The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher Part 4

[3] Muscles by which the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es are drawn up.

CHAPTER XV

_A Description of the Use and Action of the several Generative Parts in Women._

The external parts, commonly called the _pudenda_, are designed to cover the great orifice and to receive the man's p.e.n.i.s or yard in the act of s.e.xual intercourse, and to give pa.s.sage to the child and to the urine.

The use of the wings and k.n.o.bs, like myrtle berries, is for the security of the internal parts, closing the orifice and neck of the bladder and by their swelling up, to cause t.i.tillation and pleasure in those parts, and also to obstruct the involuntary pa.s.sage of the urine.

The action of the c.l.i.toris in women is similar to that of the p.e.n.i.s in men, viz., _erection_; and its lower end is the glans of the p.e.n.i.s, and has the same name. And as the _glans_ of man are the seat of the greatest pleasure in copulation, so is this in the woman.

The action and use of the neck on the womb is the same as that of the p.e.n.i.s, viz., erection, brought about in different ways: first, in copulation it becomes erect and made straight for the pa.s.sage of the p.e.n.i.s into the womb; secondly, whilst the pa.s.sage is filled with the vital blood, it becomes narrower for embracing the p.e.n.i.s; and the uses of this erection are twofold:--first, because if the neck of the womb were not erected, the man's yard could find no proper pa.s.sage to the womb, and, secondly, it hinders any damage or injury that might ensue through the violent striking of the _p.e.n.i.s_ during the act of copulation.

The use of the veins that pa.s.s through the neck of the womb, is to replenish it with blood and vigour, that so, as the moisture is consumed by the heat engendered by s.e.xual intercourse, it may be renewed by those vessels; but their chief business is to convey nutriment to the womb.

The womb has many properties belonging to it: first, the retention of the impregnated egg, and this is conception, properly so called; secondly, to cherish and nourish it, until Nature has fully formed the child, and brought it to perfection, and then it operates strongly in expelling the child, when the time of its remaining has expired, becoming dilated in an extraordinary manner and so perfectly removed from the senses that they cannot injuriously affect it, retaining within itself a power and strength to eject the foetus, unless it be rendered deficient by any accident; and in such a case remedies must be applied by skilful hands to strengthen it, and enable it to perform its functions; directions for which will be given in the second book.

The use of the preparing vessels is this; the arteries convey the blood to the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es; some part of it is absorbed in nouris.h.i.+ng them, and in the production of these little bladders (which resemble eggs in every particular), through which the _vasa preparantia_ run, and which are absorbed in them; and the function of the veins is to bring back whatever blood remains from the above mentioned use. The vessels of this kind are much shorter in women than in men, because they are nearer to the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es; this defect is, however, made good by the many intricate windings to which those vessels are subject; for they divide themselves into two branches of different size in the middle and the larger one pa.s.ses to the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es.

The stones in women are very useful, for where they are defective, the work of generation is at an end. For though those bladders which are on the outer surface contain no seed, as the followers of Galen and Hippocrates wrongly believed, yet they contain several eggs, generally twenty in each t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e; one of which being impregnated by the animated part of the man's seed in the act of copulation, descends through the oviducts into the womb, and thus in due course of time becomes a living child.

CHAPTER XVI

_Of the Organs of Generation in Man._

Having given a description of the organs of generation in women, with the anatomy of the fabric of the womb, I shall now, in order to finish the first part of this treatise, describe the organs of generation in men, and how they are fitted for the use for which Nature intended them.

The instrument of generation in men (commonly called the yard, in Latin, _p.e.n.i.s_, from _pendo_, to hang, because it hangs outside the belly), is an organic part which consists of skin, tendons, veins, arteries, sinews and great ligaments; and is long and round, and on the upper side flattish, seated under the _os pubis_, and ordained by Nature partly for the evacuation of urine, and partly for conveying the seed into the womb; for which purpose it is full of small pores, through which the seed pa.s.ses into it, through the _vesicula seminalis_,[4] and discharges the urine when they make water; besides the common parts, viz., the two nervous bodies, the septum, the urethra, the glans, four muscles and the vessels. The nervous bodies (so called) are surrounded with a thick white, penetrable membrane, but their inner substance is spongy, and consists chiefly of veins, arteries, and nervous fibres, interwoven like a net. And when the nerves are filled with animal vigour and the arteries with hot, eager blood, the p.e.n.i.s becomes distended and erect; also the neck of the _vesicula urinalis_,[5] but when the influx of blood ceases, and when it is absorbed by the veins, the p.e.n.i.s becomes limp and flabby. Below those nervous bodies is the urethra, and whenever they swell, it swells also. The p.e.n.i.s has four muscles; two shorter ones springing from the _c.o.x endix_ and which serve for erection, and on that account they are called _erectores_; two larger, coming from _sphincters ani_, which serve to dilate the urethra so as to discharge the s.e.m.e.n, and these are called dilatantes, or wideners. At the end of the p.e.n.i.s is the _glans_, covered with a very thin membrane, by means of which, and of its nervous substance, it becomes most extremely sensitive, and is the princ.i.p.al seat of pleasure in copulation. The outer covering of the _glans_ is called the _preputium_ (foreskin), which the Jews cut off in circ.u.mcision, and it is fastened by the lower part of it to the _glans_.

The p.e.n.i.s is also provided with veins, arteries and nerves.

The _testiculi_, stones or t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es (so called because they testify one to be a man), turn the blood, which is brought to them by the spermatic arteries into seed. They have two sorts of covering, common and proper; there are two of the common, which enfold both the testes. The outer common coat, consists of the _cuticula_, or true skin, and is called the s.c.r.o.t.u.m, and hangs from the abdomen like a purse; the inner is the _membrana carnosa_. There are also two proper coats--the outer called _cliotrodes_, or virginales; the inner _albugidia_; in the outer the cremaster is inserted. The _epididemes_, or _prostatae_ are fixed to the upper part of the testes, and from them spring the _vasa deferentia_, or _ejaculatoria_, which deposit the seed into the _vesicule seminales_ when they come near the neck of the bladder. There are two of these _vesiculae_, each like a bunch of grapes, which emit the seed into the urethra in the act of copulation. Near them are the _prostatae_, about the size of a walnut, and joined to the neck of the bladder. Medical writers do not agree about the use of them, but most are of the opinion that they produce an oily and sloppy discharge to besmear the urethra so as to defend it against the pungency of the seed and urine. But the vessels which convey the blood to the testes, from which the seed is made, are the _arteriae spermaticae_ and there are two of them also.

There are likewise two veins, which carry off the remaining blood, and which are called _venae spermaticae_.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] Seminal vesicle.

[5] Urinary vesicle.

CHAPTER XVII

_A word of Advice to both s.e.xes, consisting of several Directions with regard to Copulation._

As Nature has a mutual desire for copulation in every creature, for the increase and propagation of its kind, and more especially in man, the lord of creation and the masterpiece of Nature, in order that such a n.o.ble piece of divine workmans.h.i.+p should not perish, something ought to be said concerning it, it being the foundation of everything that we have hitherto been treating of, since without copulation there can be no generation. Seeing, therefore, so much depends upon it, I have thought it necessary, before concluding the first book, to give such directions to both s.e.xes, for the performance of that act, as may appear efficacious to the end for which nature designed it, but it will be done with such caution as not to offend the chastest ear, nor to put the fair s.e.x to the blush when they read it.

In the first place, then, when a married couple from the desire of having children are about to make use of those means that Nature has provided for that purpose, it is well to stimulate the body with generous restoratives, that it may be active and vigorous. And the imagination should be charmed with sweet music, and if all care and thoughts of business be drowned in a gla.s.s of rosy wine, so that their spirit may be raised to the highest pitch of ardour, it would be as well, for troubles, cares or sadness are enemies to the pleasures of Venus. And if the woman should conceive when s.e.xual intercourse takes place at such times of disturbance, it would have a bad effect upon the child. But though generous restoratives may be employed for invigorating nature, yet all excess should be carefully avoided, for it will check the briskness of the spirits and make them dull and languid, and as it also interferes with digestion, it must necessarily be an enemy _to_ copulation; for it is food taken moderately and that is well digested, which enables a man to perform the dictates of Nature with vigour and activity, and it is also necessary, that in their mutual embraces they meet each other with equal ardour, for, if not, the woman either will not conceive, or else the child may be weak bodily, or mentally defective. I, therefore, advise them to excite their desires mutually before they begin their conjugal intercourse, and when they have done what nature requires, a man must be careful not to withdraw himself from his wife's arms too soon, lest some sudden cold should strike into the womb and occasion miscarriage, and so deprive them of the fruits of their labour.

And when the man has withdrawn himself after a suitable time, the woman should quietly go to rest, with all calmness and composure of mind, free from all anxious and disturbing thoughts, or any other mental worry. And she must, as far as possible, avoid turning over from the side on which she was first lying, and also keep from coughing and sneezing, because as it violently shakes the body, it is a great enemy to conception.

A

PRIVATE LOOKING-GLa.s.s

FOR THE

FEMALE s.e.x

PART II

CHAPTER I

_Treating of the several Maladies incident to the womb, with proper remedies for the cure of each._

The womb is placed in the _hypogastrium_, or lower part of the body, in the cavity called the _pelvis_, having the straight gut on one side to protect it against the hardness of the backbone, and the bladder on the other side to protect it against blows. Its form or shape is like a virile member, with this exception, that the man's is outside, and the woman's inside.

It is divided into the neck and body. The neck consists of a hard fleshy substance, much like cartilage, and at the end of it there is a membrane placed transversely, which is called the hymen. Near the neck there is a prominent pinnacle, which is called the door of the womb, because it preserves the _matrix_ from cold and dust. The Greeks called it _c.l.i.toris_, and the Latins _praeputium muliebre_, because the Roman women abused these parts to satisfy their mutual unlawful l.u.s.ts, as St.

Paul says, Romans 1. 26.