Part 32 (1/2)

THE FEMALE s.e.xUAL ORGANS.

1. The generative or reproductive organs of the human female are usually divided into the internal and external. Those regarded as internal are concealed from view and protected within the body. Those that can be readily perceived are termed external. The entrance of the v.a.g.i.n.a may be stated as the line of demarcation of the two divisions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANATOMY OR STRUCTURE OF THE FEMALE ORGANS OF GENERATION.]

2. HYMEN OR v.a.g.i.n.aL VALVE.--This is a thin membrane of half moon shape stretched across the opening of the v.a.g.i.n.a. It usually contains before marriage one or more small openings for the pa.s.sage of the menses.

This membrane has been known to cause much distress in many females at the first menstrual flow. The trouble resulting from the openings in the hymen not being large enough to let the flow through and consequently blocking up the v.a.g.i.n.al ca.n.a.l, and filling the entire internal s.e.xual organs with blood; causing paroxysms and hysterics and other alarming symptoms. In such cases the hymen must be ruptured that a proper discharge may take place at once.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Impregnated Egg. In the first formation of Embryo.]

3. UNYIELDING HYMEN.--The hymen is usually ruptured by the first s.e.xual intercourse, but sometimes it is so unyielding as to require the aid of a knife before coition can take place.

4. THE PRESENCE OF THE HYMEN was formerly considered a test of virginity, but this theory is no longer held by competent authorities, as disease or accidents or other circ.u.mstances may cause its rupture.

5. THE OVARIES.--The ovaries are little glands for the purpose of forming the female ova or egg. They are not fully developed until the period of p.u.b.erty, and usually are about the size of a large chestnut.

The are located in the broad ligaments between the uterus and the Fallopian tubes. During pregnancy the ovaries change position; they are brought farther into the abdominal cavity as the uterus expands.

6. OFFICE OF THE OVARY.--The ovary is to the female what the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e is to the male. It is the germ vitalizing organ and the most essential part of the generative apparatus. The ovary is not only an organ for the formation of the ova, but is also designed for their separation when they reach maturity.

7. FALLOPION TUBES.--These are the ducts that lead from the ovaries to the uterus. They are entirely detached from the glands or ovaries, and are developed on both sides of the body.

8. OFFICE OF THE FALLOPIAN TUBES.--The Fallopian tubes have a double office: receiving the ova from the ovaries and conducting it into the uterus, as well as receiving the spermatic fluid of the male and conveying it from the uterus in the direction of the ovaries, the tubes being the seat of impregnation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OVUM.]

9. STERILITY IN FEMALES.--Sterility in the female is sometimes caused by a morbid adhesion of the tube to a portion of the ovary. By what power the mouth of the tube is directed toward a particular portion of an ovary, from which the ovum is about to be discharged, remains entirely unknown, as does also the precise nature of the cause which effects this movement.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ripe Ovum from the Ovary.]

THE MYSTERIES OF THE FORMATION OF LIFE.

1. SCIENTIFIC THEORIES.--Darwin, Huxley, Haeckel, Tyndall, Meyer, and other renowned scientists, have tried to find the _missing link_ between man and animal; they have also exhausted their genius in trying to fathom the mysteries of the beginning of life, or find where the animal and mineral kingdoms unite to form life; but they have added to the vast acc.u.mulation of theories only, and the world is but little wiser on this mysterious subject.

2. PHYSIOLOGY.--Physiology has demonstrated what physiological changes take place in the germination and formation of life, and how nature expresses the intentions of reproduction by giving animals distinctive organs with certain secretions for this purpose, etc. All the different stages of development can be easily determined, but how and why life takes place under such special condition and under no other, is an unsolved mystery.

3. OVARIES.--The ovaries are the essential parts of the generative system of the human female in which ova are matured. There are two ovaries, one on each side of the uterus, and connected with it by the Fallopian tubes. They are egg-shaped, about an inch in diameter, and furnish the germs or ovules. These germs or ovules are very small, measuring about 1/120 of an inch in diameter.

4. DEVELOPMENT.--The ovaries develop with the growth of the female, so that finally at the period of p.u.b.erty they ripen and liberate an ovum or germ vesicle, which is carried into the uterine cavity of the Fallopian tubes. By the aid of the microscope we find that these ova are composed of granular substance, in which is found a miniature yolk surrounded by a transparent membrane called the zona pellucida. This yolk contains a germinal vesicle in which can be discovered a nucleus, called the germinal spot. The process of the growth of the ovaries is very gradual, and their function of ripening and discharging one ovum monthly into the Fallopian tubes and uterus, is not completed until between the twelfth and fifteenth years.

5. WHAT SCIENCE KNOWS.--After the s.e.xual embrace we know that the sperm is lifted within the genital pa.s.sages or portion of the v.a.g.i.n.a and mouth of the uterus. The time between the deposit of the s.e.m.e.n and fecundation varies according to circ.u.mstances. If the sperm-cell travels to the ovarium it generally takes from three to five days to make the journey. As Dr. Pierce says: The transportation is aided by the ciliary processes (little hairs) of the mucous surface of the v.a.g.i.n.al and uterine walls, as well as by its own vibratile movements.

The action of the cilia, under the stimulus of the sperm, seems to be from without, inward. Even if a minute particle of sperm, less than a drop, be left upon the margin of the external genitals of the female, it is sufficient in amount to impregnate, and can be carried, by help of these cilia, to the ovaries.

6. CONCEPTION.--After intercourse at the proper time the liability to conception is very great. If the organs are in a healthy condition, conception must necessarily follow, and no amount of prudence and the most rigid precautions often fail to prevent pregnancy.