Account of a case of hermaphrodism / by P.D. Handyside.

  • Handyside, P. D. (Peter David), 1808-1881.
Date:
[1835]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Account of a case of hermaphrodism / by P.D. Handyside. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    The configuration of the head also is male, though perhaps there is (apart from a national peculiarity in the form of the skull) a greater deficiency of cerebellum than is usual in the male compared with the female, the posterior part of the head being very flat. His sexual desires, however, are far from be- ing below mediocrity. The head is exceedingly prominent in front, but a remarkable and very unusual depression is observ- able in each temporal region. In respect to the surface of the body generally, there is not that abundant deposition of fat by which muscular action is in the female so much obscured, neither is there that spare deve- lopemept of the muscles themselves, nor that want of character in the bones which characterize the female, and announce the delicacy of her frame-work, by its softer and smoother contour ; but in the case before us, the structure of the whole cutaneous and adipose tissues, the well-marked roughnesses along the bones affording firm attachments to the strongly developed and very powerful muscles, whose action is marked in the diversified lines along the surface of the body, impart to the figure of this individual the hard and uneven outline which so generally cha- racterizes the male structure. Besides the matter and form of the surface of the body, its ■proportions also partake more of the masculine character. The height of Gottlieb is five feet seven inches. The shoulders are somewhat projecting. Thebreadth of the chest measured between the two acromion processes is seventeen inches ; that of the pel- vis, between the two anterior superior ihac spines eleven inches,— denoting, therefore, the comparative narrowness of the pelvis, and its agreement with that of the male. In this person, as may be observed of the male sex generally, the distance between the pubes and the umbilicus is shorter than between the umbi- licus and the scrobiculus cordis, while the reverse is found to be the case among females; and the chest is longer in propor- tion to the other parts than in the female sex. The neck is short and thick; its length, from the chin to the jugulum, is only three inches ; the length of the sterno-mastoid muscle only six inches, while the breadth of the neck (in accommodation with the male proportions elsewhere observed) is four and a-half inches. The pomum Adami is largely developed; and the voice, which before the testicles appeared was soft and quite fe- minine, began at that period to undergo the change of moulting, and it has now assumed a somewhat graver and more masculine tone. The breasts also, which in early life were slightly elevated, have become, since the descent of the testes, much smaller and perfectly fiat. The perincEum. is masculine. The knees also present more of the male character, and the circumstance