A N A T O M Y. 62 
than through any other part. Nor is there any occafion to 
perplex ourfelves about the cauf'e, why this periodical 
difcharge is, for the mod part, nearly regular or menftraal; 
for this depends upon the proportion of the'quantity and 
momentum of the blood daily collected, together with the 
reliftance of the uterus, which is to yield again gradually 
to the firft courle. This critical difcharge of the blciod, 
therefore, never- waits for the interval of a month, but 
flows fooner or later, according as the greater quantity of 
blood in plethoric women is determined, by lull or other 
caufes, - towards the uterus. Finally, they ceafe to flow 
altogether, when the uterus, like all the other folid parts 
of the b<5dy, has acquired fo great a degree of hardnefs 
and reliftance, as cannot be overcome by the declining 
force of the heart and arteries, by which the blood and 
juices are driven on through all the veffels. This increafed 
hardnefs in the old uterus is fo remarkable in the arteries 
and ovaries, that it ealily difeovers itfelf both to the knife 
and the injections of the anatomift. But, in general, brute 
animal's have nomenfes; becaufe, in them, the womb is 
in a manner rather membranous than flefiiy, with very firm* 
or refilling velfels : befides, the difference of their pofture 
never permits a natural hgmorrhagy from the noftrils or 
other parts. They are .wanting in men, becaufe in that 
fex there is no fpongy organ fit for retaining the blood ; 
and likewife becaufe the arteries of the pelvis are both 
harder, and lei's in proportion, than the veins; and thus 
the impetus of the blood is directed to the lower limbs, 
where the veffels are larger in proportion as thofe of the 
pelvis are fmaller. 
It will, perhaps, be demanded, why the breafts fwell 
at the time of the approach of the menles? We are to ob- 
ferve, that the breads have many particulars in their fa¬ 
bric common with the uterus; as appears from the fe- 
cretion of the milk in them after the birth of the foetus, 
which increafes or diminifhes in proportion as the lochial 
flux is either increafed or diminifhed; from the limilitude 
of the ferons liquor to milk or whey, which is found in 
the uterus of thofe who do not fuckleTheir children ; it 
is of a thin white confidence, and ap'pears very evidently 
in the brute animals; alfo from the turgelcence or erec¬ 
tion of the papillae or nipples of the bread by friction, ana¬ 
logous to the erection of the clitoris. The fame caufes, 
therefore, which didend the. veffels of the uterus, likewife 
determine the blood more plentifully to the breads ; the 
consequence of which is an increafed bulk and turgefcence, 
of the conglomerate glandules and cellular fabric which 
contpofe them.. 
OF HERMAPHRODITES. 
Thus far we have confidered the generative organs un¬ 
der their natural and proper conformation. But it fome- 
tirnes happens in the-human druCture, and very frequently 
in that of brute animals, that from a lufus natures, or re¬ 
dundancy of parts, that mixture of conformation is pro¬ 
duced, which is called hermaphrodite ; a word formed of 
the Greek a compound of Mercury, 
and Af>£o«T?j, Venus; q. d. a mixture of Mercury and 
Venus, i e. of male and female. For it is to be obferved, 
Hermaphroditus was originally a proper name, applied by 
the heathen mythologifts to a fabulous deity, whom fome 
reprefent as a fon of Hermes, Mercury, and Aphrodite, Ve¬ 
nus ; and who, being defperately in love with the nymph 
Salmalis, obtained of the gods to have his body and hers 
united into one. The Greeks, therefore, call hermaphrodites 
uvfyoyvvo 1, androgyni, q. d. men-women ; whence perfons 
formed with this plurality of fex are-called Androgynes. 
In a treatife by Mr. Hunter, in the'6$th volume of the 
Philofophical Transitions, hermaphrodites are divided 
into natural, and unnatural or monltrous. The firft belongs 
to the more (iniple orders of animals, of which there are" a 
much greater number than of the more perfect. The un¬ 
natural takes place in every tribe of animals having diftinft 
fexes, but is more common in fome than in others. The 
human fpecies, Dr. Hunter fuppofed to have the few eft; 
but in the horfe, fheep, and black cattle, they are - very 
frequent; In the horfe Dr. Hunter diffeiled, the tefticles 
had come down out of the abdomen into the place where 
the udder fliould have'.beep, and appeared like an udder, 
not fo pendulous as the fcrotum in the male.of inch ani¬ 
mals. There were alfo two nipples, of wludh horfes have 
no perfect, form ; being blended in them with the flieath 
or prepuce, of which there .was none here. The external 
female parts were exadtly fimilar to thofe of a perfect fe¬ 
male ; but inftead of a commoti-iized clitoris, there was 
one about five or fix inches long ; which, when creel, flood 
almoft diredtly backwards.* 
A foal afs very fimilar to the above was killed, and the 
following appearances were obferved on diffcclicii. The 
tefticles were not come down as in the former, poffibly be¬ 
caufe the creature was too young. It had alfo two nipples; 
but there was no penis palling round the pubes to the belly, 
as in the perfedt male afs. The external female parts were 
fimilar to thofe of the fhe-afs. Within the entrance of the 
vagina was placed the clitoris; but much longer than that 
of a true female, being about five inches long. The va¬ 
gina was open a little farther than the opening of the ure¬ 
thra into it, and then became obliterated ; from thence, 
up to the fundus of the uterus, there was no canal. At 
the fundus of the common uterus it was hollow, or had a 
cavity in it, and then divided in two, viz. a right and a 
left, called the horns of the uterus, which were alfo per¬ 
vious. Beyond the termination of the two horns were 
placed the ovaria, as in the true female; but the Fallopian 
tubes could not be found. From the broad ligaments, to 
the edges of which the horns of the uterus and ovaria were 
attached, there paffed towards each groin a part fimilar 
to the round ligaments in the female, which were conti¬ 
nued into the rings of the abdominal mufcles; but with 
this difference, that there were continued with them a pro- 
cefs or theca of the peritonaeum, fimilar to the tunica va¬ 
ginalis communis in the male afs; and in thefe thecae were 
found the tefticles, but no vafa deferentia could be obfer¬ 
ved palling from them. 
Concerning hermaphrodites of the hitman fpecies much 
has been written, and many laws enacted about them in 
different nations. Dr. Parfons, in a treatife on this fub- 
je£l, endeavours to explode the notion as a vulgar error. 
According to him, all the hermaphrodites that have ap¬ 
peared were only women whofe clitoris from fome caufe 
or other was overgrown ; and, in particular, that this was 
the cafe with the Angola woman fhewn at London as an 
hermaphrodite fome time ago. The fame opinion hath 
likewife been held by many eminent anatomifts, namely, 
that thofe perfons called hermaphrodites are only females 
whofe clitoris protrudes beyond the nymphse. The French 
anatomifts, however, feern not only to have removed all 
doubts about the matter, bitt have defined the feveral va¬ 
rieties of this lufus naturae that have yet been known to 
occur in the human fubjedl. This defedl, or perhaps re¬ 
dundancy, in the animal ftrudture, is deferibed by them 
as follows. “ There is a depravation in the form of the 
parts intended by nature for propagation, when, befides 
thofe concealed parts that are found neceffary, for the dif¬ 
charge of prolific funflions, the pudenda of the other fex 
likew ife appear. This monftrous production of nature is 
diverfified in four different ways; of which three appear in 
males, and one in females. In men, the female pudendum, 
clothed with hair, fometimes appears contiguous to the 
perinaeum; at other times, in the middle of the fcrotum ; 
at other times, which conftitutes the third diverfity, thro* 
that part itfelf which in the midft of the fcrotum exhibits 
the form of a finale pudendum, urine is emitted, as it were, 
from female parts. Near that which is the teft of pu¬ 
berty, and above the pudendum,' in females, the mafculinc 
genitals appear, confpicuous in all their three forms, one 
refembling the viretram or yard, the other like the two 
tefticles : but for the mod part it happens, that, of the 
two inftruments of generation, one is feeble and inert; and 
2 ' ii 
