MENSES AND COITUS. 193 



is with child these parts grow darker, even darker than the other skin, 

 like the nipple ; which colour does not terminate at once, but is gradually 

 lost. This darkness extends to the ' nymphse ' and ' carunculse myrti- 

 formes.' In a woman the vulva is before the rectum ; in a hen it is on 

 one side ; in the lizard, &c. it is on both sides ; in the shark, skate, &c. 

 it is above, or rather behind, the rectum 1 . 



The clitoris in all animals is similar to the end of the penis of the 

 male of the same species. 



On the Source of the Menses. 



A young woman died at St. George's Hospital. There was some 

 blood oozing out at the vagina ; therefore I suspected that she had died 

 while the menses were upon her. I took out all the parts and injected 

 them. The parts became more red than common : the fallopian tubes, 

 the outside of the uterus, the inside, and the vagina, were loaded with 

 injection. In the cavity of the uterus was found extravasated injection ; 

 and on the inner surface there were dots of injection, as if swelled 

 out at the end or opening of a vessel, just ready to drop off. 



On Copulation. 



Frequent copulation seems to be the most violent discharge that can 

 attend an animal : yet the quantity discharged is very inconsiderable. 

 It is nothing to the discharge of a blister, a sore, a purge, a cold, or a 

 bleeding; yet it shall relax and weaken more than any other. In 

 explanation of this, it is supposed that the most balsamic part is lost to 

 the constitution ; but this is mere conjecture, arising from a notion that 

 the fluid must be very fine that can form an animal ; but surely, when 

 this animal is formed, it is not a bit more ' balsamic ' than the parents 

 it sprung from ; and we cannot suppose that it becomes less balsamic in 

 course of being formed. I believe the truth is, that the semen differs 

 very little from common mucus ; it may have something more of the 

 volatile salts in it, as it is the only juice that has any degree of smell 

 when newly secreted. What I should suppose is the cause of this effect 

 of copulation, is the spasm produced for the discharge of the mucus 

 secreted. Spasms of all sorts weaken much ; the cold fit of an ague 

 weakens as much as anything we know of; and fainting fits relax the 

 system so much as to take off the violent constriction of a fever. 



1 [See the series of Hunterian Preparations illustrative of the cloacal structures, 

 Nos. 744-756, and No. 2825.] 



o 



