GENERATION. 



439 



the surface of the body ; hut a more suitable 

 arrangement of these organs in a functional 

 point of view is that which is founded on the 

 part which each of them is destined to perform 

 in the generative act. The male organs consist 

 of the penis and urethra, testicles, seminal vesi- 

 cles, seminal ducts, prostatic body , and Cowper's 

 glands: the female organs, of the vulva, clitoris 

 and nymphse, vagina, uterus, Fallopian tubes, 

 and ovaries. The testicles in the male and the 

 ovaries in the female are the productive organs, 

 secreting or forming by an organic process the 

 product of each respective sex ; the vasa defe- 

 rentia and vesiculae seminales conduct and 

 retain for a time the seminal fluid ; the Fallo- 

 pian tubes conduct downwards the ovum from 

 the ovary to the uterus ; the uterus receives 

 and retains the ovum during pregnancy or the 

 formation of the child. These constitute the 

 internal organs ; the remaining parts are the 

 external organs, and are chiefly connected with 

 sexual union or the expulsion of the products 

 from the body. The glans penis, the clitoris, 

 and the neighbouring parts are the seat of that 

 feeling which accompanies the venereal act: 

 the penis, with its urethra, serves to conduct 

 the seminal fluid into the vagina and uterus of 

 the female : the vagina, besides receiving the 

 seminal fluid, is the issue for the child when 

 it is expelled from the uterus in parturition. 



Puberty. It is only during a stated period 

 of life that animals are capable of reproduction. 

 In infancy, youth, and old age the functions 

 of the sexual organs are in abeyance. The 

 name of puberty is given to that period of life 

 at which either sex first becomes capable of re- 

 production, at which time various important 

 structural and functional changes occur both 

 in the sexual organs and in the whole eco- 

 nomy. 



These changes are upon the whole more 

 marked in the female than in the male, a cir- 

 cumstance which may be attributed to the 

 longer and more intimate connexion of the 

 female with the product ; the maternal parent 

 affording a supply of nourishment to the child 

 during the whole of its intra-uterine life, while 

 the male does no more than furnish momenta- 

 rily a small quantity of the seminal fluid 

 necessary for fecundation. 



Structural differences of the sexes. In in- 

 fancy and youth the two sexes do not differ 

 materially in the general shape of the body, 

 nor in physical powers ; but as the age of 

 puberty approaches, and the sexual organs 

 undergo those changes which fit them for the 

 performance of their appropriate functions, the 

 male and female bodies become altered in 

 form, and acquire a more marked difference, 

 while the mental and physical powers also par- 

 take of this discrepancy. 



We shall do no more than mention here the 

 most striking of these peculiarities, as a more 

 detailed account of them belongs to another 

 place. 



Besides these differences which belong im- 

 mediately to the sexual conformation, the com- 

 paratively broader shoulders and wider chest 

 of the male, and the larger pelvis and ab- 



domen of the female, are universally known 

 as constituting the chief peculiarities in the 

 general contour of the body. The smaller size 

 of the whole body in the female, amounting 

 in general to a tenth of the whole height, the 

 greater slenderness of the female frame, the less 

 prominence of the muscles, the more tapering 

 and rounded shape of the limbs, the greater 

 quantity of fat under the skin and elsewhere, 

 the smaller, smoother, and finer bones, and 

 the more delicate texture of some other parts 

 of the body, are all peculiarities of female 

 conformation contrasting with the opposite 

 qualities in the male body. As belonging 

 to the male may be mentioned the low and 

 rough voice from the larger size of the larynx 

 and longer vocal cords,* the occurrence of 

 hair on the chin, upper lip, and cheeks, as 

 well as over the body and limbs, in which 

 situations it is rarely met with in the female, 

 the greater physical power and activity, capa- 

 bility of enduring fatigue and daring, &c. 



As these changes in either sex are gradually 

 developed, hair grows on the skin covering the 

 symphysis pubis, in the neighbourhood of the 

 genital organs, t and later under the axillae. 



The local changes attendant upon puberty 

 in the male are the enlargement of the penis, 

 its more frequent erection, and accompaniment 

 of this by the sexual feeling ; the enlargement 

 of the testicles, vesiculae seminales, prostatic 

 gland, and other accessory parts; the more 

 depending condition of the testicles in the 

 scrotum ; the secretion of a certain quantity 

 of the seminal and prostatic fluids ; and, after 

 the attainment of the full sexual powers, the 

 occasional spontaneous emission of some of 

 the seminal fluid, occurring in general at night 

 during sleep, and being accompanied by some 

 sexual feeling in dreams. 



In the female at this period, both external 

 and internal organs undergo a considerable 

 and rapid enlargement ; the mons veneris and 

 external labia become more full ; the clitoris 

 and nymphae in many, but not in all, become 

 susceptible of a certain degree of swelling or 

 erection ; the breasts enlarge, the vesicles in 

 the ovaries become dilated, and some of them 

 more prominent, and there is established a 

 periodical discharge of a certain quantity of a 

 sanguineous fluid from the internal genital 

 organs. 



Menstruation. This periodical loss of blood 

 demands the attention of the physiologist as 

 one of the most remarkable of the sexual pecu- 

 liarities of the human female, and as bearing 

 an intimate relation not only to the generative 

 process, but to most of the other functions of 

 the economy. 



The periodical recurrence of the discharge of 

 blood every lunar month or twenty-eight days 



* Comparative measurements have been made 

 of the length of the vocal cords in boys imme- 

 diately before and after puberty, and those of the 

 young men liave been found to be nearly double the 

 length of those of the boy. 



t Hence the name of this bone and of the period 

 of Hie of which we are now speaking pubes and 

 puberty. 



