Tractus de Hermaphrodites; Or, A Treatise of HermaphroditesJacob, Giles
Philosophy
Tractus de Hermaphrodites; Or, A Treatise of Hermaphrodites
Jacob, Giles
Sex -- Early works to 1800
The third Sort have no visible privy Parts of a Man, only a Slit,
through which the Hermaphrodite makes Water. This Cavity is deeper or
shallower, according to the plenty or default of Matter employ'd for the
forming of it, yet one may easily find the Bottom of it with one's
Finger. The Terms never flow by this way, and this kind of Hermaphrodite
is a true Man as well as the two others above mention'd; for these sorts
of Hermaphrodites become Boys, about the Age of fifteen, in an Instant,
and are as valiant in the Adventures of Love as other Males, and this is
oftentimes affected by some violent Action, as _Mary Germain_, mention'd
by _Paræus_, leaping over a Ditch, strain'd herself, and became
instantly a Man, through the coming forth of the privy Parts.
This may be a sufficient Caution to young Gentlemen not to be too hasty
in their Marriages, lest, in a vigorous Consummation with a very
youthful Partner, the imaginary Female should at once appear an
Hermaphrodite.
The fourth Sort of Hermaphrodites, are Women who have the _Clitoris_
bigger and longer than others, and thereby impose upon the Vulgar, who
know but little of the Parts they are compos'd of, and of these kinds of
Hermaphrodites, _Columbus_ says he examin'd all the Parts, and found no
essential Difference from other Women; the only Sign that they are Women
is, that they suffer the flowing of their Terms every Month.
The fifth Kind, are those that have neither the Use of the one nor the
other Sex, and have their privy Parts confus'd, and the Temper of Man
and Woman so inter-mix'd, that one can hardly say which is most
predominant; but these sorts of Persons are rather a kind of Eunuchs
than Hermaphrodites, their _Penis_ being good for nothing, and their
Terms never flowing. Of this Kind was the _Bohemian_ Woman, that pray'd
_Columbus_ to cut off her _Penis_, and to enlarge her _Vagina_, that she
might the more freely, as she alledg'd, join amorously with a Man.
These are the several Sorts of Hermaphrodites, mentioned by Monsieur
_Venette_; and the four first of them, tho' they have the Name, yet
Nature has not refus'd them the Advantage to make use of their Genital
Parts, and to Engender as others. The Male Hermaphrodite may get
Children, and the Female conceive; so that neither the one nor the other
differ from Men or Women, but only by a superfluity or a deficiency of
Parts, and such as does not disturb the business of Generation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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