GENERATION. 



457 



rest of the generative organs which usually at- 

 tend on menstruation. There seems to be very 

 little reason to believe, as some do^ that there 

 is a greater than ordinary liability to concep- 

 tion immediately before the commencement of 

 menstruation. 



Lactation in the greater number of women 

 prevents conception for a time, generally for 

 from six months to a year, but in other women 

 seems to have no effect. 



It is very obvious that the state of mind of 

 the female has very little to do with conception, 

 as it is well known that conception * occurs 

 where there is no love, no desire, in pain, in 

 sleep, and in the state of insensibility; and it is 

 equally well established that sexual feelings 

 are not necessary for the occurrence of concep- 

 tion, although it is possible that they may in 

 some instances indirectly assist. It is worthy of 

 remark that there are examples of individuals 

 of opposite sex whose marriage has been barren, 

 both having had children with others. 



Sigru of recent conception in woman. Before 

 concluding the subject of the changes in the in- 

 ternal generative organs of the female which 

 follow fruitful sexual union, let us recapitulate 

 shortly the principal circumstances which may 

 be considered as evidence of conception having 

 recently occurred in the human female. 



In the first place, there is no one point of 

 evidence which is conclusive in the early period 

 of gestation excepting the finding the ovum or 

 foetus; and here we must be on our guard 

 against confounding the mole, or such pro- 

 ductions which occur in the virgin, with the 

 true ovum. The other signs of conception 

 afford little satisfactory evidence singly, though 

 they are important when several are conjoined. 



The signs of conception may be distin- 

 guished into those which in some measure 

 affect the whole system, which may be called 

 constitutional or general, and those which are 

 more strictly local, or affect principally the 

 generative organs. 



The more general signs are 



1. The interruption of the menstrual flow at 

 the usual period when there is no other obvious 

 cause for it. 



2. Fulness and enlargement of the breasts, 

 and vascularity of the areola surrounding the 

 nipple. 



3. Derangement of the functions of the 

 stomach ; frequent nausea and even vomiting, 

 especially in the morning, with depraved ap- 

 petite, headache, &c. 



4. An accelerated pulse, and some febrile 

 symptoms. 



The local signs are 



1. A slight enlargement and increased vas- 

 cularity of the uterus. 



2. The closure of the mouth and cervix by 

 a peculiar viscid secretion. 



3. The existence of the commencing decidua 

 or substance from which that membrane is 

 formed. 



* See the amusing speculations of the phrenolo- 

 gists on this subject. 



4. A vascular condition of the ovary, with 

 very much enlarged vesicles, a ruptured 

 vesicle or corpus luteum, and an increased 

 vascularity or enlargement of the Fallopian 

 tubes. 



Such local signs can only be obtained by the 

 examination of the body after death. When 

 the greater number of them co-exist and have 

 been attended with the more general con- 

 stitutional signs, there is strong presumptive 

 evidence of conception having occurred. But 

 nothing short of the appearance of the child 

 either passed in abortion or found after death 

 would entitle us to conclude with certainty 

 that conception had taken place, until those 

 more obvious signs, which are found after the 

 period of quickening, make their appear- 

 ance. 



2. As regards the male organs. 



Fecundation. In continuing the detail of 

 the phenomena which accompany or succeed to 

 fruitful sexual union, we come next to the con- 

 sideration of the process of fecundation. We 

 shall begin this subject by a sketch of the 

 nature and properties of the product of the 

 male generative organs, viz. the seminal or 

 spermatic fluid, and afterwards state the more 

 important facts which appear to throw light 

 upon the mechanism of the remarkable in- 

 fluence exerted by that fluid on the ovulum 

 produced by the female. 



Properties of the seminal fluid. The se- 

 minal product of most animals is a whitish 

 fluid, which to the naked eye appears homo- 

 geneous or nearly so ; but in the human spe- 

 cies and some of the higher animals, the 

 seminal fluid or substance, ejaculated from 

 the male organs during sexual union, con- 

 sists of two parts of different consistence and 

 appearance ; in the human species, the one 

 being of a pale milky colour and more fluid, 

 the other clearer, semi-transparent, and more 

 of the consistence of thick mucilage. 



The seminal product is derived from several 

 sources. A part comes directly from the tes- 

 ticle, some is discharged from the vesiculae 

 seminales, and with the fluid from these 

 sources is mixed at the time of emission a 

 certain quantity of the product of the secre- 

 tion of the prostate body and Cowper's glands : 

 but it is by no means well ascertained from 

 which of these organs the two kinds of sub- 

 stance above alluded to are respectively de- 

 rived. The more fluid and milky portion is 

 first ejected; the gluey or clear mucilaginous 

 parts, frequently collected into small hard 

 masses, are more abundant in the portion 

 which is last emitted. 



Several circumstances render it highly pro- 

 bable that a considerable quantity of the fluid 

 emitted during sexual union is derived directly 

 by secretion from the testicle. With a view 

 to the illustration of this, De Graaf performed 

 the experiment of tying the spermatic ducts 

 of a dog immediately before coition, and found, 

 on examining them afterwards, that they were 

 much distended by the accumulation of semi- 

 nal fluid in the part of the vasa deferentia in- 



2 H 



