, no 

 longer tenable. 



More crucial evidence in favor of the view 

 expressed above is, however, furnished by the 

 following human case described by Esch- 

 richt.^" It concerns a sex-intergrade which 

 in all essentials was an exact counterpart of 

 the opossum described above : externally, penis 

 and empty scrotiun; internally, uterus. Fal- 

 lopian tubes with fimbriaa, and atypical 

 " ovaries." It was a reciprocal free-martin, 

 who, because of other malformation, died a 

 few minutes after birth. The significant 

 facts, however, in this human case are: (1) 

 that the child was horn co-twin to a normal 

 female who lived and (2) that the ■placentw 

 were fused (" sehr genau verbunden"). Bet- 

 ter proof could hardly be desired. I refrain 

 from mentioning other human cases that 

 must be interpreted as reciprocal free-martins, 

 as, e. g., those cited by Simpson.^i 



8 Caitherine L, Chapin, Jour. Exp. Zool., 23, 1917, 

 453^82. 



B Lillie, I. c, page 419. 



loEschricht, Muller's Archiv, 1836, 139-144. 



w Sir J. Y. Simpson, article ' ' Hermaphrodit- 

 ism" in Todd's Cyelopffidia, of Anat. and Phyaiol., 

 1836-39. 



From the same article by Simpson it seems 

 clear that the true free-martin also occurs in 

 man. Such cases the author classifies with 

 the free-martin of cattle, showing that he 

 correctly interpreted them. This occurrence 

 of both types in the same form (man) need 

 constitute no great obstacle to the hormone 

 theory, for it is quite conceivable that some- 

 times the male, sometimes the female co-twin 

 gets the start in development, since the 

 handicap need be very slight to prove ruinous 

 to the laggard. 



That the free-martin also occurs in rare 

 instances in the dog, a multiparous animal, 

 seems probable, since the " hermaphroditic 

 dog" described by Home^^ in an apparently 

 forgotten article is almost certainly a free- 

 martin of the cattle type. In this connection 

 the case of fused placentae of the dog embryos 

 found by Dr. Evans and cited above is of 

 more than passing interest. 



Free-martins, reciprocal free-martins and 

 intermediate conditions may, therefore, be 

 expected to occur in all mammals. The prin- 

 ciple of hormone influence in fetal life, first 

 demonstrated by Lillie,^' constitutes the most 

 important contribution to the subject as yet 

 made. Twins and double monsters will have 

 to be reclassified in the light of the theory^* 

 and such monographs as those of Sauerbeck 

 and of Hiibner^^ will have to be largely re- 

 written. 



A more complete paper will be published 

 later. 



Carl G. Hartman 



The University of Texas 



THE NEBRASKA ACADEMY OF 

 SCIENCES 



The Nebraska Academy of Sciences held 

 its thirtieth annual meeting at Dsane Col- 

 lege, Crete, Nebraska, on April 30 and May 1. 

 The plan is to meet in Lincoln every other 



i^Everard Home, Phil. Trans. Boy. Soc, 1799, 

 162. 



"See F. R. Lillie, Science, N. S., 50, 1919, 

 183-184. 



14 Cf. E. Steinach, Archiv f. EntivickVungsmech., 

 42, 1916, 307-332. 



15 Ergein. d. allg. Path., 15, 1911. 



