Anomalies and Curiosities of MedicineGould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Science
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)
Abnormalities, Human; Medicine -- Anecdotes
We give descriptions of a few of the most famous or interesting
instances of hermaphroditism. Pare speaks of a woman who, besides a
vulva, from which she menstruated, had a penis, but without prepuce or
signs of erectility. Haller alludes to several cases in which prolonged
clitorides have been the cause of the anomaly. In commenting on this
form of hermaphroditism Albucasiusus describes a necessary operation
for the removal of the clitoris.
Columbus relates the history of an Ethiopian woman who was evidently a
spurious female hermaphrodite. The poor wretch entreated him to cut off
her penis, an enlarged clitoris, which she said was an intolerable
hindrance to her in coitus. De Graff and Riolan describe similar cases.
There is an old record of a similar creature, supposing herself to be a
male, who took a wife, but previously having had connection with a man,
the outcome of which was pregnancy, was shortly after marriage
delivered of a daughter. There is an account of a person in Germany
who, for the first thirty years of life, was regarded as feminine, and
being of loose morals became a mother. At a certain period she began to
feel a change in her sexual inclinations; she married and became the
father of a family. This is doubtless a distortion of the facts of the
case of Catherine or Charles Hoffman, born in 1824, and who was
considered a female until the age of forty. At puberty she had the
instincts of a woman, and cohabitated with a male lover for twenty
years. Her breasts were well formed and she menstruated at nineteen. At
the age of forty-six her sexual desires changed, and she attempted
coitus as a man, with such evident satisfaction that she married a
woman soon afterward. Fitch speaks of a house-servant with masculine
features and movements, aged twenty-eight, and 5 feet and 9 inches
tall, who was arrested by the police for violating the laws governing
prostitution. On examination, well-developed male and female organs of
generation were found. The labia majora were normal and flattened on
the anterior surface. The labia minora and hymen were absent. The
vagina was spacious and the woman had a profuse leukorrhea. She stated
that several years previously she gave birth to a normal child. In
place of a clitoris she had a penis which, in erection, measured 5 1/4
inches long and 3 5/8 inches in circumference. The glans penis and the
urethra were perfectly formed. The scrotum contained two testicles,
each about an inch long; the mons veneris was sparsely covered with
straight, black hair. She claimed functional ability with both sets of
genitalia, and said she experienced equal sexual gratification with
either. Semen issued from the penis, and every three weeks she had
scanty menstruation, which lasted but two days.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account