II ERMAPI TRODITISM, or II ERMAPII ILO DISM Hermaphrodisia; androgynisme,gynan drisme ; hermaphroditisme, &c., of the French ; crinaph•odisrno of the Italians; Zwitterbildung of the Germans, &c.
Many different definitions of hermaphro ditism, and almost an equal number of diffe rent classifications of the malformations usu ally comprehended under it, have been proposed by the various authors, ancient and modern, who have directed their attention to this sub ject. Without stopping to discuss the merits or errors of these definitions and classifications, and without inquiring, as some have done, into the propriety of the word itself, we shall content ourselves with stating that under it, as a convenient generic term, we purpose in the present article to include an account•1st, of some varieties of malformation in which the genital organs and general sexual configura tion of one sex approach, from imperfect or ab normal developement, to those of the opposite ; and 2d, of other varieties of malformation, in which there actually coexist upon the body of the same individual more or fewer of the geni tal organs and distinctive sexual characters both of the male and female.
To separate from one another, by as strong a line as possible, the two distinct varieties of hermaphroditic malformation marked out in this definition, we shall divide hermaphroditic malformations, considered as a class, into the two orders of Spurious and True; the spurious comprehending such malformations of the genital organs of one sex as make these organs approximate in appearance and form to those of the opposite sexual type ; and the order, again, of true hermaphroditism including under it all cases in which there is an actual mixture or blending together, upon the same individual, of more or fewer of both the male and female organs.
Spurious hermaphroditism may occur either in the male or female ; that is, there may, from malformation of the external sexual organ, he an appearance of hermaphroditism in persons actually of the female sex, or from a similar cause there may be an appearance of herma phroditism in persons actually of the male sex. The differences derived from the diversity of sex in which spurious hermaphroditism occurs, and the particular varieties of malformation in each sex which may give rise to it, will serve as bases on which we shall found some further subdivisions of this order.
True hermaphroditism, as above defined, comprehends also, as shall be afterwards more particularly shewn, several very distinct varieties of malformation. If we conceive for a mo ment all the reproductive organs to be placed on a vertical plane, (as we may suppose them to be, though not with strict correctness, in the human body when in the erect posture,) we shall find that the principal of these varieties may be all referred to three sets of cases : 1st, those in which, if we drew a vertical median line through this supposed plane, the two lateral halves will be seen to present organs differing in this respect, that they belong to opposite sexual types ; 2d, others in which, if we bisect the same plane by a transverse horizontal line, there exist organs of a different sex in the upper from what are present in the lower segment ; or, in other words, the internal genital organs belong to one sex, and the ex ternal to another. In the two preceding classes
of cases there is not necessarily, as we shall afterwards more fully point out, any malforma tion by duplicity in the sexual apparatus of the malformed individual ; there is only one set of sexual organs present, but in some parts these organs are formed upon the male, and in others upon the female type. In the 3d and re maining set of cases, however, there is really present to a greater or less, though most gene rally only to a very partial extent, a double set of sexual organs, having opposite sexual cha racters, so that upon the same body, and usu ally upon the same side, or upon the same vertical line in our supposed plane, we find coexisting two or more of the analogous organs of the two sexes. In accordance with this view, we shall consider the cases of true her maphroditic malformation under the three corresponding divisions of, 1st, lateral ; 2d, transverse ; and 3d, vertical, or, more properly, double or complex hermaphroditism ; and each of these genera will admit of some further convenient subdivisions. But the mode in which we propose to classify and consider the subject will probably be at once more accurately gathered from the following table, than from any more lengthened remarks upon it in the present place.
In commenting upon and illustrating the different varieties of hermaphroditism in the particular order in which they are placed in the above table, we shall, we believe, by following that order, be able to take a graduated, and, at the same time, a correct and comprehensive view of the subject, beginning with the more simple, and ending with the more complex and complete species of hermaphroditic malforma tion, as seen in the primary sexual characters, or the structure of the genital parts themselves. We shall then consider at some length the curious and important physiological subject of hermaphroditism as manifested in the secondary sexual characters of the system. After having done so, we shall endeavour to show how far the diversified forms of hermaphroditic malfor mation can be explained upon our present knowledge of the laws of developement ; point out the actual anatomical and physiological degree of sexual duplicity which is liable to occur, and the numerous fhllacies with which the determination of this question in individual cases is surrounded ; and lastly, in conclu sion, we shall offer some general observations upon the causes, &c., of this class of abnor mal formations.