8G APPENDIX. 



some females, it is by no means so in others ; for many women conceive, who are indif- 

 ferent during- the venereal congress; there are others who conceive, notwithstanding their 

 successful endeavours to suppress their orgasm ; and some are impregnated, when owing 

 to disease, as procidentia uteri, &c. they cannot be supposed to enjoy much pleasure 

 from the act.* 



Dr. Blundell found in his experiments that when only one of the uteri of a rabbit was 

 divided* or rendered impervious at its neck, or when the passage to both was obstruct- 

 ed by tying the vagina, and iifterwards freely admitted to the male, that the obstruct- 

 ed uterus, or uteri, did not become impregnated ; but he found, in those whose vagina 

 was tied, that, notwithstanding, the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and womb were excited by 

 coition; and in those who admitted the male frequently, the abdomen acquired a large 

 size, and in some cases exceeded the bulk of mature gestation. These enlargements 

 arose from an accumulation of a humour in the womb, which, at a temperature below 

 boiling, formed albuminous concretions. In its appearance it was various, but general- 

 ly fluid, pale and turbid. In those who had only one uterus obstructed, the sound one 

 became filled with foetuses, and the barren one with the humour described. The for- 

 mation of the lutea, the development of the womb, and the repeated accumulations of 

 fluid in consequence of coition, in these experiments seem to indicate the descent of 

 the rudimental material. 



Thus although the passage to the uterus was completely interrupted, the tubes were 

 excited by the venereal org'asm, they really conveyed the'rudiments to the womb, and 

 these rudiments engendered the watery accumulations there in the abortive attempts 

 at generation. This appears to confirm the supposition, and indeed to establish it, that 

 even in viviparous animals, generation may be carried to a certain extent, although the 

 access of the semen to the rudiments is interrupted ; under these circumstances the 

 young animal cannot be formed, it is true, but corpora lutea may be generated, the 

 womb may be developed; and the rudiments may be transferred to the uterine 

 cavity by the play of the fallopian tubes. This opinion receives countenance from the 

 generation of oviparous animals, in most of whom the rudiments may be discharged 

 independently of preeceeding impregnation. (J\Ied. Chirug. Trans. Vol. 10. ) 



Dr. Blunde'll supposes that the vagina and womb perform a peristatic motion from 

 the stimulus of the semen, both in the haman subject and lower animals ; and that this 

 motion conveys the semen to the rudiments. 



i'rom these experiments it would appear that the presence of corpora lutea can- 

 not be relied upon as a proof that impregnation had taken place. There is .even evi- 

 dence that they may be produced even independently of the sexual intercourse, from 

 the mere excitement of desire in a high degree. Dr. Blundell has in his possession a 

 preparation of the ovaria of a young woman who died of chorea under seventeen years 

 of age, in which the hymen was unbroken, and nearly closed the entrance of the va- 

 gina. In these ovaries the corpora lutea are no fewer than four two rather obscure, 

 the other two perfectly distinct. 



As Dr. BlundelPs experiments goto prove that impregnation cannot take place with- 

 out the semen coming in contact with the rudiments, he therefore supposes, that when 

 the ovary lodges either in the tubes, the peritoneal cavity, or in the ovary itself, anil 

 there impregnated, that the semen must be conveyed to those situations. Or, that the 



* Sir Everard Home (PMksoph. Tram. 1818) states that corpora lutea are never met 

 with before puberty. They are formed is the loose structure of the ovarium previous to 

 and independent of, sexual intercourse ; and when they have fulfilled their office of 

 forming ova, they are afterwards removed by absorption, whether the ova be impregnat- 

 ed or not. It seems that the ovum too, with its amnion and chorion, is formed in the 

 virgin after puberty. This was found to be the case in a woman of 20 years of age, 

 who had a perfect hymen. "The fallopian tube of that side was fuller than the oppo- 

 site. The fimbriae were spread out, and unusually vascular." We know that animals 

 part with their eggs whether there be sexual intercourse or not ; and this is done with 

 such force during coition that the cavity of the corpus luteum is absolutely inverted, so 

 that the ovum is exposed completely to the emission of the male. Extravasation of 

 blood follows the rupture of the ovum frequently to so great a degree that blood occa- 

 sionally passes out through the vagina. In nine months after impregnation, the cor- 

 pus luteum is nearly absorbed, but a new one is usually found in a state of forwardness 

 in the other ovarium. All preparations of corpora lutea, which are made from women 

 who have died in child-bed, belong, in Sir E.'s opinion, to ova which were to suo 

 not to the ovum of the child which had been born. 



