53 OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 



uvula, and which represents, on a small scale, the penis of the male. 

 In the clitoris are distinguishable a loose extremity, round, and of 

 an acorn shape, and a body which is attached by two roots to the 

 ischio-pubic rami ; but it has not a canal as is the case in the male 

 yard. A fold of skin covers it, serves as a prepuce, and then 

 proceeds to disappear in each of the lesser labia, of which it seems 

 to be the root. 



138. During the first months of uterine life, the clitoris is as long 

 and large as the penis ; at birth its dimensions are still considerable. 

 But from that time it ceases to grow, if it does not even diminish, 

 so that at the age of puberty it is in general not more than four or 

 five lines in length. There are, however, some women in whom it 

 obtains a much greater development. It has been, on some occa- 

 sions, seen to reach the length of from one to five inches ; in such 

 cases it scarcely diflfers from its analogue in the other sex. 



137. Such a disposition as the above, is further remarkable, inas- 

 much as it coincides with certain characteristics which have even 

 led to the belief, that individuals of such conformation belonged to 

 neither sex peculiarly ; that is to say, these women generally have 

 very small breasts, hard features, a beard, and a temper which leads 

 them to prefer labor and occupations foreign to the pursuits of the 

 sex. They are stout women, and are fond of procuring illicit en- 

 joyments with persons of their own sex. In a word, such are the 

 individuals who have generally given rise to the questions relative to 

 hermaphrodism. 



138. Such is the intimate structure of the clitoris, that during 

 coition, the blood accumulates within, swells it, and occasions its 

 erection ; the delicate membrane that invests it, being of the same 

 nature as that of the nymphae, and very sensitive, it has in conse- 

 quence been concluded, that with nymphae it is the chief seat of vene- 

 real pleasure. The clitoris rarely exhibits any morbid affections; but 

 as its size, when excessive, may incommode during copulation, and 

 as its uses are not very essential, it has in several instances been sub- 

 jected to the operation of amputation. 



§. V. Of the Vestibule. 



139. Circumscribed by the clitoris, the inner face of the nym- 

 phae, and the meatus urinarius, the vestibule is a small triangular 

 space, depressed, corresponding to the upper part of the arch of the 

 pubis, through which Celsus and M. Lisfranc have recommended 

 that the bladder should be opened, for the purpose of extracting the 

 stone in females, and which performs no special function relative to 

 generation. 



