Chap. IV.The CONCLUSION.Containing a Description of a Fœtus, and a Recital of the Dissections of such Subjects by some other Authors.
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 theNotions 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 theRoyal SocietyonThursdaythe 30th ofApril1741, 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 theirSizes, and sometimes larger, than theAngolanWoman 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 theEuropeanNations of those so reputed; though, as is before observed, they are common enough inAfricaandAsia, 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 therest, 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 GlandThymusandGlandulæ 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.
First then in viewing the Parts from above downwards, the Clitoris appears very large in Proportion to the Size of the Subject, and juts out in the Place which is always the Seat of that Part, according to Nature. It is circumscribed round the Root chiefly, on the upperSide, by a Ridge of the common Cutis, which reaches from one Side, continued with the Labium to the other.
The Præputium, indeed, is not to be well distinguished, because of the Minuteness of the Fœtus; however it shews very plainly, that a Continuation of the common Skin of the Clitoris is lapped round the Substance of this Part, and meeting at the very Extremity on the under Side, forms an Angle, from which the Nymphæ arise in an equal Point, and are inserted also on the Sides of the Orificium Vaginæ, being very large and conspicuous.
What appears to be a Rima or Slit in the Extremity of the Clitoris, in the Opinions of many, is no other than the Angle made by the Plication of the two Nymphæ where they arise, which undoubtedly is always the natural Case, and no other, in every Subject of this Nature.
The Labia are like those of any other female Child, continuing from the Ridge round the Clitoris, and terminating regularly in thePerinæum, being somewhat more protuberant at their middle than at either their Origination or Insertion.
The Vagina is in a natural State, and as for the Meatus Urinarius, it is too minute in this Fœtus to have any Observation made of it. This is all that is necessary to be said of it by way of Description; but I have subjoined the two following Figures of the Parts of Generation of thisFœtus, in order to make the Observation on them still more obvious and plain, which I have done something larger than the Life, in due Proportion, because a Drawing of the same Size with the Subject would be too small for Explanation; but have, at the same time, taken the utmost care not to digress from the Truth in the least, in order to favour any particular Fancy whatsoever.
Tab. III.Fig. I.A View of the upper Side of the Clitoris and Labia, the under Parts being hid.Fig. II.The Pudenda turned upward, and laid open.1. The Umbilical Rope.2. The Clitoris.3. The Labia.4. The Nymphæ.5. The Orifice of the Vagina and Anus.
Tab. III.Fig. I.A View of the upper Side of the Clitoris and Labia, the under Parts being hid.Fig. II.The Pudenda turned upward, and laid open.1. The Umbilical Rope.2. The Clitoris.3. The Labia.4. The Nymphæ.5. The Orifice of the Vagina and Anus.
Tab. III.
Fig. I.
A View of the upper Side of the Clitoris and Labia, the under Parts being hid.
Fig. II.
The Pudenda turned upward, and laid open.
1. The Umbilical Rope.
2. The Clitoris.
3. The Labia.
4. The Nymphæ.
5. The Orifice of the Vagina and Anus.
But having understood that some were particularly of Opinion, that such as have the Clitoris long have noUteri, I openedthe above-mentioned Fœtus, and found the Uterus in it’s natural Situation, with every Appendix proper to it, in their Places; which, with the Dissections made by several Anatomists upon such Occasions, will be very prevailing, to manifest the Existence of an Uterus in everyMacroclitoridea, whether any Thing be contained in the Labia or not.
1.De Graaff’s Dissection, mentioned before, is no insignificant Proof of this Assertion.
2. Another made, and related byColumbus, will be also as corroborating, of one whom he calls a Woman (and, indeed, without any Mistake) he introduces the Description of her in these Words[120]:
‘Formerly I happened to see a Woman, who, besides the Vulva, had also a Penis, which was not very thick.’
This Membrum virile is (beyond all Dispute) the Clitoris, because he sayspræter vulvam; and, I hope, from what has been said before, it is plain, that no Male Parts can possibly grow with the Feminine in the same Body; however, this Author proceeds to describe the Blood Vessels,&c.to which I refer the Reader, and shall only pass on to observe what is to my Purpose here, which is contained in his following Words[121]:
‘The Uterus and Cervix did not in the least differ from those of other Women, but there was a Difference in the Testes, for in this Subject they were thicker than in others, but their Situation was the same. There was no Scrotum at all, and the Penis had two Muscles, not four, as in perfect Men; besides, the Penis of this Hermaphrodite was covered with a thin Skin, but had no Præputium,&c.’
From which Words it is obvious, what was the Sex of this Subject, without any further Observations on it.