GENERATION. 



cTently like a penis to give rife to miftakes. A gipfey applied 

 to Columbus for the removal of a clitoris which incommo- 

 ded her. The famous hermaphrodite negrefs of Angola, 

 exhibited in London, was in the fame cafe with the gipfey 

 mentioned by Columbus. Parfons has colleftcd many fafts 

 of this kind. Mr Home relates an inftance in a negrefs. 

 " She was of the Mandingo nation, 24 years of age ; her 

 breails were very flat ; (lie had a rough voice, and mafculine 

 countenance. The clitoris was two inches long, and in thick- 

 ncfs refembleda common-fized thumb ; when viewed at fome 

 diftance, the end appeared round, andof a red colour ; but, on 

 a clofer examination, was found to be more pointed than 

 that of a penis, not flat below, and having neither prepuce 

 nor perforation ; when handled it became half erefted, and 

 was then fully three inches long, and much larger than be- 

 fore : when (lie voided her urine, (he was obliged to lift it 

 up, as it con;ipletcIy covered the orifice of the urethra. The 

 other parts of the female organs were found to be in a na- 

 tural llatc." A gentleman, who had pratlifed midwifery 

 among the negro women, ftated that an enlarged condition 

 of the clitoris was common amongft them. Parfons and 

 fome others, in confequcnce of the ttrufture juft defcribed, 

 have afcribed all hormaphrodites to the female fex. Whe- 

 ther this unufual fize of the organ can be produced, " per 

 £celeratum abufum clltoriuis'' is very doubtful. In order 

 to avoid all miftake concerning fex in newly born children, 

 it mud be remembered that the clitoris is proportionally very 

 large at that age. 



A prolapfus of the uterus is another circumftance which 

 has occafioned females to be deemed hermaphrodites, and 

 even to be publicly exhibited as fuch. A perfon of this 

 kind came to Paris in 1693, drefTed as a man, and wearing 

 a fword. She pretended to have the organs of both fexes, 

 and to be able to employ both, and exhibited her perfon to 

 the curious for a fmall gratification. Befides the numbers 

 who took up the common opinicn of her being an herma- 

 phrodite, and who could not be fuppofed fufiiciently well-in- 

 formed to judge of fuch a fubjeft, feveral phyficians and 

 furgeons fell in with the vulgar fentiment, and gave certifi- 

 cates which prove incontcftibly, that a great reputation may 

 be acquired in the profeffion, without any real talents, or 

 any large ftock of folid information. Saviard, after in- 

 fpefting the parts clofely, found that the cafe was a pro- 

 lapfus uteri, which he reduced. When the female had re- 

 covered, (he prefented a requeft to the king for p( rmiffion 

 to take again the female drefs, in fpite of the magiftrates of 

 Touloufe,. who had ordered her to clothe lierfelf as a man. 

 See Saviard,, Recueil d'Obftrvations, obf. 15. 



An inftance of the fame kind is related by Mr. Home. 

 " A French woman had a prolapfus uteri at an early age, 

 which increafed as (he grew up ; the cervix uteri was un- 

 commonly narrow, and at the time I faw her, when (he was 

 ibout 25 years old, projefted feveral inches beyond the ex- 

 ternal opening of the vagina ; the furface of the internal 

 parts, frjm conftant expofure, had loft its natural appear- 

 ance, and refembled the (kin of the penis : the orifice of the 

 OS tinc^ was miftaken for the orifice of the urethra. This- 

 woman was (hewn as a curiofity, and in the courfe of a few 

 weeks made 4C0/. I was induced by curiofity to vifit her, 

 and on the firll infpeftion difcovcrcd the deception ; which, . 

 though very complete to a common obfervcr, muft have 

 been readily detected by any perfon intimatelv acquainted 

 with anatomy. To render herfclf ftill more an objeft of 

 curiofity, flie pretended to have the powers of a male." 

 Pliilof. Tranfadt 1 799. 



We have already mentioned fome inftances where the ge- 

 nerative organs, although belonging clearly to one fex, had 



been impcrfeftly developed, and co.ifequently had not pro- 

 duced their ufual efFeft in modifying the form ef the body, 

 and impre(fing it with the fexual charafter. There are other 

 cafc,% in which men or women, having their organs appa- 

 rently of the accuftomed magnitude, partake refpeclively of 

 the charaders of the other fex, probably from the caufp 

 juft alluded to, of the fexual parts not exerting their full 

 influence on the frame. Such individual! may be accounted 

 neuters ; and feem, in the human fi:bje6t, to refemble the 

 free martin in neat cattle, where there is a true mixture of 

 organs, but they are fo imperfeft that organization is not 

 influenced by them, and the form of the individual differs 

 both from that of the bull and cow. The perfons thus cir- 

 cumftanced are often deemed by the vulgar hermaphro. 

 dites. 



All the cafes of fuppofed hermaphrodites may be referred 

 to one or the other of the heads now defcribed : they will 

 be found to be eitlier males, with fome unufual oro-anization 

 or pofitlon of the urinary or generative apparatus ; or fe- 

 males, witli a long clitoris, or prolapfed uterus ; or indivi- 

 duals, in whom the generative organs have not produced 

 their ufual effeftin influencing the development of the body. 

 Thus, it is evident, that inllead of conibinino- the powers 

 of the two fexes, they are, for the moft part, incapable of 

 exerting any fexual funftion. Yet ignorance and fuperfti- 

 tion have marked out tliefe individuals, already fufficiently 

 unfortunate from their defeftive organization, as the objefts 

 ot perfecution, and have fubjefted them to the operation of 

 the moft abfurd and cruel laws. The anc'ents, regarding 

 them as an impure and ominous kind of monfters, difpatched 

 them by the moft barbarous deaths. It appears from Dio- 

 dorus that they had been burned by the Athenians and Ro- 

 mans. 3y the edicts of Conftan'tine and other princes, 

 they were beheaded, drowned, or banilhed to dcfert illands. 

 Livy informs us that a newly born child, of which the fex 

 could not be afcertained, was tlmr.vn into the fea. (L. 31.) 

 Further inforu.ation on this fuljcft may be derived from 

 Gafp:ir B uihin, De Hi rmiaphrcditorum moni^roforum.que 

 partuuin iiatura, ex Theologorum, Jureconfultorum, Phi- 

 lofophorum, ct Rabbinc.rum fententia, libri duo, Francof. 

 1629, 8vo. Thefe abfurd notions and praftices have at pre- 

 fcnt difappearcd ; but the fubjeft is important on many ac- 

 counts, as thefe unufual dcvia'ticns render the fex of an in- 

 dividual often doubtful, and impofe even on profcfrional per- 

 fons. The decifion may be impi rtant in deciding the em- 

 ployment in life of an individual, the defcent of property, 

 the titnefs for religious fan.%)ns, particularly for the male 

 or female religion in tlie Romifli church, aiid the judicial 

 decifioiis concerning impotence or fterilily. We therefore 

 add a few obfervations on the grounds of difti'nftion in fuch 

 circumftances. The greateft difficulty is experienced with 

 refpeft tc newly born children ; for many things affift our 

 determiiiations in the adult. The beard, the hair furround- 

 ing the anus, the defires excited by the prefence of wom.en, 

 the tei'lcs and their cords, and the comparatively o-reater 

 breadtii of the fiioulders than cf tlie pelvis and hips, (hew 

 us ::Mt the individual is a man. The finoothnefs and foftnefs 

 of 'he body in general, the iucreafe of the beard, and of the 

 1. '.r from the anus, the menftrual difchargc, tile want of 

 t^ftes, and the fuperior. breadth of the hips, prove the indi- - 

 vidual to be a woman. 



A male, with a filTure in the perineum and an imperforate 

 penis, may be afcertained by the fize of the penis, by the ■ 

 dilfercnt organization of the preputium from that which • 

 covers the chtoris ; the abftnce of nympha; and hymen, and 

 probably the prefence of tcftes. The diff"erent relation of 

 the filFure in the perineum to the penis, from tliat of the ■ 



meatus 



