2. Nature of true hermaphroditic malfor mations.—Of the nature of local malforma tions by duplicity, we at present possess much less precise knowledge than of those of simple defect or simple excess of development ; but there are certain facts ascertained with regard 'a formation of the sexual organs, which to tknable us to make an approach at least to may e•re ideas of the character and origin of accurat'normalities that constitute the several those at of true hermaphroditism. These facts varieties the interesting subject of the unity of relate to ....vhich is manifested in the eorrespond female reproductive organs of the trig male an tand of other species of bisexual human subject, animals. if2e-Pek, Roman, and Ara By several of the ^ntive organiza bian physiologists,• the res —^d as in tions of the two sexes were some degree typical of one another, the femme. being regarded as an inverted male, with the testicles and penis turned inwards to form the ovaries and uterus. This doctrine of analogy between the male and female sexual organs has, with various modifications, been very ge nerally admitted by modern physiologists, and in some of its bearings it has been made, more particularly of late years, the subject of consi derable discussion. The testicles are still re garded as organs which correspond with the ovaries in their original situation, in their vas cular and nervous connections, and in their re lative sexual functions. The recent progress of the anatomy of the development of the em bryo has also shewn that the two organs cor respond in their primitive origin. It is now well ascertained that the large masses occupy ing each side of the abdomen of the embryo at an early stage of development, and which Rathke has named the Wolffian bodies after their illustrious discoverer, form, in Birds and Mammalia at least, the primordial matrices upon which the urinary and genital organs are developed. On the inner side of each of these matrices a small body is early developed, which seems to become afterwards either a testicle or an ovary, according to the particular ulterior sexual type which the embryo assumes.
In further following up the analogy of struc ture between the organs of the two sexes, the vasa deferentia of the male are generally com pared to the Fallopian tubes of the female, the scrotum to the external labia, the body of the penis to the clitoris, and its corpus spon giosum, or, according to others, its prepuce, is regarded as corresponding in type with the female nymphre. A considerable dif ference of opinion, however, still prevails as to the prototype of the female uterus in the male system. Some anatomists, as Burdaeh, Steghlener, and Blainville, regard the uterus and male vesiculT seminales as corresponding parts ; while others, as Meckel, Carus, Schmidt, Ackermann, and Serres, compare the uterus to the male prostate. A sufficient number of facts seems still wanting to determine the accu racy and justness of either of these analogies. There are instances of malformation on record which appear to favour both opinions, and there are other cases which almost incline us to be lieve that the vesiculm seminales correspond to the fundus or, body of the uterus in the human subject, and to the eornua uteri in quadrupeds; while the prostate represents in the male struc ture the lower portion or cervix of the same organ. The phenomena of the development of the reproductive organs in the embryo will, when more fully investigated, probably serve to clear up this question.
M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire has propounded views of the analogy of the male and female organs in some respects different from the above.
He divides the uterus of the human subject into the body and the upper part or fundus, the 'atter corresponding to what constitutes the anttna uteri in the human embryo, and in adult cowl uIrds. Further, believing that in the quadrupeto W of all analogies in type and d eterm i nation oer. different organs, the origin structure betweernlaitoodvessels supplying the and course of the criterion, he has part ought to be our ‘ie distribution of the been led, by the study of ti.lnieries, to consider branches of the hypogastrie aScA vesiculw semi the body of the uterus and the er in the two nales as repetitions of each otlktl ion of most sexes ; and, contrary to the opifits male vasa anatomists, he conceives that the-the fundus deferentia strictly correspond with 'itnis repre or cornua uteri, and that the epididykr in other sents a coiled-up Fallopian tube, tk unrolled words that the Fallopian tube is an the epididymis. M St. Hilaire has offe ices to following table to sliew what he conec 1. be analogous organs in the two sexes In the male. In the female.
Testicle = Ovary Epididymis Fallopian tube Vas deferens. = Cornu of the Wells.
Vesieula seminalisr_- Body of the of the penis = Vagina ar Penis = Clitoris he In tracing out the analogies between male and female parts, the mode in which ven ought to consider the female vagina has give.e rise to some diversity of opinion. From above table it appears that M. St. Hilaire conk siders it to be represented in the male organize tion by the sheath of the penis, but we arc ceo., tainly inclined to view it in a different light 4 and to regard it as a part in so far peculiar ta the female, that it consists of a permanerre condition of that urino-genital perinxal fissut a that we have already described as existing a',.es, certain period in the embryos of both sea or, and which is latterly shut up in the male,.>nto speaking more accurately, it is contracted castle what forms the pelvic portion of the ma AN urethra. tiUS If this were a fit opportunity for following out the consideration of the unity of type be, tween the male and female reproductive orgariF e it would be easy to sliew the justness of thosi.. greater analogies that we have mentioned, bat' pointing out other numerous minor but stile' strong points of correspondence manifested irt.
the abnormal conditions and localities of the ovaries and testicles in the higher animals, and in their conformity of structure in some of the lower. Thus among Insects, in the genus Li bel/u/a the long cylindrical testes of the males correspond with the long-shaped ovaries of the females ; in the Locusta and Gryllotalpa, there are ramose bunched testicles with analo gous fascicuhated ovaries; in the Latnellieornia we find compound radiating and united testes, with similar radiating and united ovaries; and sometimes, as in the genera illelolontha and 2'richius, the number of the single bodies in the testicles corresponds with the number of the oviducts.* We have already, when considering spurious hermaphroditism in the female, mentioned several facts illustrative of the analogical pe culiarities in structure between the male penis and female clitoris in some species of animals ; and Ilurmeister.1- who regards the ovipositors and stings of female insects as corresponding to the clitoris in the female Vertebrata, has pointed out a remarkable conformity of struc tural type between its valves and those of the penis of the male of the same species.