GENERATION. 



maphrodites. Among thefe ideal produ£lions, we may men- 

 tion two beautiful ftatiies in a recumbent pofition in the Flo- 

 rentine gallery. A fmall hermaphrodite llalue is fcen in the 

 villa Albani, a verr fine one in the villa Borghefe, and there 

 is another in an obfcene attitude, pointing out that it partakes 

 of the two fexes. All thefe are males in the external ap- 

 pearance of their generative organ<;, females in the form of 

 'thebreail, in the features, in the elegance of the figure, and 

 the foftnefs of the contours. ( Winckelmann, Hiiloire de 

 I'Art, 4to. tome i. p. 364.) Thefe monuments furnifli no 

 proof on the fubjecl ; they are to be regarded as creations 

 of art, derived from the imagination of the fculptor, and 

 rot as the reprefentatives of any real exiftence. Winckel- 

 nr.ann himfelf, who, in other refpefts, believes in hermaphro- 

 dilm, claffes the chef-d'oeuvTes we have jull alUidcd to among 

 the ideal produftions. They exhibit an attempt to form a 

 'more perfeft being, by uniting together the peculiar excel- 

 lencies of the male and female, with.out attending very par- 

 ticularly to the genital organs. The word hermaphrodite 

 then, as applied to thefe works of art, includes the notion 

 of a very high degree of beauty and elegance, in which all 

 that is moll admirable i;i either fex is combined in one indi- 

 ▼idual ; and the works, in which fuch are reprefented, may 

 ha regarded as the inventions of the greateft mailers. (See 

 Caylus's Recueil d'Antiquites, tome 3.) Tlie fabulous ac- 

 count of the transformation of Hermaphroditus and the 

 nymph Salmaci; into a moft lovely being, combining the 

 attraftion and the powers of both Jexes, may be regarded 

 as an exprefTion of the conimon opinions on the fubjecl. 



The vaft multitude of obfervations and hiftories of her- 

 tnephrodites, recorded in various medical works, renders it 

 neceflary for us to clafs them under certain heads, ift. The 

 true hermaphrodite ? There is muc!; reaion to believe, that 

 no inftance of an h.ermaphrodite, in the ilricl fenfe of the word, 

 has ever occurred in the more perfect quadrupeds, or in the 

 human fpecies. For, when we con'id t the bones of the 

 pelvis, to which the organs of generation are connected, it 

 is difficult to conceive in what way the complete parts of the 

 male and female could be placed, diftinft from each other ; 

 and no inftance of its having happened is to be found, in 

 any record, which can be depended on. To conilitute an 

 hermaphrodite, in the fenfe we are now confideriog, it would 

 be neceflary that the male organs of copulation and impreg- 

 nation, fuch as the teftes and their duc^s, the vef;>;uli fen»i- 

 nales, proftate, urethra, and penis, fliould exiil in u'e fame 

 indi\-idual with the organs employed for the purpofes of con- 

 ception, of receiving, nouriftiing, and expelling the fcctus, 

 fuch as a well-formed vagina, uterus, ovaries, and Fallopian 

 tubes. The difficulty, and even impoflibility of fuch an 

 union, has been already recognized by Hallcr and Pietfch. 

 Medical authors have indeed related cafes of women, who, 

 after having many children, had impregnated other f.'males ; 

 (fee Mollerus, TraClat. de Hermaphrodit. cap. 2. : Blan- 

 card, CoUedl. Medico-Phyf. cent. 3, obf. 80.) but fuch 

 narratives are too obvioully fabulous to require ferious re- 

 futation. 



The ncareft approach to fuch an occurrence, as we have 

 juil alluded to, confiils in a partial mixture of the female 

 ar.J male organs. This has been oblervcd, not very rarely, 

 in fome animals. Mr. Hunter has given feveral inilances of 

 it in neat cattle ; aid it has alfa been feen iu the dog, the 

 afs, and the goat. The individuals, in whom fuch appearances 

 have been noticed, are fo far from having had tlie properties 

 of both fexei, that they were obvioully incapable of exe- 

 cuting any fexual function at all. Even in this reftrifted 

 fenfe, we believe that no cafe has occuiTed in the human fpe- 

 cies, and that all the fuppofed hermaphrodite^ among mt n 



have been individuals with imperfeA or monftrojs formationj 

 of fome parts. The cafe mentioned by Petit, in the Mr. - 

 moirs of the Academy of Sciences for i 720, as exhibiting a 

 mixture of organs, was clearly a male : and that related by 

 Maret in the Memoires de Dijon, t. 2, p. J57, belongs In 

 the fame clafs. The following cafe, diffcct-jd i y Giraud of 

 the Hotel Dieu, {hews us howcareful v.e lT:Oiild he in drav^ing 

 conclufions from external appearances, and will convince u« 

 that no accounts of hermaphrodites can be received, except 

 on the faitli of dlffeftion performed by experienced anato- 

 miils. The individual was elTentiaily a rnal?, and offered 

 fome appearances of the other fex, not from the addition of 

 any organs, but from an unufual diftribution of fome parts 

 of the male apparatus. He was received in fociety as a v%o- 

 man, and was connedled by a voluntary aiTociation with a 

 man, who had for a long time performed the duties of a huf- 

 band towards him. This fmgular charafter died in the Hotel 

 Dieu. He exhibited, externally, an aflemblage of the male 

 and female properties. The bull has a completely mafculinc 

 appearance ; the chin was covered with firm hairs, very ar.a- 

 logous to a beard ; the neck was thick, the chcll broad, the 

 bofom flightly fwoln, and the nipples exaftly like thofe of 

 a man. The lower half of the body prefented a contrail to 

 thefe cliarafters. The foft and deficate contours of the 

 lower limbs, the rounded hips, the broad pelvis, and th.: 

 greater feparation of the thighs, approximated decidedly to 

 the female form. An imperforate penis, two telliclti , and 

 an appearance of vulva, were thA external generative organs. 

 The tefles were well formed, the veficulie feminales imperteft,_ 

 and the urethra opened at the cul-de-fac, which reprtfentcd 

 the vagina. Thus, inftead of a double fex, the individual 

 was an ill-formed male, entirely incapable of any fexual 

 fun<ftion. See Journal de Medecine par SeQ;liot, tome 2, 

 p. 319. 



The laft inftance of mixed organs, which we (hall quote, 

 is mentioned by Dr. Baillie, to whom it was communicated 

 by Dr. Storer of Nottingham. " The perf jn bears a woman's 

 name, and wears the apparel of a woman. She has a re- 

 markably mafcuhne look, \nth plain features, but no beard. 

 She had never menftruated ; and on this account file was de- 

 fircd by the lady, with whom (he lived as fervant, to becoir.e 

 an out-patient at the Nottingham hofpital. At this time fne 

 was twenty-four years of age, and had not been fenfible of 

 any bad health, but only came to the hofpital, in order to 

 comply with the wilhes of h t m.illrefs. Various medicines 

 were tried without effedl, which led to the fufpicion of the 

 hymen being imperforated, and the menftrual blood having 

 accumulated behind it. She was the-efore exam.ined by Mr. 

 Wright, one of the furgeons to the hofpital, and by Dr. 

 Storer. The vagina was found to terminate in a cul-de-fac, 

 two inches from the external furface of the labia. The 

 head of the clitoris, and the extenial orifice of the meatus 

 urinae, appeared as in the natural ftruAure of a female, but 

 there were no nymphse. The labia were more pendulous 

 than ufual, and contained each of them a body refembling a 

 tefticle of a moderate fi7e, with its cord. The mair.m:? 

 refembled thofe of a woman. The perfon had no defire or 

 partiality whatever for either fex.'' (Morbid Anatomy of 

 fomeof the moft important Parts of the human Bodv, zd ed. 

 p. 410.) This narrative leaves very little doubt that the in- 

 dividual was a male, witk the generative organs fu impcrfett 

 as not to have exerted their ufual influence on the franie in 

 general : there is, no evidence of any feaiale orgau beir.g 

 prefent here. 



We repeat then, that there is not o;!y r.o inftance re- 

 corded, of perfeft male and female organs fo united in the 

 human fpecies, as to conftitute a;j iadiridual ca^-able of ex- 

 C 2 erciiing 



