question, it would indicate that the male secretory balance in man does
not inhibit the female organs to the same extent that it apparently does
in the Free-Martin cattle. If established, the idea of "male dominance"
in the human species would be undermined in a new place. Such cases, if
they occur at all, are exceedingly rare, but are of theoretical
interest. We must not rush to conclusions, as the earlier sociologists
used to do. Such a case would require careful analysis. Its very
uniqueness would suggest that it may not be due to the ordinary causes
of hermaphroditism, but might arise from some obscure and unusual cause
such as the fusion of two embryos at a very early stage. The
biochemistry involved is so intricate and so little understood that any
deduction from the known facts would be purely speculative.]


Like the Free-Martin cattle, some accident has resulted in a mixture of
male and female characteristics. This accident occurs after a certain
amount of embryonic development has taken place under the influence of
the original predisposition of the fertilized egg. The delicate
secretory balance, so complex in man, is upset. With partially developed
organs of one type and with a blood-chemistry of the opposite one, some
curious results follow, as the illustrative plates in Dr Bell's book
show.

It should be remembered that sex in higher mammals is of the whole body,
and depends upon all the secretions. Hence an accident to one of the
other glands may upset the balance as well as one to the sex glands
themselves. For example, 15% of Neugebauer's[22] cases of female tubular
partial hermaphroditism had abnormal growths in the suprarenals.

Thus in the human species, it is possible for one type of sex glands to