GENERATION. 



447 



parts* of the penis, to which the clitoris bears 

 a great similarity ; and it may be remarked 

 that there is also a functional analogy, as these 

 parts in the female sometimes undergo the 

 change of erection under local irritation or 

 venereal excitement. 



The glans penis is endowed with a high 

 degree of sensibility, and is regarded generally 

 as the chief seat of venereal pleasure ; but this 

 also belongs to the urethra at the time of 

 emission. The papillous structure of the 

 mucous membrane covering the glans, and the 

 large quantity of nerves distributed on its 

 surface, relate to this high sensory endow- 

 ment. 



The lower part of the vagina and the clitoris 

 in particular are possessed of a similar high 

 degree of sensibility, and in some women, but 

 not in all, are the seat of venereal feelings from 

 excitement ; but in many women such feelings 

 are altogether absent ; and it is most erroneous 

 to suppose, as some have done, that these 

 feelings are in either sex necessary to insure the 

 fecundating power of the one, or the liability 

 to conception of the other. 



With regard to the uses of the hymen we 

 have no conjecture to offer. 



The vagina, besides serving to receive the 

 penis in copulation and to conduct the seminal 

 fluid to the uterus, is the passage by which the 

 child issues in parturition. 



IV. CHANGES CONSEQUENT ON FRUITFUL 

 SEXUAL UNION. 



1. As regards the female chiefly. Concep- 

 tion. The consequence of fruitful sexual union 

 in man and quadrupeds is the dislodgement of 

 one of the ova contained in the ovarium, and 

 the fecundation of this ovum in some part of 

 its passage from the ovarium, where it is formed, 

 to the uterus, in which the foetus is developed 

 from it. 



In now proceeding to treat of the mode in 

 which these further steps of the generative pro- 

 cess are brought about, the following subjects 

 present themselves for our consideration. 1st. 

 What changes are operated in the internal 

 female organs after fruitful sexual union, and 

 by what means are the ova dislodged from the 

 ovary? 2d. What changes do the ovaries or 

 their vesicles undergo after the discharge of any 

 of the ova? 3d. What happens to the ovum 

 from the time of its discharge from the ovary 

 until the commencement of the development of 

 the foetus? 4th. In what part of the female ge- 

 nerative system is the change of fecundation 

 effected by the agency of the seminal fluid upon 

 the germinal part of the egg? and lastly, In 

 what does the change of fecundation consist, or 

 upon what properties of the seminal fluid may 

 it be supposed to depend ? 



These topics comprehend the history of the 

 functions of the male and female internal gene- 



* The glans penis and glans clitoridis, the nym- 

 phae and corpus spongiosum urethrae, and the cor- 

 pora caveruosa penis and clitoridis are considered 

 anatomically as the respective corresponding parts 

 in the male and female body. 



rative organs, in so far as they relate to the pro- 

 cesses of conception and fecundation ; under 

 which two heads, as has been already men- 

 tioned, it is our intention to bring the remainder 

 of the facts respecting generation which come 

 within the limits of the present article. We 

 shall begin with those facts relating chiefly to 

 the female, or conception. 



The immediate consequence of sexual union 

 upon the female internal generative organs is 

 their great excitement, and a turgescence pro- 

 duced by an accumulation of blood in their 

 vessels. When sexual union proves productive, 

 this turgescence lasts for some time after it has 

 taken place, so that in animals opened at this 

 time, the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, and uterus 

 are found to be of a much deeper red colour, 

 and more vascular than in their natural state. 

 In the female Rabbit, for example, opened 

 soon after coition, the internal organs are nearly 

 black from sanguineous congestion. 



There also occurs in some of these parts a 

 change of position in regard to one another, 

 which is connected with the discharge of ova 

 from the ovarian vesicles. The fimbriated ex- 

 tremities of the Fallopian tubes are turned to- 

 wards the ovaries on each side, and embrace 

 these organs closely, so that the infundibular 

 opening is applied against the ovary, and must 

 of necessity receive the contents of the Graafian 

 vesicle when it bursts. In some animals the 

 ovary is inclosed in a sac along with the infun- 

 dibulum by a reduplication of the peritoneum, 

 so that the ovary is kept always to a certain 

 extent within the infundibulum ; but in other 

 animals in which the connection between these 

 parts is not of this permanent kind, there is an 

 equally firm union of them after copulation. 

 In regard to the means by which this approxi- 

 mation and union of the fimbria? and ovaries 

 are brought about, it may be stated, that in 

 some animals the action seems to be somewhat 

 of a muscular kind ; for there are strong fibres, 

 having all the appearance of muscular fibres, 

 which pass from the ovary towards the fimbri- 

 ated portion of the Fallopian tube ; and in 

 these animals, as well as in others even, in 

 which the muscular fibres are less obvious, irri- 

 table contraction may be supposed to be a 

 means of bringing the parts nearer to one 

 another. The observations of Hartsoeker and 

 Haller, however, would appear to shew that 

 the vascular turgescence which follows co- 

 pulation, amounting to a state approaching 

 to erection, may also contribute to give rise 

 to the change of position now T under consi- 

 deration, for they found by repeated trials 

 that the forcible injection of fluids into the 

 bloodvessels of the generative organs in 

 the human dead body caused the approxi- 

 mation of the fimbriae and ovaries. But, 

 although it may be admitted that vascular tur- 

 gescence may cause this approximation of the 

 parts, we would venture to suggest that some 

 power of the nature of muscular contraction is 

 necessary to give that degree of firmness to the 

 union which it is found to possess some time 

 after copulation. 



We must remark, however, that when a 



