ORGAICS OF GENERATION.
The parts which the two sexes per form, in the importai. business of pre, pagating the species, are so entirely ferent, that we shall not be surprised at finding that the male and female organs of generation are wholly-dissimilar to each other.
The gems br rudiments of the &titre beings are produced by the female, in or gans called the ovaria. But these remain inert and useless, unless called into ac tion by the fecundating influence 'of the male. The fecundating fluid is prepared in two glands, called the testes. When the germ has been acted on by this fluid, it passes through a canal called tht fallo pian tube, into the uterus, where it is re tained until it has acquired a considerable magnitude ; and from which it is expell ed at the end of nine months. The se minal liquor of the male is poured into the likethra, and is introduced by means of the penis into a membranous cavity of the female, calted the vagina.
Erterna/ parts of generation in the fe male. Over the surface of the pubis, there is a greater accumulation of fat and ceillkilar substance than in the male ; and the prominence caused-by this structure is called mons veneris. A longitudinal cavity extends from this eminence in front to the anus behind ; and the sides of it are bounded hy*two folds of the skin, called labia pudendi, or aim majores. The whole of these parts taken together constitute the pudendum, or sinus pudo ris. The mons veneris, and tbc outer surface of the labia, are covered with hair to a greater or less extent.
The parts contained within this longi tudinal cavity am col ered by a more de licate kind of integuments, than that which composes the general surface of the body. A change takes place in the organization of e skin, somewhat simi lar to that which is observed at the lips. Hence the surface of the parts contained within the labia has a red, smooth, and soft covering ; which is besmeared with a cebaceous secretion of peculiar odour, furnished hy numerous sinall glands, lying just under the surface. This unctuous matter is required in order to defend the parts from the urine ; and also to obviate the effects of that rubbing on each other, which must be occasioned by,the motions of the body.
Towards the upper part of the longi tudinal slit, left between the labia, a small prominent organ is discerned, call ed the clitoris. This exactly resembles the male penis in structure. It only pro jects, however, about a quarter of' an inch. We distinguish in it a glans and preputium, which resemble, on a small scale, the parts of the same name in the male.
Below the clitoris are two small folds, called the nymphm. 'These are connected above to the preputium clitoridis ; they diverge from each other, as they extend below. They vary much in size: in a natural state they may, measure about half an inch at the broadest part. They are of a much greater 'magnitude in the Hottentot fr.:male, and have given rise to the reports of travellers, that thc sinus pudoris is covered in those persons by a curtain, or apron of skin. About three quarters of an inch below the.clitoris, we meet with a. round aperture, which is the tennination of the female urethra: and justiebelow this is the opening of the vagina; which opening is technically called os externum 'deli. This has a very different appearanCT in a young girl, and in a married woman. In the laaiter it is a bra and free aperture, fully ade quate in gfze to the admission of the pe nis ; in the former it is shut up in a great measure by a thin' membrane, called the hymen. This closes the lower portion of the os externum, to various extents in different sulapets ; and is tom and de stroyed by Pie consummation of mar riage. Some little excrescences, suppos ed to be the remains of the ruptured hy men, arc called carunculte myrtiformes. The anus is found about one inch behind the commencement of the vagina.
The vagina, or cattails uteri, is a mem branous canal, about five inches in length, extending- almost directly backwards from thc os externum. Its sides are dense and tough ; and the surfitce is covered with numerous wrinklesand prominences, which are less conspicuous in women who have had children than in virgins.