On the alleged infecundity of females born co-twins with males : with some notes on the average proportion of marriages without issue in general society / by James Y. Simpson.

  • Simpson, James Young, 1811-1870.
Date:
[©1844?]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the alleged infecundity of females born co-twins with males : with some notes on the average proportion of marriages without issue in general society / by James Y. Simpson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    The result of these two last tables goes to show, in opposition to the opinion of Sir Everard Home, that twins of opposite sexes are not by any means uncommon. * And this circumstance, of co-twins of opposite sexes occurring so proportionally frequent, may perhaps be adduced as bearing somewhat against the opi- nion of Mr Girou, that the sex of the offspring is determined by the sex of that parent whose reproductive power or organism {puis- sance prolifiqite) is at the time of conception either absolutely or relatively in the greatest degree of vigour. But to return from this digression. The only data hitherto published, (as far, at least, as I am aware,) containing an appeal to actual facts for the determination of the question of the fecun- dity or infccundity of the human female, when born a co-twin with a male, are to be found in a short paper published by Mr Cribb, in the Medical Repository for 1823,-f- and in the notice of a single case of this kind brought forward by the late Professor Meckel, in his essay on Hermaphrodites in ReiPs Arcliives.| In the paper referred to, Mr Cribb has adduced the histories of seven married women, who were born co-twins with males, of Avhich the following is the result: six had a family ; one had no chil- dren, though married several years ; or one in six was without issue. The woman mentioned by Meckel was a mother. I have endeavoured to obtain as accurate and authentic reports as possible of the married history of various females born co-twins with males, and have so far been successful in gaining such in- formation as I could implicitly rely upon in relation to 113 fe- males born under such circumstance^.§ Of these 113 female co- twins, ]03 had a family; 10 had none ; or about one in ten was without issue. Of the ten cases in which there was no family, 1 had been married above five years; 9 from ten to forty years. The history of the male co-twin in the 103 cases in which the female was productive was as follows ; in 53 he was the father of a family; in 24, he died in early life, or unmarried ; in 8, he re- mained unmarried; in 2, he was married but had no issue; and in 14, his history could not be accurately ascertained. In addition to the above cases of twins of opposite sexes, I have traced the married history of the female in four instances of tri- plets, in which there were born either two males and one female, • As far as the data of these tables go, they woukl Fccm also to show, that, among twin births as a whole, more female than male children are produced. Out of the 1570 children born in the above '{iW twin cases, fbO were nu-ile, and }i20 female. t London Med. Repos., Vol. xx. p. 213—16. X Reil's Archives fur die Physiologic, Bd. xi. p. 28?. For assistance in the collection of these cases, I am much indebtctl to various professional friends, and particularly to Mr F. Angus of Hoiytown, Mr Girdwood of Falkirk, Dr Gilchrist of Leith, and Or Cowan and .Mr Carmichael of Edinburgh, T.ables, containing the name, address, and other particulars of each case, are in the hands of the Secretary of the Mcdico-Chirurgical Society.