A hermaphrodite born in Umbria during the consulship of Messalus and C. Lucinius was condemned to death, as well as was the one born at Luna during the consulship of L. Matellus and Q. Fabius Maximus. Debierre states that in the reign of Nero this barbarous custom was discontinued, as this emperor admired these freaks of nature from their novelty, as it is related that his chariot was drawn by four hermaphroditic horses.[44]
In connection with hermaphrodism it has been shown that the males who have been supposed to be so malformed were really, in most instances, but cases of hypospadias. It may not be uninteresting to observe that, while during nearly four thousand years circumcision has been practiced without the habit or condition ever having become transmissible or hereditary, hypospadias has shown a decided tendency to being transmitted. In Virchow's _Archives_, Lesser reports having treated eight subjects during one generation in a family.[45] Fodéré records the case of hypospadias reported by Schweikard, in a person of forty-nine years of age, whose urethral orifice was near the junction of the penis and scrotum, but who, nevertheless, had three fine children. The same author records the remarkable case reported by Hunter to the Royal Society of London, also so deformed, who successfully impregnated his wife by receiving the spermatic fluid in a warm spoon and immediately injecting it into the vagina.[46] Another interesting case is taken from _L'Union Médicale_ of August 26, 1856. It instances both the heredity connected with hypospadias and the peculiar circumstances under which impregnation at times takes place; it is reported by Dr. Trexel, of Kremsier, and is as follows: "On April 1, 1856, a newborn infant was brought to Dr. Trexel, that he might determine its sex. The father and mother were servants of a peasant. On an examination of the alleged father, he was found to have all the external characters of a male; the urethra, which was rather shorter than ordinary, but of large size, was imperforate; the scrotum was divided into two pouches, each containing a testicle. The apposed surfaces of the scrotal pouches were covered with a red skin, and the division extended through their entire length. At the root of the penis, in the anterior angle of these pouches, was an opening of the size of a lentil; this was the orifice of the urethra. The lower surface of the penis was grooved from the above-mentioned orifice to the end of the glans. There was no prepuce. Almost in a line behind the corona of the glans, and in the groove, were two elliptical openings, which readily admitted a large hog-bristle; there was a third smaller opening two lines from the orifice of the urethra. This man had always passed for a woman. He lay in the same room with the mother of the child; and they acknowledged having had frequent connection. The woman declared that she had had no commerce with any other man for three years, and the man did not deny this assertion. The idea of cohabitation with another man was further negatived by the circumstance that the infant had the same conformation of the genital organs as the father. How did fecundation take place? The three openings in the penis were probably the orifices of the excretory ducts of Cowper's glands. But might not these have been the openings of the ejaculatory ducts? It is to be regretted that Dr. Trexel did not examine these canals; their length and direction would have thrown light on the subject. The fact of fecundation may also be explained by supposing that during coition the posterior wall of the vagina supplied the place of the absent floor of the urethra, thus forming a complete canal. This is the most probable explanation."[47]