186 



PHYSIOLOGY 



CHAP. 



soft and elastic. The greater vestibular or Bartholiri 's glands, are 

 morphologically equivalent to the bulbo-urethral or Cowper's 

 glands of the male which they resemble in form, size, and structure. 

 They possess an excretory duct 1 to 2 cm. long and 2 mm. wide, 

 which opens into the nympho-hymeneal depression at the lateral 

 border of the vaginal orifice. They secrete a viscous fluid like 

 mucus but which does not give the reactions of muein. 



Their secretion is controlled by the perivascular nervous plexuses 

 which proceed from the pudenda and excite a tumultuous ejacula- 

 tion during coitus or in consequence of masturbation. From the 



fact that the points of dis- 

 charge of these glands are 

 in the vaginal vestibule, one 

 may logically conclude that 

 their secretion has no other 

 function than to lubricate 

 the cutis of the penis during 

 coitus, and cannot have any 

 direct value in regard to the 

 essential physiological pro- 

 cess of conception. 



As regards the function 

 of the erectile organs of 

 woman, it is evidently analo- 

 gous to that of the corre- 

 sponding organs of man, 

 with this difference, how- 

 ever, that the erection of 

 the penis is a condition 

 indispensable for effecting 

 coitus, whilst the woman 

 may have connection with 

 all its consequences pas- 

 sively, without that exalta- 

 tion of nervous activity, 



both general and local, which determines erection and ejacula- 

 tion. The mechanism of erection of the external genital 

 organs of woman is exactly the same as that which we have 

 described in man. The erection of the clitoris and of the vesti- 

 bular bulbs in woman is also a reflex action determined by 

 sexual excitement of the higher senses, and specially by the 

 mechanical stimulation of the sensitive, vulvar and vaginal 

 surface produced by the introduction of the penis. The reflex 

 promotes the active dilatation of the afferent arteries of the erectile 

 organs and the consequent afflux of blood which causes them to 

 become turgid. The ischio-cavernosus and bulbo-cavernosus muscles 

 have in woman the same function as in man (Fig. 70), that is, they 



S~- r- 



FIG. 70. Superficial muscles of perineum in female. 

 (Chiarugi.) 1, ischio-cavernosus muscle; 2, bulbo- 

 cavernosus ; 3, transversus superflcialis perinaei ; 4, 

 external sphincter of anus ; 5, urogenital trigone, 

 under surface ; 6, levator ani. 



