ON GENERATION. 479 



that fills its cavity and involves the caruncles, which, though 

 not larger than before, look whiter, and as if they had been 

 steeped in hot water, much as the nurse's nipple appears im- 

 mediately after the infant has quitted it. And now I have 

 not found it possible by any compression to force blood out of 

 the caruncles as before. 



Nothing can be softer, smoother, more delicate, than the 

 inner aspect of the uterus thus raised into tubers. It rivals 

 the ventricles of the brain in softness, so that without the in- 

 formation of the eye we should scarcely perceive by the finger 

 that we were touching anything. When the abdomen is laid 

 open immediately after the death of the animal, I have fre- 

 quently seen the uterus affected with a wavy and creeping 

 motion, such as is perceived in the lower part of a slug or 

 snail whilst it is moving, as if the uterus were an animal with- 

 in an animal, and possessed a proper and independent mo- 

 tion. I have frequently observed a movement of the same 

 kind as that just described in the intestines, whilst engaged 

 in vivisections ; and indeed such a motion can both be seen 

 and felt in the bodies of dogs and rabbits whilst they are alive 

 and uninjured. I have also observed a corresponding motion 

 in the testes and scrotum of men ; and I have even known 

 women upon whom, in their eagerness for offspring, such pal- 

 pitations have imposed. But whether the uterus in hysterical 

 females, by ascending, descending, and twisting, experiences 

 any such motion or not, I cannot take upon me to declare ; 

 and whether the brain, in its actions and conceptions, moves in 

 anything of a similar manner or not, though a point difficult of 

 investigation, I am inclined to look upon as one by no means 

 unworthy of being attempted. 



Shortly afterwards, the tubercular elevations of the inner 

 surface of the uterus that have been mentioned begin to 

 shrink ; it is as if, losing a quantity of moisture, they became 

 less plump. In some instances; indeed, though rarely, I have 

 observed something like purulent matter adhering to them, 

 such as is usually seen on the surface of wounds and ulcers 

 when they are digested, as it is said, they pour out smooth 

 and homogeneous pus. When I first saw this matter, I 

 doubted whether it was the semen of the male or not, or 

 a substance concocted from its purer portion. But as it was 



