the women who enter this paradise must
first change their sex,--we might understand that, the genitals not
being needed in the eternal world, it might be considered a matter of
small moment to compel a man to go through this short and transient life
without them; but where a robust condition of the sexual organs is
suggested as one of the heavenly requisites, it would seem as if the
Turk would look upon the suffering, misery, and death that they cause,
in connection with the inhuman mutilation they inflict, with horror.
Doctrinal theology, whether in the East or West, is something
incomprehensible.

CHAPTER X.

HERMAPHRODISM AND HYPOSPADIAS.

There exists a class of human beings whose description is connected with
the subject of this work. They date back to mythological times, and the
confusion incident to the misapplication of names and the want of proper
observation on the part of the narrators has tended to carry the
uncertainty of their real existence to the present day. One reason that
this part of the subject would be incomplete without their description
is on account of the origin of their existence being intimately
connected with eunuchism, being, in fact, an outgrowth of this
condition; and any history of eunuchism would be but half told, without
the additional information concerning these persons.

Hermaphrodites, as stated, date back to mythology. Tradition tells us
that Hermaphroditus, a son of Venus and Mercury, was educated by the
Naiades dwelling on Mount Ida. At the age of fifteen years, he began his
travels; while resting in the cool shades on the woody banks of a
fountain and spring near Caira, he was approached by the presiding nymph
of the fountain, Talmacis, who, becoming enamored of him, attempted to
seduce him. Hermaphroditus, like Joseph, was the pattern and mirror of
continence, and would not be seduced. Talmacis then, like Potiphar's
wife, seized on the unlucky pattern of virtue, and prayed to the gods
that they should so amalgamate poor Hermaphroditus to her body as to
make them one. The prayer was heard on Olympus, and forthwith the two
became one, but with the distinctive characteristics of each sex
unchanged. Thus began that fabled race of the _androgynes_ of the
ancients. Another tradition, which is probably correct, affirms that
ancient Carnia, or Halicarnassus, was in those days the Baden-Baden of
Asia Minor; that thither repaired all the victims of gluttony,
debauchery, and