History of circumcision from the earliest times to the present : $b Moral and physical reasons for its performance, with a history of eunuchism, hermaphrodism, etc., and of the different operations practiced upon the prepuceRemondino, P. C. (Peter Charles)
Religion
History of circumcision from the earliest times to the present : $b Moral and physical reasons for its performance, with a history of eunuchism, hermaphrodism, etc., and of the different operations practiced upon the prepuce
Remondino, P. C. (Peter Charles)
Circumcision
has the hairy breast of the man, with the mammary development of the
female, and an abnormally-enlarged clitoris, which was often mistaken
for the male organ. The vagina at its lower end was narrow, and the
urethral aperture opened into it some distance from its outer opening;
otherwise she was sexually a perfect woman, and menstruated regularly.
Debierre quotes the case which Duval gives in his work on
hermaphrodites, wherein a man asked for a dissolution of marriage,
claiming that his wife had a male organ, which, although she was a woman
in every other sense, prevented by its interference the consummation of
the marriage act. The court had the case examined, when it was found
that the erection of the clitoris, which was large, was enough to
interfere as the husband had stated. It decreed that the young woman
should have the objectionable and interfering member amputated, and on
the refusal to have this done the marriage should be dissolved. She
refused, and the divorce was consequently granted to the man.
From the history of Marie Lefort, it can well be conceived how the
popular mind, in ignorant times, could easily be imposed upon. Montaigne
relates the history of a Hungarian soldier who was confined of a
well-developed infant while in camp, and of a monk brought to a
successful accouchement in the cell of a convent; while Duval reports
the case of a priest in Paris who was found to be pregnant with child,
who was in consequence imprisoned in the prison of the ecclesiastical
court. These cases were strongly females in every sense, but with some
male characteristic sufficiently developed, like in the case of Marie
Lefort, to allow them to believe themselves men and to pass for such.
On the other hand, males have had some female characteristics so well
pronounced that they have passed for females. Debierre mentions a number
of cases, to wit: Ambroise Pare reported such a case in his time;
Ladowsky, of Reims, reports the case of Marie Goulich, who, up to the
age of thirty-three, was believed to be a female, at which time the
descent of the testicles removed all doubts as to sex. Sheghelner and
Cheselden have reported analogous cases, and Girand's case--who was
happily married to a man with whom he lived until the death of the
husband, in which the only female attribute was a blind vagina, which,
in his case, seems to have answered all purposes--was a most remarkable
case. As a rule, the cases of males who have been mistaken for
hermaphrodites have been cases of hypospadic urethrae in a greater or
lesser sense of deformity.
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