COPULATION.
Copulation, or coition, consists of the union of the two sexes, which should be preceded in man by erection of the penis, the placing of the glans in the genital organs, and the emission of semen or fecundating fluid, which is thus carried directly into the genital organs. It is this final phenomenon of emission which is followed by the progression of the semen into the genitals, the fecundating liquid thus seeking the ovum, which has been deposited in the tube.
In woman, copulation is a'much more passive act than in man. It con sists of the reception of the male organ, accompanied by the erection of the clitoris and bulbs of the vagina, but without emission properly so called, it being only an exaggerated secretion of the vulvar and vaginal glands, and particularly of the vulvo-vaginal glands.
In one sex as well as in the other, the act is preceded by desire, the sexual appetite, and is accompanied by voluptuous sensations, generally greater in man than in woman, and which are intended to insure the accomplishment of a function on which the reproduction of our kind depends. But, although in man this feeling is as absolute as possible, in woman it is much less clear or developes later. Besides, it is not necessary to fecundation, and it is not rare to see mothers of families in whom this voluptuous sensation has never been present.
Again, although in man there is always an emission of fecundating liquid, ovulation comes but once a month in woman. Copulation is therefore not always followed by fecundation. The voluptuous sensa tion, in its turn, is not necessary to fecundation, and examples of women who have been impregnated while sleeping from the effects of alcohol or chloroform, and through artificial fecundation, prove that the woman is really passive in the act of copulation. Her active part is confined to the
emission of the ovum and its progress through the tube. The final union of this ovum and the semen forms in reality fecundation.
Occasionally, on the contrary, the first conjugal attempts occasion, especially in nervous women, vulvar and vaginal pains, with a painful spasm of the contractile fibres of the vagina, and of its constrictor muscle, which forms what is called vaginismus. This relatively frequent occur rence interferes with sexual intercourse, and thus removes all possibility of copulation.
In the human race, it is about the time of puberty that the desire for sexual connection commences, reaching its maximum in the adult, dis appearing little by little in old age, and it is always greater in man than in woman. However, contrary to what has been said of man, that with age the sexual desire gradually lessens, it is not rare towards the age of the menopause and the years that follow to see some women, until then cold, become all at once extremely eager, and desire conjugal connection, scarcely tolerated before. Dr. Gtneau de Mussy cites a number of in tances of this nature. For my part, I have seen two cases, one, a woman of fifty-five years, the mother of a family, who, afflicted by this appetite, absolutely isolated herself, seeking in art to find a remedy for what she rightly called a phenomenon as useless as unreasonable.
We have studied the ovum or female organism; let us now see what elements compose the fecundating fluid: the semen.