Case of Precocious Development of the Sexual System in a Fe-
male Child. By Charles Wilson, M. D., of New Berlin,
Union Co., Pa.
In Nov. 1850, while residing at Selin’s Grove, in this county,
I was called several miles into the country, at night, to see a
case of croup. After the little sufferer was relieved and I was
about to depart, the mother of the child requested me to prescribe
for a daughter who had been in ill health for several weeks, on
account of a suppression of the menses. I replied that as it de-
pended altogether upon the state or condition of health her
daughter was in, it would be necessary for me to see
her before I could prescribe an appropriate remedy. She then
stated that her daughter was not yet six years old, and was so
bashful that I could get nothing out of her, nor would she
remain in my presence. On my naturally expressing much sur-
prise at what she related, and in answer to my earnest questions,
the mother gave me the following history of her daughter’s case:
Mary Ann G------- was born in March, 1845. There was
nothing remarkable observed in the child at birth, but the unu-
sual size of the mammae, which were “ as large as hen’s eggs
they increased rapidly, and at the fifth month had attained the
size of a girl at puberty. The mother at this time noticed the
child’s diaper stained with blood, and upon examination, ascer-
tained that it proceeded from the genitals. This discharge con-
tinued two days. In five months subsequently,—the tenth month
of her age,—this discharge reappeared and continued for three
days. After this it came on every three months, until she was
four years old, when it did not appear at the accustomed time.
The child fell into bad health and had the usual ailings of females
laboring under a suppression. After using various remedies, she
was again regular at the seventh month from the first period,
when she immediately regained her former good health. Her
menses, however, have since then appeared only every seven
months ; they continue, and have done so for several years, five
days. Now, however, her time to be regulated has passed for
some weeks without a show, and she again suffers bad health,
for which I am consulted.
On expressing an anxious desire to the father to see and ex-
amine the child, he gratified me by leading the way to her cham-
ber, where she lay on her bed asleep, and completely exposed
her. She was about the ordinary stature of children of her age,
but unusually heavy set and fat. Her breasts were about the
size of a well developed adult virgin’s, of which her father said
she used to feel very proud, and take boastful airs on herself
with her little playmates, but latterly has become shy and avoids
any notice of or allusion to them by others. The pudendum was
thinly covered with black hair, and altogether she presented the
appearance of a girl after the age of puberty.
In answer to my interrogatory, whether she ever manifested
any amorous predilections for the other sex, the father replied
that he had observed none.
I prescribed for this anomalous little creature, but heard
nothing more of her, as her parents shortly afterwards removed
to another and more distant residence.