364 OF CONCEPTION 



NOTES. 



(A) The important contents of this and the preceding para- 

 graph demand farther attention. 



Several questions occur. 1. What is the state of the female 

 organs during the vehemence of desire ? 2. How far does the 

 semen masculinum penetrate ? 3. Do the Graafian vesicles burst 

 from the influence of the semen masculinum, or from mere 

 excitement, the semen impregnating only the contents of the 

 vesicles after their escape from the ovaria ? 4. At what period do 

 the Graafian vesicles burst ? 



1. Mr. Cruikshank, on inspecting the genitals of a female 

 rabbit during heat, observed appearances nearly similar to those 

 described by Harvey, Graaf, Ruysch, Diembroeck, &c.* He 

 found them all prodigiously turgid with blood j the vagina was 

 absolutely of a dark mulberry colour, and on the ovaria were 

 prominent spots which injection proved to be vascular and which 

 were swollen Graafian vesicles ; the contents of the vesicles, 

 however, remained transparent : the Fallopian tubes were also 

 nearly black, writhing in an extraordinary manner, having a 

 strong peristaltic motion, and embracing the ovaria with their 

 fimbriated extremity so closely as to lacerate on an attempt to 

 disengage them.f These observations were all confirmed by 

 Mr. Saumarez. J During copulation, this state of the organs 

 must be carried to the highest pitch of intensity. 



2. Harvey could never detect semen in the uterus after copu- 

 lation^ Nor De Graaf in the vagina. || Verheyen found a large 

 quantity in the uterus of a cow, six hours after copulation.** 

 Galen always discovered it in the uterus of brutes after copu- 



* Boerhaave, Preelectinnes Academicte, with Haller's notes. T.vi. p. 113 sq. 



f Philos. Trans. 1797. 



J A new system of Physiology, tyc. Vol. i. p. 337. 



Harvey, De Generatione. p. 228, &c. 



|| Regn. De Graaf. T. i. 310. 



** Verheyen, Sup. Anal, tract. 5. cap. 3. 



