PHYSIOLOGY. 



accelerating or retarding the exit of the 

 air, he can imitate different voices, and 

 induce his auditors to a belie!' that the 

 interlocutors of a dialogue, which is kept 

 up by himself alone, are placed at differ- 

 ent distances ; and this illusion is the 

 more complete in proportion to the per- 

 fection of his peculiar talent. No man 

 possesses, to such a degree as Mr. Fitz- 

 James, the art of deceiving persons who 

 are least liable to delusion : lie can carry 

 his execution to five or six different tones, 

 pass rapidly from one to another, as he 

 does when "representing- an animated dis- 

 pute in the midst of a popular assem- 

 bly.'* 



On the subject of the Generative Func- 

 tions, we have very little to add to what 

 the reader will find under the articles 

 ANATOMY, COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, 

 and FOETUS. 



The bodies of the male and female pre- 

 sent very obvious differences in appear- 

 ance and character, which have been 

 ascribed to the influence of the genera- 

 tive organs upon the constitution. The 

 removal of the testes in the male, pre- 

 vents those changes in the beard and 

 voice, at the time of puberty, which 

 would otherwise occur : and eunuchs 

 even approach in other respects to the 

 female character, as in the breadth and 

 projection of the hips. Again, in some 

 remarkable cases, where the organs of 

 the female have been wanting 1 , or mal- 

 formed, similar effects have taken place 

 in the constitution ; so that there is some 

 reason for saying with Van Helmont, 

 propter solu.n utenim mulier est, id quod 

 tst. 



ffermaphrodism, or the union of both 

 sexes in the same individual, is impossi- 

 ble in man aad the warm-blooded ani- 

 mals. All the supposed hermaphrodites 

 hitherto examined were mal-formed be- 

 ings, whose male organs were imperfect, 

 or the female apparatus too prominent, 

 so as to render the sex doubtful. No one 

 has shown himself capable of impregnat- 

 ing his own person, so as to produce a 

 being like himself; indeed, in most in- 

 stances they were incapable of assisting 

 in reproduction, as an imperfection of the 

 organs employed for that purpose con- 

 demned them to sterility. 



Man presents a peculiarity, in not be- 

 ing subject to the influence of the sea- 

 sons in the exercise of his generative 

 functions ; while other animals cohabit at 

 fixed periods and certain times of the 



year, and afterwards seem to forget the 

 pleasures of love to satisfy other wants. 



Conception. Physiologists have not hi- 

 therto succeeded in explaining the me- 

 chanism of that .elongated and distended 

 state of the penis, occurring under the 

 irritation of the sexual passion, which 

 adapts the organ to the performance oY 

 its natural functions. The obvious cir- 

 cumstances are, that the cells of the cor- 

 pus spongiosum urethne, and corpora 

 cavernosa penis, are distended to the ut- 

 most with blood, poured into them from 

 the arteries much faster than it can be, 

 or at least is returned by the veins. The 

 irritation, which affects the penis, ex- 

 tends to the internal parts. The secre- 

 tion of the testes becomes more active, 

 and these bodies are drawn up towards 

 the alxlomen ; the vesiculac seminales, 

 and the ducts of the prostate, also pour 

 out their contents into the urethra. The 

 semen is a mixed fluid, derived from the 

 three sources just mentioned ; but the 

 smallest part probably comes from the 

 testes. The most remarkable circum- 

 stance in this fluid is, that it contains 

 numerous microscopic animalcula, with a 

 round head and slender tail, moving about 

 with rapidity. 



This prolific liquor is expelled from 

 the penis by a spasmodic action of the 

 accelerator urinae muscle : the whole 

 body seems to participate in the same 

 convulsive state, and the instant of ejacu- 

 lation is marked by an orgasm through 

 every part. It seems that nature has for- 

 gotten, for the* moment, every other 

 function, and is totally occupied in col- 

 lecting her powers, and directing them 

 towards the same point. Hence an uni- 

 versal languor follows this general con- 

 vulsion, and hence the old observation, 

 omne ammal-post coitum triste. 



The seminal liquor, thus propelled 

 into the generative organs of the female, 

 is supposed to pass through the uterus 

 and fallopian tubes, and to come into ac- 

 tual contact with the ovaria. The close- 

 ness of the mouth, and indeed of the 

 whole cavity of the uterus, together with 

 the very small calibre of the fallopian 

 tube, especially at its origin in the uterus, 

 (where it will only admit a bristle) are 

 difficulties in the way of this explanation, 

 which have led to the opinion, that the 

 semen itself does not penetrate into the 

 uterus, but that an exhalation, or aura 

 seminalis, comes into contact with the 

 germs, and is sufficient for their fecunda- 

 tion. This is opposed by the experi- 



