GENERATION. 



they ffcm to approach each other in appearances, and acquire 

 a icfcmblance to the hcimaphroditc. Rcfpedinj; the changes, 

 which occur at puberty, Mr. Hunter fays, " It is evidently 

 the male, which at this time in fuch rcfpefls recedes from 

 the female ; every female being at the ap;e of maturity more 

 lilie the young of the fame fpecies than the male is obfervcd 

 to be : and if the male is deprived of his cclles when young, 

 he retains more of the original youthful form, and therefore 

 more refembles the female. From hence it might be fup- 

 pofed, that the female charafter contains more truly the 

 fpecific properties of the animal than the male ; but the cha- 

 ra(£ler of every animal is that whieli is marked by the pro- 

 perties common to both fexes, which are found in a natural 

 hermaphrodite, as in a fnail, or in animals of neither fex, as 

 the callrated male or fpayed female. But, where the fexes 

 are feparatr, and ihe animals have two charafters ; the one 

 cannot more than the other be called the true ; as the real 

 diftinguifliing marks of each particular fpecies, as has been 

 mentioned above, arc ihofe common to both fexes ; and 

 which are likewife in the unnatural hermaphrodite. That 

 thefe properties give the diftintt charadtcr of fuch animals is 

 evident, for the cailrated male and fpayed female have both 

 the f;>jne common properties; and when I treated of the free 

 martin, which is a monilrous hermaphrodite, I obferved that 

 it was more like the ox than the cow or bull ; lo that the 

 marks charafteriftic of the fpecies, which are found in the 

 animal of a double fex, are Imitated by depriving the in- 

 dividual of certain fexual parts, in confequencc of wliich it 

 retains only the true properties of the fpecies." (See " Ac- 

 count of an extraordinary Pheafant,'' in Mr. Hunter's ob- 

 fervations on the animal economy, p. 75.) 



The influence of the generative organs in the developement 

 of the body at puberty, and in the modifications which cou- 

 ftitut.- the fexual character, is clearly evinced in the ftag, 

 whufe amours are condufted in fo fplendid a ftyle, and evince 

 fo remarkable an exuberance of vit;dity. When he is de- 

 prived, at an early age, of the fexual attributes, none of the 

 vigour of the rutting feafon is difplayed ; the mufcular flefli 

 is fofter, and the horns are either arrefted in their growth 

 entirely, or are imperfeftly formed. Ruflel caftrated a very 

 voung ftag, and no horns appeared ; he operated on an 

 older one, and the horn was partially developed. AVhen 

 he removed one tellis at a more advanced age, the oppofite 

 horn was the moll completely formed ; the removal of both 

 glands fi'om two adult ftags did not prevent the appearance 

 of the horns ; but they were fliortcr, and neither the invert- 

 ing membr?.ne, nor the horn itlcll^, were afterwards leparated. 

 (On the Economy of Nature in glandular Difeafes. ) 



Facts very analogous to thefe may be obferved in the 

 human fubjeft. An imperfeft original formation of the 

 fexual organs, or the removal of fome of them modifies the 

 whole clr.iradter of the individual, changes the phyfical con- 

 ftitution in a very remarkable manner, and influences in a no 

 lefs ftriking degree the moral habits and difpoiitions. Ob- 

 fervers in all ages have remarked, that mutilated or imperfeft 

 animals poffefs an affemblagc of peculiar charafttrs, all of 

 which have not a very direft relation to the funftioustif the 

 generative organs. Not only are the fexual defires entirely 

 loft in thefe degraded individuals, but the whole of their 

 organization is affedled in a very fmgular way. The Cel- 

 lular texture becomes more abundant and lax, and is more 

 loaded with f^t ; the mufcles are weaker ; the voice more 

 acute ; and tho developement of the beard is impeded. The 

 change in the moral difpofitions is not leis worthy of atten- 

 tion. It was the opinion of the ancients, that mutilation 

 degrades man, and tirings animals to perfection ; the truth 

 je, that it equally degrades both, fmte it alters their nature. 



But, by weakening an animal, it renders him more docile, 

 and better fuited to the purpofes of man ; by deftroying thp 

 tie, which connefts him the moft powerfully to his fpecies, 

 it aftifts in developing thofe habits of obedience and atten- 

 tion, and thofe feelings of gratitude and attachment which 

 make him fo ferviccable to us. A fimilar efl'ett is produced 

 in man ; mutilation feparates him in a manner from his 

 fpecies ; and the fatal event, which deprives him of the moft 

 agreeable relations cftablilhed by nature, between beings of 

 the fame kind, almoft extinguifhes in his breaft the peculiar 

 feelings of humanity. 



In thofe young perfons, to whom nature has denied either 

 wholly or in part, the dittinguiflmig powers of the male fex, 

 puberty does not produce its ordinary cfFedts. And more- 

 over, at this time the bony and mufcular organs are conftantly 

 afturaing more and more of the external forms, and general 

 character belonging to the female. Thefe equivocal indi- 

 viduals have an acute voice, weak mufcles, a foftnefs and 

 laxity in the general organization. The pelvis, too, has that 

 greater proportional breadth which charafterizcs this part 

 in women. This circumftance, as v.'cll as the conlequent 

 breadth, and great roundnefs of the hips, may be particu- 

 larly noticed in the caftrati. The phyfical condition is 

 genenjly accompanied in thefe individuals with a perfectly 

 correfponding mciral ftate. All thefe points are fidly fub- 

 ftantiated in the following account of a marine foldier, aged 

 23, by Mr. Home, (Obfervations on Herm.aphrodites, Philof. 

 TranfaCt. 1799.) "He had no beard; his breafts were 

 fully as large as thofe of a woman at that age ; he was in- 

 clined to be corpulent j his ftin uncommonly foft for a man ; 

 his hands fat and fliort ; his thighs and legs very much like 

 thofe of a woman ; the quantity of fat on the os pubis re- 

 fembled the mons veneris ; the penis was unufually fmall, 

 as well as fliort, and not liable to ereftions ; the tetlicles not 

 larger in lize than we commonly find them in the foetal ftate ; 

 and he had never felt any paflion for women. He was weak 

 in his intelledts, and his bodily ftrength." Mr. Home 

 mentions, in the fame place, two other ftill more ftriking 

 examples. A woman had three children, of which the firit 

 and third were fuppofed to be hermaphrodites ; the fecond 

 was a perfedt female. The eldeft, when Mr. H. faw him, 

 was' thirteen years of age, " of a moft uncommon bulk, 

 which appeared to be almoft wholly compofed of fat ; his 

 body, round the waift, was equal to that of a fat man, and 

 his thighs and legs in proportion ; he was four feet high ; 

 his breafts as large as thofe of a fat woman ; the mons ve- 

 neris loaded with fat ; no penis ; a prcputium -tli of an inch 

 long ; and under it the meatus urinarius, but no vagina. 

 There was an imperfett fcrotum, with a fmootli furface, 

 without a raphe in the middle, but in its place an indented 

 line ; it contaiived two tefticles of the iizc they are met with 

 in the foetus. He was very dull and heavy, almoft an idiot, 

 but could walk and talk. The younger oi^e was fix years 

 old, uncommonly fat, and large for his age ; more an idiot 

 than the other, not having fenfe enough to learn to walk, 

 though his limbs were not defe6tive. The external parts of 

 generation differed in notling from thofe juft deicribed, 

 except in the prepuce being an inch long." 



An interefting cafe is mentioned in the Mcmoires de la 

 Societe medicale d'Emulation, t. 3, p. 293, which tends to 

 confirm the preceding obfervations. A young man, aged 

 23, has no tettes in the fcrotum, which is only indicated by 

 a flight corrugation of the integuments ; a very fmall penis, 

 which never changes its fize, and two folds of (kin, extend- 

 ing from the latter organ to th.e anus, and very much 

 refembling the female labia. His ftature is below the middle 

 fize. Tlie flcin ii foft, fmootli, and entirely free from hair ; 

 2 the 



