Though in _Ovid_'s _Metamorphosis_, _Salmacis_'s being in Love with
_Hermaphroditus_, and not succeeding in her amorous Wishes, her praying
to the Gods to join their Bodies in one, has no Weight in it; yet, that
the Notions of Hermaphrodites are not entirely fictitious, I need only
mention the Servant of _Montuus_, who took his Hermaphrodite to be a
Male when he lay with his Maids, and for a Female when she lay with her
Husband to propagate their Species, the two Hermaphrodites of
_Licetus_, and the Story of _Ausonius_, which he relates of an
Hermaphrodite of _Bonavento_ in _Italy_; and Histories are full of
Confirmations, that many Persons in the World have had the privy Parts
of both Sexes.
For the Definition of the Word Sex, it is no other than a Distinction of
Male and Female, in which this is most observable, that for the Parts of
the Body, there is but little Difference between them; but the Females
are colder than the Males, and abound with more superfluous Moisture;
wherefore their spermatick Parts are more soft and humid, and all their
natural Actions more vigorous than those of Men: But Hermaphrodites are
a mixture of both Sexes, and to both incompleat.
In all Ages Hermaphrodites have been talk'd of, though particular
Vouchers have been many times wanting, which is generally the Case
where a Deficiency of the Secrets of Nature is to be detected; the
amorous Parts are certainly more valuable than any other principal Parts
of the Body, as they afford the greatest pleasure of Life; and there is
always the greatest Difficulty attends the Discoveries of Impotency,
(which is less obnoxious) and nothing but the Force of the Law executed
by a lascivious Female, in the State of Matrimony, will occasion a
Record of a want of Substance for the amorous Adventure.
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