34:0 GENERATION. 



neck. Despres mentions a fluid secreted by glands in the cer- 

 vix uteri, which is ejaculated during the orgasm and f acili 

 tates the entrance of spermatozoids. 1 Most writers of the pres- 

 ent day admit that, during the height of the orgasm, there is 

 an ejaculation from the uterus of a small amount of alkaline 

 mucus. 2 That an erection of the cervix, followed by sudden re- 

 laxation and opening of the os, may occur, cannot be doubted, 

 and there is no evidence of a muscular action in the uterus 

 sufficient to project this fluid forcibly, as the semen is dis- 

 charged by the male. Assuming that the views just stated 

 be correct, we can readily understand how the neck may be 

 erected and hardened during the orgasm, extruding an alka- 

 line mucus, that the semen is ejaculated forcibly toward the 

 uterus and becomes mixed with the mucus, and that the sud- 

 den relaxation of the cervix and opening of the os may exert 

 a force of aspiration, and thus draw in the fecundating ele- 

 ments. Certain it is that spermatozoids may be found in the 

 mucus of the cervix a very short time after coitus. It is pos- 

 sible, also, that the sexual connection may be occasionally 

 even more intimate, and that a portion of the glans penis 

 may be actually embraced by the dilated cervix, though this 

 must be unusual. This latter idea of the establishment of a 

 "continuous canal" during intercourse is one that was ad- 

 vanced by many of the older writers. 



Rather a strong argument in favor of the view that the 

 spermatozoids are imprisoned, as it were, in the cervical mu- 

 cus soon after ejaculation, is the fact that vaginal injections 

 immediately after intercourse, which are frequently resorted 

 to to prevent conception, often fail to produce the desired 

 result, even when they are so thorough as to wash out the 

 vagina completely. 



"While we must accept as probable the view that the ute- 



1 DESPRES, Traite iconograpMque de Vulceration et des ulceres du col de I'uterus, 

 Paris, 1870, p. 19, et scq. 



2 WERNICH, Ueber die ' Erectionsfahigkeit des unteren Uterusabschnittes und 

 ihre Bedeutung. Bdtrage zur Geburtshulfe und G-ynakologie, Berlin, 1872, Bd. 

 i., S. 301. 



