ACTION OF THE FEMALE. 595 



no means necessary for effectual coition; since it is a fact well established, 

 that fruitful intercourse may take place, when the female is in a state of nar- 

 cotism, of somnambulism, or even of profound ordinary sleep. It has been 

 supposed by some, that the os uteri dilates, by a kind of reflex action, to receive 

 the semen; but of this there is no evidence. The introduction of a small 

 quantity of the fluid just within the Vagina, appears to be all that is absolutely 

 necessary for conception; for there are many cases on record, in which pivj- 

 nancy has occurred, in spite of the closure of the entrance to the vagina by a 

 strong membrane, in which but a very small aperture existed. That the Sper- 

 matozoa make their way towards the Ovarium, and fecundate the Ovum either 

 before it entirely quits the Ovisac or very shortly afterwards, appears to be the 

 general rule in regard to the Mammalia ; and the question naturally arises, 

 by what means do they arrive there ? It has been supposed that the action of 

 the cilia, which line the Fallopian tubes, might account for their transit ; but 

 the direction of this is from the Ovaria towards the Uterus, and would there- 

 fore be opposed to it. A peristaltic action of the Fallopian tubes themselves 

 may generally be noticed in animals killed soon after sexual intercourse ; and 

 in those which have a two-horned membranous Uterus, such as is evidently 

 but a dilatation of the Fallopian tube, this partakes of the same movement, as 

 may be well seen in the Rabbit : in animals, however, which have a single 

 Uterus with thicker walls (as in the Human female), it must evidently be una- 

 vailable. Among the tribes whose Ova are fertilized out of the body, the 

 power of movement inherent in the Spermatozoa is obviously the means by 

 which they are brought in contact with the Ova : and it does not seem unrea- 

 sonable to suppose, that the same is the case in regard to the higher classes ; 

 and that the transit of these curious particles, from the Vagina to the Ovaries, 

 is effected by the same kind of action as that which causes them to traverse 

 the field of the microscope. We shall now consider the changes in the Ovum 

 and its appendages, by which it is prepared for fecundation. 



744. Up to the period when the Ovum is nearly brought to maturity, it re- 

 mains in the centre of the Ovisac or inner layer of the Graafian follicle ; and 

 it is supported in its place by the Retinacula, which connect its Tunica Gra- 

 nulosa with the Membrana Granulosa that lines the ovisac. (See Fig. 6, Plate 

 I.). The Ovum then begins to move towards the periphery of the Graafian 

 follicle ; and always towards that point of it which is nearest the surface of 

 the Ovary. This movement appears to be due, in the first instance, to the 



elongated, being flat and bean-shaped. Their long diameter is from 5 to 10 lines; their 

 transverse diameter 2J to 4| lines, and they are from 2J to 3 lines thick. The excretory 

 duct is at the antorior edge of the superior part of the gland, and runs beneath the con- 

 strictor vaginse, horizontally forwards and inwards, to the inner face of the nympha, 

 opening in front of the carunculse myrtiformes, in the midst of a number of small mucous 

 follicles. These glands were first discovered by Duverney in the cow, about the middle 

 of the seventeenth century. Bartholinus subsequently found them in the human female, 

 and his observations were confirmed by Duverney, Morgagni, Santorini, Peyer, &c. 

 Haller denied their existence; and such structure seems to have been forgotten until 

 they were again described by Mr. Taylor (Dublin Journal, vol. xiii., 1838). They are 

 analogous to Cowper's glands in the male according to Tiedemann, and like them are 

 sometimes wanting, and differ in size. In advanced age they are said to diminish in 

 size, and even disappear. They are present in the females of all animals, where Cow- 

 per's glands exist in the males. They secrete a thick, tenacious, grayish-white fluid, 

 which is emitted in large quantities, at the termination of the sexual act, most likely from 

 the spasmodic contraciion of the constrictor vaginae muscle, under which they lie. Its 

 admixture with the male semen is supposed to probably have some connection with 

 impregnation, and it has been suggested that it may be the vehicle of the fecundating 

 principle of the semen. These glands were probably known to the ancients, and it is. 

 doubtless their secretion which Hippocrates and others describe as the female semen. 

 M. C.] 



