B. I.] THE HISTOET OF ANIMALS. 287 



small passage above the passage for the urine. "When, there- 

 fore, they desire sexual intercourse, this part is not in the 

 same condition as it was before. A falling down takes place 

 from this passage, and the fore part of the uterus becomes 

 much larger than the part where it falls into this passage. 

 This resembles the nostrils ; for, as the nostrils have a pas- 

 sage into the pharynx and into the external air, so this tube 

 has a very small and narrow passage, like a passage out for the 

 wind. That to the fore part of the uterus is wide and broad, 

 as the nostrils are to the external air between the mouth 

 and the pharynx. So women have a larger passage to the 

 fore part of the uterus, and wider than the external passage. 



9. Whatever conjecture is formed concerning these affec- 

 tions, it makes to the same conclusion, that the woman 

 also emits a seminal fluid. The same things arise from the 

 same cause, for to some it seems to be the cause of disease 

 or of death ; and these consider the end at the beginning 

 as it ought to be considered ; for to some women these are 

 important causes, to some of no importance ; and of these 

 causes some are and some are not of consequence. They 

 divide also in proportion the consequences which may result 

 from them. To some it happens to pass through all these 

 affections ; to those who have many, through many of them : 

 others through few ; and others, again, who have none, 

 through none of them. 



10. There are some persons who suffer from the affection 

 called inflation. This ought not to be. The affection is of 

 this kind. In copulation they neither evidently emit semen, 

 nor do they become pregnant. "Wherefore they are said to 

 be inflated. The excessive dryness of the uterus is the cause 

 of this complaint ; and when it has drawn the fluid into itself, 

 it ejects it again. This becomes dried up, and having become 

 small falls out, without any notice being taken of the circum- 

 stance on account of its size. When the uterus is violently 

 affected in this way, and becomes very dry, and ejects it 

 very soon, it is plain that pregnancy cannot take place. If 

 this does not take place very soon, impregnation appears for 

 a time to have taken place until it is ejected. The same 

 thing also takes place at times in those who have conceived 

 properly ; if a long time has elapsed, the uterus becomes 

 elevated, so that it plainly appears as if impregnation had 



