GENERATION. 



Some afceiid to the upper edge of the broad ligament, arc 

 diftributed in the Fallopian tube and round ligament, and 

 communicate with the fpermatic. 



The veins, like the arteries, may be referred to two divi- 

 iions ; the fpermatic and xitcrinc. Numerous brandies come 

 from the uterus, ovary, and Fallopian lube, and form a 

 large venous plexus in the upper part of the broad ligament ; 

 under the name of corpus pampinifirme, this afcends to- 

 wards the loins, and terminates in forming a fingle vein, 

 which has the fame termination in the male fubjeft. A 

 great number of venous ramifications accompany the arte- 

 ries all over the vifcus, but are in general lefs tortuous. 

 They communicate freely with the fpermatics. Tiicy form 

 a large plexus running along the fide of the uterus, with the 

 uterine artery, and end in one or more confiderable venous 

 trunks, which join the internal iliac. 



The uterus poffeffes numerous lymphatic veffels, which 

 are divided into three orders : one of thcfe afcends with the 

 round ligaments, and goes to the inguinal glands ; another 

 joins thole of the vagina, and palfes to the pelvic glands ; 

 and the third, togv:ther with thole of the ovary and tube, 

 afcends with the fpermatic veflels, to terminate at the glands 

 in front of the aorta and vena cava near the kidneys. 



The nerves come from tlie great fympathetic (the hy- 

 pogaftric and fpermatic plexufes), and from the facral 

 pairs. 



p'ital Properties of the Uterus Until the period of impreg- 

 nation, this organ feems to poffefs only that modification of 

 fenfibility and contraftility, which are necelTary for the pur- 

 pofes of nutrition, and the menftrual evacuation. It feems 

 doubtful whether or no it is endoived with animal fenfibility 

 in its healthy ilate. It has been imagined, and alferted, that 

 the conlaft of the glans penis with the os tinea;, in copulation, 

 is one fource of the phylical fenfation experienced by the fe- 

 male on that occafion : this we conceive to be problematical. 

 Haller ftates, that a wound of this organ by a leaden bullet 

 produced very violent fymptoms ; viz. repeated faintings, 

 and fpeedy death. It muft be doubtful how far this could 

 . be referred to the uterus merely, as much other injury mull 

 have been inflicled in fuch a cafe. Animal fenfibility is cer- 

 tainly developed in the uterus by difeafe, whether it exift in 

 the natural ftate or no. The fame wbfervations may be ap- 

 plied to the vital properties of the Fallopian tubes and the 

 ovaries. However obfcurcly the vitality of thefe organs 

 may be exhibited, when not immediately engaged in the ex- 

 ercife of their important funtfions, it is manifelled in a much 

 more ftriking point of view by the fympathies eftablillicd 

 between them and other parts of the body. We have al- 

 ready (hewn, that the removal of the ovaries at an early age 

 entirely changes the fubfequent charafters of the animal ; 

 affecling even the organization of the bony and mufcular 

 parts ot the frame. From the time of puberty, when tjie 

 organs now under conlideration acquire a fitnefs for exercif- 

 ing their particular funftions, we fhall find that their condi- 

 tion and various changes affedi in the mofl ftriking manner 

 all the other vital phenomena of the female conftitution. 

 The previous fymptoms, the commencement and periodical 

 returns of menftruation ; the firll impulfes of love ; the 

 change to a new temperament ; pregnancy and its various 

 epochas ; parturition and its confequences ; laftly, the ceffa- 

 tion of the fexual hfe, and the fymptoms of the critical age, 

 are fo many remarkable changes in the organization of the 

 female, keeping up a conftant alternation of fuffering and 

 difeafe, of lively imprelTions, nervous and fpafmodic affec- 

 tions, the influence and general refult of which muft be 

 carefully attended to in appretiating the nature of woman, 

 and the part which ftie has to fill in fociety. When we con- 



fider thefe fafts, and refletl; that the inclinations, the appe- 

 tites and taftes, in a word, all thofe qualities which imprefs 

 the dilliiiclive character on any animal, flow from the con- 

 formation and predominating influence of certain organs, and 

 are modified by their degree of jierfcAion, and the energy of 

 their functions, we fliall have hltle hefitation in referring the 

 peculiarities of the female frame and conftitution to the ac- 

 tion of the generative organs taken altogether ; an opinion 

 which is exprelfed in a more limited way by Van Hclmont, 

 " propter uteruni folum, muli(rr eft id quod eft.'' 



Devdof-cment of the female Organs of Gcv.eraUov — Thef ., 

 like the corivfponding parts in the male, arc vvry early in 

 their original formation ; but they grow lefs rapidly in pro- 

 portion towards the latter periods of geftatiun. This mult 

 be underftood of other internal parts ; for the vulva, which 

 bellows the diftiniftive external fexual charafter, aifuraes a 

 more decided figure towards the time of birth. From tlie 

 various parts compohng it we muft except the clitoris ; for 

 although it polfefs in a ffftus at the full time a confiderable 

 fize compared to its magnitude, when tlie formation of the 

 generative apparatus is complete, it is nevertiielefs .much lefs 

 developed at the time, in propor;ion, than at tiie third or 

 fourth month : and we may obierve, in general, that it is more 

 prominent in proportion as the foetus is younger. 



Although the female organ prefent no phenomenon ana- 

 logous to the delcent of the teftis in the male, the round liga- 

 ment is fometimes accompanied by a fmall ciJ-de-fac of peri- 

 toneum, fimilar to that which forms the tunica vaginalis. 

 The exiftence of this canal was firll recognifed by Nuck, 

 who called it a diverticulum, dcfcribed it as being about half 

 an inch in length, and by no means conftant : ( Adenographia 

 curiofa, cap. lo. l)e peritona;i diverticulis novis.) IhelaCl 

 was queftioned by fome ; but the fame circumftances have 

 been obferved by other accurate anatomills. Camper found 

 the canal in three out of fourteen newly born children : and 

 Le Cat obferved, in a woman of 46, a canal of the fize of 

 a goofe's quill, leading through the ring into a fmall canal 

 that would admit the finger. (Phil. Trans, v. 47.) Wrif- 

 berg has particularly inveiligated thefe diverticula. In nine- 

 teen out of two hundred female fubjefts, he found an open- 

 ing, generally on both fides, but fometimes on one only, lead- 

 ing through the ring into the groin or labium, lined by pe- 

 ritoneum, and placed over tlie round ligament. Thefe canals, 

 in different inllances, would admit a probe, a quill, or the 

 finger. (De tefticulorum defcenfu, &c. in the Gcittingen 

 Commentaries for 17^8.) We do not know that this canal ia 

 doled before birth, as the tunica vaginalis is in the male, nor 

 that its exiilence in the adult at all favours the occurrence of 

 hernia:. 



At the time of birth, there is a confiderable proportion of 

 fat under the integuments of the pubes ; the labia are very 

 %vell formed, and the clitoris is proportionally larger than it 

 will be in the fequel. The latter circumftance, which is very 

 fingular and unaccountable, has fometimes occafioncd mis- 

 takes in the fex of newly born children. The nymphae are 

 fo broad as to exceed the level of the labia, and are remark- 

 ably thick and long : they do not in general end by a point, 

 as in the adult, but by a rounded extremity. The fofla navi- 

 cularis is large. The entrance of the vagina, although the 

 hymen exift conftantly at this time, is larger in relation to 

 the diameter, which it prefents at puberty, when the part.? 

 have experienced no unnatural violence. The opening does 

 not appear to participate in that developemeiit which the reft 

 of the vulva undergoes after birth. The vagina, confidera- 

 bly advanced in its formation in comparifon with the uterus 

 and its appendages, is particularly remarkable for its length. 

 Its inner membrane, of which the rugofities are very well 



5 jtiarked, 



