Though one may be informed of a Matter which in itself is really Fact, yet if an Absurdity should arise in the Narration, it would be laudable to enquire whether it is to be ascribed to the Relater or to the Thing told; but as there is nothing which, when true, can admit of any Absurdity, there is therefore the greater Right to be discontented with what is not easily understood; and it would even amount to a Crime to neglect taking Notice of such Accounts, especially if any Thing monstrous or improbable is blended with them. Shall we, for Example, sit down with some Authors, and say, that Hares[2] are always of both Sexes; that the Rhinoceros[3] is always Male; that the Vulture[4] is always Female; that of all Animals[5], Goats, Sheep, Horses, Men, and Hares, are most liable to become Hermaphrodites? and shall we go on to copy or quote them in a Strain of Approbation? no; rather let us examine them thoroughly, lest by assenting to any Part of them, that does not square with Nature and Reason, we shall find our Judgments very deservedly arraigned, and the sagacious Part of the World much displeased.
The constant Application of some great Men, (with whom this Island formerly has been, and is, at present, blessed) to the Study of Physical Affairs, is a glorious Example to encourage all younger Students to imitate their Steps, in the Pursuit of natural Knowledge, and, consequently, the publick Good, according to the different Turns of Mind, and those Studies that most delight them. Would such attain to a true Notion of the Animal Structure? let the Labours and Example of those great Anatomists Douglas[6], Cheselden[7], Nichols[8], and Nesbit[9], be their Guides. Would their Curiosity expand itself in the general Field of Natural History? Sir Hans Sloane shews of this to form inimitable Scenes. Or would they endeavour to bring Physiological Learning into a clear Light by Dint of mechanical Reasoning, the celebrated Mead[10] and learned Stuart[11], with many others of our most honourable College, point out the way: would they, in fine, dive into mathematical Streams, the certain Directors to Truth, how many Examples of this Sort, as well as of those already mentioned, can our Royal Society, the most famous in the learned World, produce.
All these are the Stars directing to the Haven of Science here, whom, if observed with Attention, it is no wonder if their Followers emulate to overturn Errors, and undeceive the Crowd that is hurried along through Mazes and Labyrinths of Misrepresentations, to hunt out the Truth, which is often very intricately environed round with dark Veils of Ignorance or Superstition.
Such were the Motives and Considerations that prompted me to endeavour to wrest, from the Jaws of Scandal and Reproach, poor human Nature, which has, from Time to Time, suffered great Disgrace, and many of whose innocent Children have been punished, and even put to Death, for having been reputed Hermaphrodites; Ignorance of the Fabrick of the Body has been the first great Occasion of those Evils, destroying Evils, which exist not only amongst the most ignorant Americans, but also amongst the Litterati themselves in other Parts of the World.
What, but Ignorance or Superstition, could perswade Men to imagine, that poor human Creatures (which were only distorted in some particular Part, or had any thing unusual appearing about them, from some morbid Cause affecting them, either in the Uterus, or after their Births) were Prodigies or Monsters in Nature? What, but Ignorance and Superstition, could urge Men to make Laws for their Destruction or Exclusion from the common Benefits of Life? in fine, what, but these very Causes, could make several harsh Laws continue still in Force against them in many Places, which suppose those Women that happen to be Macroclitorideæ, to be capable of exercising the Functions of either Sex, with regard to Generation; and, further, restrain them under severe Penalties to stick to that Sex only which they should choose? as if poor Women could exercise the Part of any other Sex but their own.
The Romans, soon after the Foundation of their City, had Laws made against their Androgyni remarkably severe; for whensoever a Child was reputed one of these, his Sentence was to be shut up in a Chest alive, and thrown into the Sea[12], which was as often put in Execution as any of these unfortunate Children were discovered. The Inhabitants about the Gulph of Florida[13] hold them also in great Contempt, believing them to be something so evil as not to deserve the Comforts of Life; and though they do not destroy them yet they deal as badly by them, for when they go to make War, as many of these supposed Hermaphrodites as can be found are obliged to carry their Provisions; they are also compelled to bear the Dead, and those sick of malignant Diseases, to proper Places, and attend them under very rigorous Circumstances.
Nothing is more certain, than that the Causes above-mentioned have had no small Share in the propagating a Belief among the People of their Existence; and this appears by a Custom, that long prevailed amongst the Pagans in Italy, who, upon the Birth of such Children, as were thought Hermaphrodites, always consulted their Religious and Wise-Men[14] what to do with them. A remarkable Instance of this Kind happened in a Town in Campania in Italy, called Frusino, where a Child being born of a monstrous Size, and another at Sinuessa whose Sex was doubtful, insomuch, that they could neither judge it Male nor Female, it was laid before the Magistrates, who immediately sent for some of the Aurispices, out of Hetruria, and they pronounced it, ‘Fædum ac turpe prodigium[15],’ whereupon it was thrown into the Sea according to the aforesaid Law. But this was not enough, for as by the Superstition of these Soothsayers and the Pontifices, such Children were thought to portend some Evil, there was a Ceremony that always succeeded their Destruction, which was performed by twenty-seven Virgins, who marched in Procession, singing about the City, and offered Sacrifices to Juno, to avert the Evil which they imagined was boded by the Child’s Birth.
This happened many Times afterwards in Italy; and even the Christian Emperor Constantine, according to Eusebius[16], made Laws against them; for about this Time the River Nile not flowing so much over the Lands as usual, the Blame was laid to their Androgyni who worshipped and bathed in it amongst the People; whereupon the Law made against them was, that they should be looked upon as a spurious Breed, and destroyed[17].