should be hid in the Peritonæum, and the Scrotum empty; or opened in the
middle from a Perforation in the Urethra; when the Sides of the Scrotum
are like the Labia of the Pudenda of Women, and the Penis also very
little; these Things have deceived ignorant Midwives, who often think
such Children females at their Birth.’
Now it is plain, that tho’ he brings these Accidents and Diseases under
that Denomination, which (as he was Professor) must have been only by way
of School-Method, yet his Conclusion of this Paragraph shews that his
Opinion was, that the Testes remaining hid in the Peritonæum, and the
Scrotum empty with an Aperture in the middle, the Penis being extreamly
small, were all Accidents that happened to the Male Sex, though judged
to be Females by the Ignorance of Midwives, at the Time of their Birth;
and, indeed, though the Testes may be not as yet come down, nothing can
be conceived of such a Subject but the true Male Sex; but if the Sides of
the Scrotum look like Labia, it must be a female Case with a prominent
Clitoris, for it is absurd to think the Scrotum can be divided, as we
have proved above. Again, this Author, after taking notice of some other
Diseases of the Urethra of Males, and their Scrota, utterly denies that
Females can be changed into the other Sex, but that Children reputed
Females from some of the forementioned Disorders, have always proved to
be Males in the End[107].
‘Such Subjects, after being thought Females, have at length proved Males,
for no Woman was ever changed to a Man; but might be misjudged by the
Length of the Clitoris, or an Hypersarcosis, arising from the Uterus,
which might be in some Measure like a Penis in Form and Hardness, but not
at all in the Composition or Structure, _&c._’
In this Paragraph he is very particular upon the Reports of a Change of
Sex, and adds, to the two former, these two other Ways of the Vulgar’s
being deceived with respect to such Changes; as if he had said, ‘I know
of no other way for changing a Woman into a Man, except you’ll have it
that a long Clitoris, or an Hypersarchosis, growing out of the Vagina
makes a Man.’—This he confirms again in his thirty-sixth Chapter of the
same Book under his Medical Considerations on the feminine Parts of
Generation, under the Head of _Morbi Peculiares_, where when he comes to
the Clitoris he says[108]:
‘The Clitoris sometimes grows inordinately long, and counterfeits a
Penis; it is called a Tail with which Women abuse one another; these are
called Hermaphrodites, or Fricatrices, nor was it ever known, and it is
impossible, that a Woman should be transformed into a Man. But a Male
Child at it’s Birth being thought a Female, as was said before, when his
Parts begin to come out which lay hid, may, indeed, become a Man.’
Hence it is plain, that our Author would make Use of the Word
Hermaphrodite, not as crediting such an Existence, as it expresses, in
human Nature; but as thinking it a Term fit only to serve him in his
Explication of some of the Diseases of the Parts of Generation.
_REGNERUS DE GRAAF._
This Author, in his particular Description of the Clitoris, gives a
History of a Child born with that Part so large, that all who saw it
pronounced it a Male Child; and it was accordingly baptized as such, and
securely allowed to be a Boy. However, _de Graaf_ had no such Opinion;
for the Doubt that he, and others of the Faculty of Physick were in
concerning this Child, caused a more narrow Enquiry into it’s Nature,
which was favoured by it’s Death; and the Result of their Examination is
very positively expressed by him thus[109]:
‘But an accurate Dissection of those Parts after Death has detected the
Deceit, _&c._’
The History in full, with the Figure, he gives in another Place[110], of
which let us consider the following Particulars.
When this Child died, our worthy Author, in Company with several
Physicians and Surgeons, first had a drawing made of the exterior
Appearance of the Parts of Generation, and then proceeded to open the
Body, upon which they found the Uterus, Ovaria, Tubes, and spermatick
Vessels according to the Standard of Nature; but seeing no Scrotum, they
searched in the Groins and elsewhere for Testes but in vain; for neither
these nor any other Signs of a Masculine Nature could be found. Then they
proceeded to examine whether there was any Passage in the Clitoris, but
were foiled in this also; but found the Urethra under it in the proper
Place as in all Females, through which they passed an Instrument into the
Bladder. Afterwards they inflated this Part (first stopping the Orifice
of the Vagina) which when it was very much distended, they compressed
greatly to see if any Air could pass out by the Clitoris, but this
likewise was to no Purpose; at length they cut the Clitoris across, but
found not the least Sign of an Urethra, nor any other Thing but what is
proper to that Part. From whence he concludes, that though it resembled
a Penis virilis in all Respects,[111] ‘Yet we pronounced it not a Penis,
but the proper Part of a Female, known by the Name of a Clitoris.’
Here is a Series of strong Experiments upon this Child, to prove very
sufficiently that these Kind of Subjects are only Female, after it was
received as a Male by all that saw it; and yet this great Man’s Figure
of the Thing must have inevitably produced a greater Notion, in us, of
the Predominancy of the Masculine Sex, than of the other, if the above
History and his judicious Explanation were not annexed to it; only
because he had asserted it was like the _Virga virilis_, and therefore
had it drawn in a Position that favoured that Assertion, and gave the
whole as much of the Mien of that Sex as possible; for though he denies
(in his Description) any Perforation to the Clitoris, yet in the Drawing
it appears to have one at the Extremity; so that this joined to the close
Position of the Labia under it, which appear very protuberant (though
nothing was found in them) without the least View of the vaginal Orifice,
entirely conceals the natural Sex, and actually represents the contrary.
Thus we may easily see how necessary, and of what Consequence it is
towards the Exhibition of Truth, to dispose of any Subject in a natural
impartial Attitude or Light, either for describing or drawing, because
no other Idea could be conceived of our Author’s Figure but what I have
expressed above; whereas if he had either drawn it with the Labia open,
or made a second Figure to represent the inferior Part next the Anus,
looking upwards at it, so that the Nymphæ might come in view, it would
have been more analogous to so just a Description as he has exhibited.
_Of DIEMERBROECK._
To examine this Author, concerning his Opinion of Hermaphrodites, will
be extreamly worth while; for we shall find him making the strongest
Efforts to persuade the World, that a seminal Matter issues from the
Clitoris, and making a great many Shifts to prove it, as if he had a Mind
to introduce a Notion of a Power of ejecting a seminal Juice, from that
Part in those Confricatrices, and thereby to render them equally capable
of the Coitus in the Quality of either Sex: But how strange an Appearance
does it make, to find him, in the end, giving Histories of several of
these reputed Hermaphrodites, with some Animadversions on them, which
serve to overturn and confute what he has taken no small Pains to
maintain before.
This Author asserts, that the[112] Semen is brought partly from the
Testes and Tubes by the Ligamenta Rotunda (which he calls Vessels,
and adds, that heretofore they were improperly called Ligaments) and
so emitted by the Glans; but how a Communication is carried on between
these Ligaments and the Clitoris he has not given us the least Account;
yet he persists very strenuously in that Opinion, tho’ he owns at the
same Time, that upon the Dissection of these Parts no convenient Passage
appears for such an Emission, and this turns him upon another Method of
accounting for it, which is, that the Pores of the Glans are so distended
by Heat, Agitation, _&c._ that Semen may easily pass forth. He backs this
Opinion with a Story he tells, of a Patient that complained to him of
an involuntary Emission from that Part, occasioned by her too frequent
provoking it before; part of the Words of this History may not be amiss,
in this Place, for the Reader’s Satisfaction[113].
‘Lately a Woman of no little Credit complained to me, that in her younger
Days, having early Desires, she often rubbed that Part (the Clitoris)
with her Finger, so as to provoke the Emission of Semen with much
Delight, and that in some time this ill Custom caused it to become a
Disease.’
Here he makes a Passage through the Ligamenta Rotunda for Semen to come
to the Clitoris, in order to make a close Analogy between the Penis and
that Part; and, finding no Urethra, makes it pass out by the Pores of the
Glans, and by way of Confirmation of his Opinion, tells the above Story
from the Mouth of the Woman herself, believes her, and would have the
World give Credit to it also.
In another Place[114] he absolutely confesses, no Passage like an Urethra
has hitherto been found upon Dissections in that Part; yet Reason (says
he) tells me there must be one, though in dead Bodies it disappears;
otherwise I demand by what Passage can such a Discharge proceed from
these Confricatrices and Hermaphrodites. His Words are, ‘Mulieres
Confricatrices atque etiam Hermaphroditi.’ As if these two Characters
signified different Things, which in other Authors are esteemed the same.
This is rivetting his Opinion of an Urethra, though none can be found,
and totally omitting to make any more Use of his Argument of the Pores,
whether wilfully, as believing it a weak one, or through Forgetfulness,
we cannot say; but his subsequent Histories will shew, how he tumbles
from this Notion into a direct Contradiction of a pervious Clitoris;
and as to his Pretence of the Ligamenta Rotunda’s being Vessels, every
Anatomist is able to make a Judgment; and also of what Use it is to have
a Discharge from the Clitoris, those in any wise acquainted with the
Nature of Generation, and the Structure of the Parts, will easily refute.
Now we shall proceed to take notice of some of the Histories he gives
concerning enlarged Clitorides in Women, which he takes from several
Authors, and introduces in these Words[115]:
‘In Hermaphrodites this is the Part which, as it grows, resembles the
Penis; this is plain, because no Perforation can be discerned in it.’
This Sentence very much weakens his guess’d Opinion of the Urethra,
which he does very often afterwards in his several Stories of these
Creatures. The first he saw was in _France_, of about Twenty-eight Years
of Age, which was shewed to the People for Money; he describes her
thus[116]:
‘This Subject, on the upper Part of the Pudenda, had a Clitoris as long
as one’s Finger, and as thick as a Penis; with a Glans, Frenulum, and
Præputium, as are seen in Men, except that the Glans was not pervious;
below this there was an urinary Passage, and the Vagina Uteri as in
Women; in each Labium there was a Testicle.’
In this History our Author owns, there was no Perforation to be seen in
this large Clitoris; and as to the other Parts he describes no more than
a perfect Woman.
Another of these he saw at _Utrecht_, which her Owner told him was a
perfect Female till between five and six Years old; at which Time she
began to change, and at Eleven a Penis was grown conspicuous, but without
a Perforation: the said Man told him also, that she had then her Menses
periodically as other Women. She had below the Clitoris the Meatus
Urinarius and Vagina properly situated, to which he adds a Testis in each
Labium; and further, that there was a seminal Discharge upon Occasion,
but that the Hermaphrodite did not know whether it was by the Clitoris,
or the other feminine Parts. His Narration of this History begins thus,
of which we shall insert but a few Words, the Substance being just
mentioned above[117]:
‘In Company with other Spectators, I have seen such another _English_
Hermaphrodite, twenty-two Years old, here at _Utrecht, &c._’
This is the Subject Dr _Allen_ speaks of in the _Transactions_, which
has been taken notice of before in this Treatise, that was carried to
_Flanders_, and shewed to our Author; now whosoever will be at the Pains
to compare the Descriptions given by both these Authors, which they
had only from the Mouth of her Keeper, will see how they differ, and
consequently what Untruths proceed from Hearsay; now after all these
Things, our Author makes this Conclusion of his own Accord[118]:
‘From all which it is plain, that these Kind of Hermaphrodites do not
partake of both Sexes, but are only Women, whose Parts of Generation are
illy formed, that is, the Testes have descended out of the Abdomen, and
the Clitoris is grown too large.’
It would have been much more to the Credit of this Author to have
subscribed to this Doctrine at once, without endeavouring to maintain, in
so uncertain a Manner, any Thing that had the least Hint towards allowing
a Perforation in the Clitoris, or a virile Nature to a Woman, and so
suddenly to quit and contradict his former Opinion, in his Histories and
Animadversions on them, which must be very obvious to any one that will
allow himself Time and Liberty to consider the Animal Oeconomy, and the
Laws of Nature, as far as they respect human Bodies.
_Dr DOUGLAS._
The Explanation of the Figures in the following large Plate, which this
most consummate Anatomist has favoured me with, are sufficient to
shew, that these Sort of Subjects are, in his Opinion, Females in all
Respects. The first Figure he had delineated from the _Angolan_ in a most
accurate Manner; and the other two were done some time ago, as appears by
his Explanation; of both which he had given Copies to the ingenious Mr
_Cheselden_, which he has in his Book of Anatomy.
In making these Figures, the Doctor, according to his accustomed
Accuracy, avoids the Omission which _De Graaf_ is guilty of; for though
the latter’s Dissection and Description of the Subject that came before
him are very satisfactory, in proving it Female, yet inasmuch as he has
not shewed any Part of the Orificium Vaginæ in his Figure, it is not so
much to the Purpose as those of Dr _Douglas_.
This Woman was carried from _Angola_ in _Africa_, amongst other Slaves,
to _America_, from whence she was brought to _Bristol_. She is about six
and twenty Years old, has no Beard on her Chin, nor any Thing masculine
in her Countenance; her Arms above the Elbow are thick and fleshy, as
many Womens are, but soft; her Breasts are small, her Voice effeminate
in the common Tone of speaking, and it was reported she has often been
lain with by Men; and as to the Parts of Generation, they are so justly
described in the following Explanation, that the Reader is referred to
that.
[Illustration: _A View of the external Parts of Generation in the
~African~ Woman, that was brought lately from ~Angola~, exactly
delineated from the Life, and well engraven._]
FIG. I.
1. The _Regio Pubis_, with _Pili_ upon it.
2. A Tumour or Swelling between the _Inguen_, and the upper Part of the
_Labium Vaginæ_.
3. _Nympha Luxurians_, or as this Part is commonly called, tho’ very
improperly, _Clytoris, magnitudine aucta_, that is, the true _Nympha
Muliebris_, which is enlarged to an uncommon Length and Bigness, in which
we may observe it’s _Cutis Rugosa_, or wrinkly Skin, which terminates
in a _Præputium_, here turned back to shew it’s large _Glans_, in which
there is not the smallest Perforation or Opening.
4, 5. The Labia opened and turned back, to shew the Entrance into the
Vagina; the Labium on the left Side is of a natural Bigness for the Size
of the Woman; but the other Labium is very large, in which is contained
a hard Substance, surrounded with something soft to the touch, and which
may be traced as coming down from the _Inguen_.
This Tumour, in my Opinion, is the real _Ovarium_ or Testicle of that
Side prolapsed, and fallen down from it’s natural Place within the
Abdomen, thro’ the Fissure in the Muscles belonging to the last mentioned
Part, into this Labium where it is lodged, covered with an Elongation
in Form of a Bag or Sacculus from the _Peritonæum_, in which it lies
enclosed together with the _Tuba Falloppii_, the _Ligamentum uteri
latum_, and the Ligament that goes from the Testicle to the _Uterus_,
in the very same Manner that the common _Hernia_’s, whether of the
Intestinum, the Omentum, or both, are produced in Women.
My Reasons for this Conjecture (which was long ago simply proposed by
Professor[119] _Diemerbroeck_, but without any Manner of Proof to
support it) shall be given in a general Treatise of _Hernia_’s, which I
have very near finished, and, I hope, will be published in a short Time;
the Ovaria, or _Testiculi Mulierum_, being in the Number of those Parts
that fall down from their natural Situation, and constitute that Disorder
we call a Hernia or Rupture.
In my Collection of the morbid uterine Parts, I have two Preparations
where the Ovaria and Extremities of the Tubæ Falloppianæ lie exactly on
that Part of the Peritonæum, under which the _Ligamenta uteri teretia seu
rotunda_ do pass out from within the Abdomen; and the _Fundus Uteri_,
instead of lying backwards on the _Intestinum rectum_ and _os Sacrum_,
is turned forwards, and lies on the Os Pubis and Vesica. This, I own, is
only a conjectural Proof for the present, a real one cannot be offered
till the Part itself, where the Tumour is, can be examined by ocular
Inspection.
The Tumour marked 2, I take to be the Ovarium on the other Side, just
clear of the abdominal Muscles, but not come low enough for the Labium,
but will no doubt in Time, if not prevented by some outward Compression.
I am informed, that the other Tumour came down gradually.
6, 7. The slender _Alæ_ or _Pterygia vaginæ_, improperly called _Nymphæ_.
On the upper Part of these cuticular Foldings, the _Frenulum_ 6, is
observed to be lost, that comes obliquely downwards from the under Side
of the _Glans_.
8. The Orificium, or Entrance into the Vagina, with a smooth whitish Skin
on the Inside of the Labia.
9. The Furcula Vaginæ.
10. The large and broad Perinæum, or Distance between the Furca and the
Anus.
The second and third Figures represent the external Parts, as they
appeared in a Girl shewed about Town for an Hermaphrodite, of which I
gave an Account that was read at a Meeting of the Royal Society, _Feb.
17, 1714_.
FIG. II.
Shews these Parts in a natural Situation.
1. Nympha Luxurians seu Clitoris.
2. Labium dextrum.
3. Labium sinistrum.
FIG. III.
Shews the same, the Labia being deducted or turned back to each Side.
1. Nympha Luxurians, seu Clitoris.
2. Labium dextrum.
3. Labium sinistrum.
4. The Alæ, Pterygia vaginæ, or Nymphæ vulgares.
5. Orificium vaginæ.
6. Furcula vaginæ.
In this Account also I supposed the Tumours to be from the Ovaries fallen
down.
_N. B._ At this Time I protest I neither had read nor heard of
_Diemerbroeck_’s Opinion.
Here, it is plain, is nothing but what is common to every Woman; and
whatsoever Appearances may be in her, such as the Largeness of the
_Clitoris_, and that Tumour in the _Labium_, that are capable of raising
other Opinions, they may be deemed a morbid State in the Accretion of the
Parts; and as to the said Tumour in the Labium, several of the Learned
are divided about it, and their different Opinions amount to three, _viz._
1. That such are Testes like those in Men.
2. That they are Herniæ of the Ovaria.
3. That they are Glands of an indolent Nature, void of any Use, fallen
from the Groins, and grown inordinately large and hard from the same
Cause that enlarges any other neighbouring Parts that exceed their
natural Size.
To the first of these Mr _Cheselden_, and, I am told, some others in
Town, seem to assent.
The second is the Opinion of Dr _Douglas_, for which see his Explanation.
And the last is the Conjecture of Sir _Hans Sloane_. However, as none of
these Opinions can be ascertained without a fair Dissection of such a
Subject, as this is, in all Respects, and that by the best Anatomists;
and tho’ many Queries and Arguments might be exhibited both for and
against these Notions, we chuse rather to omit controverting any one
Point, as to this Particular, for the present, and refer the Matter to
the first Experiment that shall happen upon such an Occasion.
CHAP. IV.
_The CONCLUSION._
_Containing a Description of a Fœtus, and a Recital of the Dissections of
such Subjects by some other Authors._
The Examination of any more Authors upon this Topick would amount to
more Pains than at present are necessary, and besides, Repetitions
could hardly be avoided if any more were called in Question, since we
find Authors were so fond of running in the same Path with one another;
therefore the Remarks that have been made on those already mentioned
may, I hope, be sufficient (together with the rest that has been said)
to answer the End of this Treatise, which is no more than to illustrate
the Cause of the first Rise of the Notions of Hermaphrodites among
Men; to shew how credulous our Ancestors have been of these Chimera’s,
and how fond of encouraging their Progress tho’ in the meanest Manner
of arguing; to prove, by comparing all the Opinions of Authors, that
no hermaphrodital Nature can exist in human Bodies; and, in fine, that
those Subjects hitherto so accounted, were only Females in all Respects,
superstitiously, and through Ignorance, mistaken for those Kind of
Creatures, or for Men; which, with some other Disorders of the Pudenda
of either Sex, gave rise to the several Divisions that afterwards sprung
up concerning them; as far from Truth (or even rational Conjecture) as
any other Error that ever was received by Mankind. And this will still be
further illustrated by the following Description of a Fœtus, with a very
large Clitoris, that came to my Hands some time since, which I have taken
due Care of for this Purpose.
This Subject was an abortive Fœtus of about six Months Growth, in
which (though so young) the Pudenda are conspicuous enough, and the
Clitoris sufficiently large to prove every Thing that has been said
upon the Subject; and to serve as a Standard, wherewith to confront any
fabulous Reports that may hereafter spring up in the World, which I have
endeavoured to describe in the most faithful Manner that I am capable of.
But before we proceed to this Description, it will be of great Use
towards the Design of this little Work, to insert the following
Observation; which I had the Honour to lay before the _Royal Society_ on
_Thursday_ the 30th of _April_ 1741, and which, I hope, will add no small
Force to what has been already said upon it.
All female Fœtus’s, during the greatest Part of the Time of Gestation,
have the Clitoris as large in Proportion to their Sizes, and sometimes
larger, than the _Angolan_ Woman before-mentioned, which is evident from
several then shewed together to the Society; this, I am inclined to
believe, is Nature’s common Rule all over the World. Now it is impossible
that so many Hermaphrodites should be found at once, since we have so
very few Instances among the _European_ Nations of those so reputed;
though, as is before observed, they are common enough in _Africa_ and
_Asia_, in all those Places especially that are nearest the Equinoctial
Line; where the Nonnaturals themselves conduce much to the general
Relaxation of the Solids, and consequently, this unseemly Accretion of
that Part.
Now as the Fœtus increases in a natural Way, the neighbouring Parts of
the Pudenda grow more in Proportion than the Clitoris, drawing away the
Integuments, whereby it becomes by Degrees less conspicuous; but when it
continues it’s Growth, together with the rest, maintaining it’s first
proportional Size, the Person is reported to be an Hermaphrodite; the
natural Structure of this Part being in a great Measure like that of a
Penis virilis.
Nor is it’s Largeness in a Fœtus much to be wondered at, since there
are other very similar Cases in the same Body, as the Gland _Thymus_
and _Glandulæ Renales_; nor is it, indeed, any more wonder to find it’s
Growth increased, when once continued till a little after Birth; because
Erections of that Part begin very early in Children, which, protruding
the Integuments, increase their Relaxation, and thereby remove all
Obstacles to it’s Luxuriancy.