Hermaphroditic malformation of the external genital organs in the female, with remarks upon the so-called "transverse hermaphroditism" / by John Yule Mackay.

John Yule Mackay

Date:: [1886]

Credit: Hermaphroditic malformation of the external genital organs in the female, with remarks upon the so-called "transverse hermaphroditism" / by John Yule Mackay. 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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$Hermaphroditic Malformation of the External Genital Organs in the Female, with remarks upon the so-called Transverse Hermaphroditism. By John Yule Mackay, M.D., Senior Demonstrator of Anatomy, University of Glasgow. <L [Read before the Society, 12th May, 1886.] The appearances about to be detailed were presented by a foetus of about the eighth month of intra-uterine life, kindly put in my possession by Dr. George Dickson. The special abnormality met with is interesting as belonging to a class of malformations which are but rarely seen, viz., the so-called transverse hermaphrodi- tism, in which the external organs belong more properly to the male sex, while the internal appertain to the female. But the individual case to be described is peculiarly noteworthy on account of its extreme simplicity as compared with others classified under this heading, and standing, as it does, almost half-way between what is usually described as spurious hermaphroditism and those complicated cases in which the external organs are entirely male, it affords a very simple explanation of the latter. So far as I have been able to determine, no case showing a similar arrange- ment of parts has as yet been reported. The foetus is about 14 inches in length. The skin over the whole body is greatly thickened and is thrown into rough folds and wrinkles. The hands and feet are clubbed, and the fingers are reduced in number to four upon the left side, and on the right side to three. Examination of the external genital organs shows the following arrangement of parts:—a penis slightly over an inch in length and about half-an-inch in diameter, and behind the penis a longitudinal groove or furrow extending backwards to the anus, which opens into its posterior angle. The penis is perforated at its extremity by a longitudinal slit of \ of an inch in length. The extremity of the organ or glans is slightly thicker than the rest, but is marked i off by no fold of skin corresponding to a prepuce. The skin over i the whole organ is rough and thick, similar in this respect to the rest of the cutaneous surface of the body. The groove behind the$