OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 49 



SECTION I. 

 Of the External Parts of Generation. 



124. Under the title of external genital organs are generally com- 

 prehended the mons Veneris, the vulva, and the perineum. 



Mere appendages of the internal organs, these parts perform 

 only a secondary office in the great generative function; but during 

 the expulsion of the ovum, they undergo changes and are exposed 

 to dangers which render the exact knowledge of them very useful to 

 the physician-accoucheur. 



§. I. Of the Mons Teneris. 



125. The Mount of Venus {the sur-pubal eminence, pubes) is a 

 sort of relief formed by the soft parts that cover the front of the 

 pubis; it is principally composed of fat, fibrous filaments, and cel- 

 lular tissue. In fat women it is sometimes separated from the 

 belly by a transverse groove of considerable depth; the degree of 

 its projection also varies on the same account, but much more on 

 account of the projection of the bones which support it being differ- 

 ent in different subjects. 



126. The skin that covers it is very thick, elastic, not very ex- 

 tensible, and covered with hair in the adult; it contains a great 

 number of sebaceous follicles, and the whole represents a sort of 

 cushion, the uses of which are, according to many authors, connect- 

 ed with the business of copulation. The composition of the mons 

 Veneris very fully explains the violent pain which accompanies phleg- 

 monous inflammation of the part, and enables us to comprehend 

 why abscesses formed within it should be promptly opened. 



§. II. Of the liahia (labia pudendi externa). 



127. A sort of cutaneous folds which seem to result out of the 

 bifurcation of the lower part of the mons Veneris, the two labia sepa- 

 rate farther and farther from each other, for about half their length, 

 and then approach to be united again about an inch in front of the 

 anus, exhibiting two commissures, one superior or pubic, the other 

 inferior or perineal. Their external surface, formed by the skin of 

 the thighs, is, like the pubes, covered with hair, at puberty. Their 

 internal surface is smooth, glabrous, and of a rose color; a con- 

 siderable number of sebaceous or mucous follicles are observed 

 upon it. The accoucheur ought to be aware that the matter furnish- 

 ed by these follicles may become acrid, and irritating to such a de- 



