I am unacquainted with the result of this process, but I suspect that
her husband lost his cause. What induces me to think so is, that the
same Parliament of Paris, on the 8th of January, 1665, issued a decree,
asserting the necessity of two visible testicles, without which marriage
was not to be contracted. Had there been any member in the assembly in
the situation described, and reduced to the necessity of being a
witness, he might have convinced the assembly that it decided without a
due knowledge of circumstances. Pontas may be profitably consulted on
testicles, as well as upon any other subject. He was a sub-penitentiary,
who decided every sort of case, and who sometimes comes near to Sanchez.
SECTION II.
A word or two on hermaphrodites. A prejudice has for a long time crept
into the Russian Church, that it is not lawful to say mass without
testicles; or, at least, they must be hid in the officiator's pocket.
This ancient idea was founded in the Council of Nice, who forbade the
admission into orders of those who mutilated themselves. The example of
Origen, and of certain enthusiasts, was the cause of this order, which
was confirmed a second time in the Council of Aries.
The Greek Church did not exclude from the altar those who had endured
the operation of Origen against their own consent. The patriarchs of
Constantinople, Nicetas, Ignatius, Photius, and Methodius, were eunuchs.
At present this point of discipline seems undecided in the Catholic
Church. The most general opinion, however, is, that in order to be
ordained a priest, a eunuch will require a dispensation.
The banishment of eunuchs from the service of the altar appears contrary
to the purity and chastity which the service exacts; and certainly such
of the priests as confess handsome women and girls would be exposed to
less temptation. Opposing reasons of convenience and decorum have
determined those who make these laws.
In Leviticus, all corporeal defects are excluded from the service of the
altar--the blind, the crooked, the maimed, the lame, the one-eyed, the
leper, the scabby, long noses, and short noses. Eunuchs are not spoken
of, as there were none among the Jews. Those who acted as eunuchs in the
service of their kings, were foreigners.
It has been demanded whether an animal, a man for example, can possess
at once testicles and ovaries, or the glands which are taken for
ovaries; in a word, the distinctive organs of both sexes? Can nature
form veritable hermaphrodites, and can a hermaphrodite be rendered
pregnant? I answer, that I know nothing about it, nor the
ten-thousandth part of what is within the operation of nature. I
believe, however, that Europe has never witnessed a genuine
hermaphrodite, nor has it indeed produced elephants, zebras, giraffes,
ostriches, and many more of the animals which inhabit Asia, Africa, and
America. It is hazardous to assert, that because we never beheld a
thing, it does not exist.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account