Quite recently there was exhibited in the museums of the United States an individual bearing the name "Laloo," who was born in Oudh, India, and was the second of four children. At the time of examination he was about nineteen years of age. The upper portion of a parasite was firmly attached to the lower right side of the sternum of the individual by a bony pedicle, and lower by a fleshy pedicle, and apparently contained intestines. The anus of the parasite was imperforate; a well-developed penis was found, but no testicles; there was a luxuriant growth of hair on the pubes. The penis of the parasite was said to show signs of erection at times, and urine passed through it without the knowledge of the boy. Perspiration and elevation of temperature seemed to occur simultaneously in both. To pander to the morbid curiosity of the curious, the "Dime Museum" managers at one time shrewdly clothed the parasite in female attire, calling the two brother and sister; but there is no doubt that all the traces of sex were of the male type. An analogous case was that of "A-Ke," a Chinaman, who was exhibited in London early in the century, and of whom and his parasite anatomic models are seen in our museums. Figure 58 represents an epignathus, a peculiar type parasitic monster, in which the parasite is united to the inferior maxillary bone of the autosite.
CLASS IX.—Of "Lusus naturae" none is more curious than that of duplication of the lower extremities. Pare says that on January 9, 1529, there was living in Germany a male infant having four legs and four arms. In Paris, at the Academie des Sciences, on September 6, 1830, there was presented by Madame Hen, a midwife, a living male child with four legs, the anus being nearly below the middle of the third buttock; and the scrotum between the two left thighs, the testicles not yet descended. There was a well-formed and single pelvis, and the supernumerary legs were immovable. Aldrovandus mentions several similar instances, and gives the figure of one born in Rome; he also describes several quadruped birds. Bardsley speaks of a male child with one head, four arms, four legs, and double generative organs. He gives a portrait of the child when it was a little over a year old. Heschl published in Vienna in 1878 a description of a girl of seventeen, who instead of having a duplication of the superior body, as in "Millie-Christine, the two-headed nightingale," had double parts below the second lumbar vertebra. Her head and upper body resembled a comely, delicate girl of twelve.
Wells a describes Mrs. B., aged twenty, still alive and healthy. The duplication in this case begins just above the waist, the spinal column dividing at the third lumbar vertebra, below this point everything being double. Micturition and defecation occur at different times, but menstruation occurs simultaneously. She was married at nineteen, and became pregnant a year later on the left side, but abortion was induced at the fourth month on account of persistent nausea and the expectation of impossible delivery. Whaley, in speaking of this case, said Mrs. B. utilized her outside legs for walking; he also remarks that when he informed her that she was pregnant on the left side she replied, "I think you are mistaken; if it had been on my right side I would come nearer believing it;"—and after further questioning he found, from the patient's observation, that her right genitals were almost invariably used for coitus. Bechlinger of Para, Brazil, describes a woman of twenty-five, a native of Martinique, whose father was French and mother a quadroon, who had a modified duplication of the lower body. There was a third leg attached to a continuation of the processus coceygeus of the sacrum, and in addition to well developed mammae regularly situated, there were two rudimentary ones close together above the pubes. There were two vaginae and two well-developed vulvae, both having equally developed sensations. The sexual appetite was markedly developed, and coitus was practised in both vaginae. A somewhat similar case, possibly the same, is that of Blanche Dumas, born in 1860. She had a very broad pelvis, two imperfectly developed legs, and a supernumerary limb attached to the symphysis, without a joint, but with slight passive movement. There was a duplication of bowel, bladder, and genitalia. At the junction of the rudimentary limb with the body, in front, were two rudimentary mammary glands, each containing a nipple.
Other instances of supernumerary limbs will be found in Chapter VI.
CLASS X.—The instances of diphallic terata, by their intense interest to the natural bent of the curious mind, have always elicited much discussion. To many of these cases have been attributed exaggerated function, notwithstanding the fact that modern observation almost invariably shows that the virile power diminishes in exact proportion to the extent of duplication. Taylor quotes a description of a monster, exhibited in London, with two distinct penises, but with only one distinct testicle on either side. He could exercise the function of either organ.
Schenck, Schurig, Bartholinus, Loder, and Ollsner report instances of diphallic terata; the latter case a was in a soldier of Charles VI, twenty-two years old, who applied to the surgeon for a bubonic affection, and who declared that he passed urine from the orifice of the left glans and also said that he was incapable of true coitus. Valentini mentions an instance in a boy of four, in which the two penises were superimposed. Bucchettoni speaks of a man with two penises placed side by side. There was an anonymous case described of a man of ninety-three with a penis which was for more than half its length divided into two distinct members, the right being somewhat larger than the left. From the middle of the penis up to the symphysis only the lower wall of the urethra was split. Jenisch describes a diphallic infant, the offspring of a woman of twenty-five who had been married five years. Her first child was a well-formed female, and the second, the infant in question, cried much during the night, and several times vomited dark-green matter. In lieu of one penis there were two, situated near each other, the right one of natural size and the left larger, but not furnished with a prepuce. Each penis had its own urethra, from which dribbled urine and some meconium. There was a duplication of each scrotum, but only one testicle in each, and several other minor malformations.
Gore, reported by Velpeau, has seen an infant of eight and one-half months with two penises and three lower extremities. The penises were 4 cm. apart and the scrotum divided, containing one testicle in each side. Each penis was provided with a urethra, urine being discharged from both simultaneously. In a similar case, spoken of by Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire, the two organs were also separate, but urine and semen escaped sometimes from one, sometimes from both.
The most celebrated of all the diphallic terata was Jean Baptista dos Santos, who when but six months old was spoken of by Acton. His father and mother were healthy and had two well-formed children. He was easily born after an uneventful pregnancy. He was good-looking, well proportioned, and had two distinct penises, each as large as that of a child of six months. Urination proceeded simultaneously from both penises; he had also two scrotums. Behind and between the legs there was another limb, or rather two, united throughout their length. It was connected to the pubis by a short stem 1/2 inch long and as large as the little finger, consisting of separate bones and cartilages. There was a patella in the supernumerary limb on the anal aspect, and a joint freely movable. This compound limb had no power of motion, but was endowed with sensibility. A journal in London, after quoting Acton's description, said that the child had been exhibited in Paris, and that the surgeons advised operation. Fisher, to whom we are indebted for an exhaustive work in Teratology, received a report from Havana in July, 1865, which detailed a description of Santos at twenty-two years of age, and said that he was possessed of extraordinary animal passion, the sight of a female alone being sufficient to excite him. He was said to use both penises, after finishing with one continuing with the other; but this account of him does not agree with later descriptions, in which no excessive sexual ability had been noticed. Hart describes the adult Santos in full, and accompanies his article with an illustration. At this time he was said to have developed double genitals, and possibly a double bladder communicating by an imperfect septum. At adulthood the anus was three inches anterior to the os coceygeus. In the sitting or lying posture the supernumerary limb rested on the front of the inner surface of the lower third of his left thigh. He was in the habit of wearing this limb in a sling, or bound firmly to the right thigh, to prevent its unseemly dangling when erect. The perineum proper was absent, the entire space between the anus and the posterior edge of the scrotum being occupied by the pedicle. Santos' mental and physical functions were developed above normal, and he impressed everybody with his accomplishments. Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire records an instance in which the conformation was similar to that of Santos. There was a third lower extremity consisting of two limbs fused into one with a single foot containing ten distinct digits. He calls the case one of arrested twin development.
Van Buren and Keyes describe a case in a man of forty-two, of good, healthy appearance. The two distinct penises of normal size were apparently well formed and were placed side by side, each attached at its root to the symphysis. Their covering of skin was common as far as the base of the glans; at this point they seemed distinct and perfect, but the meatus of the left was imperforate. The right meatus was normal, and through it most of the urine passed, though some always dribbled through an opening in the perineum at a point where the root of the scrotum should have been. On lifting the double-barreled penis this opening could be seen and was of sufficient size to admit the finger. On the right side of the aperture was an elongated and rounded prominence similar in outline to a labium majus. This prominence contained a testicle normal in shape and sensibility, but slightly undersized, and surrounded, as was evident from its mobility, by a tunica vaginalis. The left testicle lay on the tendon of the adductor longus in the left groin; it was not fully developed, but the patient had sexual desires, erections, and emissions. Both penises became erect simultaneously, the right more vigorously. The left leg was shorter than the right and congenitally smaller; the mammae were of normal dimensions.
Sangalli speaks of a man of thirty-five who had a supernumerary penis, furnished with a prepuce and capable of erection. At the apex of the glans opened a canal about 12 cm. long, through which escaped monthly a serous fluid. Smith mentions a man who had two penises and two bladders, on one of which lithotomy was performed. According to Ballantyne, Taruffi, the scholarly observer of terata, mentions a child of forty-two months and height of 80 cm. who had two penises, each furnished with a urethra and well-formed scrotal sacs which were inserted in a fold of the groin. There were two testicles felt in the right scrotum and one in the left. Fecal evacuations escaped through two anal orifices. There is also another case mentioned similar to the foregoing in a man of forty; but here there was an osseous projection in the middle line behind the bladder. This patient said that erection was simultaneous in both penises, and that he had not married because of his chagrin over his deformity. Cole speaks of a child with two well-developed male organs, one to the left and the other to the right of the median line, and about 1/4 or 1/2 inch apart at birth. The urethra bifurcated in the perineal region and sent a branch to each penis, and urine passed from each meatus. The scrotum was divided into three compartments by two raphes, and each compartment contained a testicle. The anus at birth was imperforate, but the child was successfully operated on, and at its sixtieth day weighed 17 pounds.