Intersex among Africans in Rhodesia.

According to a Greek myth, preserved for us in Ovid and recorded by Rose (1953), Hermaphroditus was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. A fountain nymph, Salmakis, who fell passionately in love with him, entreated the gods that she might be forever united with him, and her prayer was answered by the combination of lover and loved into a single being a hermaphrodite. By common usage the term hermaphrodite in man is loosely applied to individuals combining characteristics of both sexes. The 'true' hermaphrodite is one in whom both ovarian and testicular tissue are present. When both gonads are of one sex but anatomical characteristics of the other sex are present, the term pseudohermaphrodite is used. The number of schemes of classification of intersex that have been proposed is an index of the deficiencies in our understanding of the subject. Hermaphroditism is fortunately relatively uncommon, and 'true' hermaphrodites are rare. In his book Die Intersexualitdt Overzier (1961) lists 146 hermaphrodites recorded in the world literature since 1900. It is therefore of interest that no fewer than 8 (and possibly 9) true hermaphrodites have been investigated in Rhodesia-all but one in Harari Hospital-during the past four years. We previously reported 4 of these cases (Hammar and Forbes, 1962; Forbes, Clayden, and Hammar, 1962), 2 are awaiting publication, and at least 2 more are reported in this paper. Furthermore it has been brought to our notice that yet another case has been encountered at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo (W. Houston, 1963, personal communication). Pseudohermaphrodites are more common, and among 31 cases of intersex investigated over a period of 11 years in Copenhagen by Winkel Smith (1960) there were 17 male and 14 female pseudohermaphrodites and no 'true' hermaphrodites. Female pseudohermaphroditism is usually due to the adrenogenital syndrome, and 13 of Winkel Smith's 14 cases were of this type. In Rhodesia only 4 cases of pseudohermaphroditism have been seen by us, and we have