The Book of Nature / Containing information for young people who think of getting married, on the philosophy of procreation and sexual intercourse, showing how to prevent conception and to avoid child-bearing: also, rules for management during labor and child-birth

by active 1875-1876 James Ashton

10. The Ovaries, showing their connection with the Womb by the Fallopian Tubes.

11. The Abdomen.

It will be understood, from the foregoing facts, that no female can produce more than a certain number of ova. When all are exhausted, the turn of life takes place. It is, therefore, desirable that girls should not become sexually excited before the full age of puberty, as such excitement is sure to hasten that period. The sooner they begin to menstruate, the sooner they become old women. In the same way maiden ladies usually reach the turn of life sooner than child-bearing women.

In some women, the Ovaries being originally weak, or diseased, they are irregular in their menstrual periods, or have frequent flooding from the debilitated state of the organs. Deformity of children is supposed to arise from imperfect ova, and want of sufficient vital force to fully develop them. The ripening of the Ovum, or egg, is in many respects like unto the ripening of an apple on the tree. Some are perfect and beautiful, while others are deformed and ungainly in appearance.

The two Fallopian Tubes, which connect the ovaries with the Womb, are very curious. They are hollow ligaments, a little larger at one end than the other. On dissection they are found to be lined with fine thread-like points, which point towards the smallest end of the tube, adjoining the Womb. These points are in perpetual motion, like small worms, and this operation is what causes the egg to pass through the tube. For the same reason nothing can go back in these tubes from the Womb to the Ovaries. These tubes also afford a passage for the secretions and fluids, which would otherwise accumulate in the Ovaries of women in ill health. A considerable portion of the discharges from the Vagina, to which some females are subject, come from the Ovaries through the Fallopian Tubes into the Womb, and thence to the lower passage. Sexual or amative feeling on the part of the female affects these tubes, by causing them to straighten and relax, thus working the points on the inner surface, and hastening the passage of the Ovum, should one be in the passage. This feeling also hastens the ripening of the Ovum, to a certain extent. The usual length of the Fallopian Tubes is from three to four inches. A woman may be made perfectly barren by tying ligatures round these two tubes, an operation which would be attended with but little pain. It is obvious, however, that her health might seriously suffer in consequence. In France, animals are frequently served in this manner in preference to the painful process of spaying.

The Uterus, or Womb, is suspended mid-way between the lower edges of the hip-bones. Its upper part goes up between the bladder and the rectum, and lies upon the bladder. Its lower part joins the passage called the Vagina, which is usually about four or live inches in length. In fact, the neck of the Womb hangs down into the Vagina, and is the cause of an indescribable delightful feeling on the part of the female when in connection with the male. Many women say that they experience very little sexual feeling, and that the act of copulation is to them a matter of indifference. This is because the mouth of the Womb is not reached or touched by the glans of the male organ; and the pleasurable sensation of the female is then confined to a slight irritation of the Clitoris and Nymphæ, in the private parts. When the amorous sensations of the female are excited during connection, the Womb becomes engorged with blood, and moves up and down in the Vagina, bringing the neck in contact with the glans of the male organ, and this contact, if not too violent, is the perfection of sexual indulgence for both parties.

The Vagina is a curved passage from the Womb to the lower private parts of the female called the Vulva. It is a tubular passage, the diameter of which varies from one and a half to two inches, and is usually from four to five inches in length. This curved tube possesses some curious powers, which are in action only during connection with the male. It is lined with a mucus membrane throughout, and underneath is thick cellular membrane which is spongy and fills with blood during sexual excitement, the same as the head of the penis in the male. This is the erectile tissue. On each side are certain little openings where are secreted a thickish gray fluid of a peculiar smell, which is discharged copiously during connection. Some uninformed persons erroneously think this to be a kind of Semen; but it is merely a fluid provided by Nature to assist in the nuptial act. Some females have the erectile tissue imperfectly developed, and for this reason are liable to a lax-vagina, which leads to a falling of the Womb, and other diseases that render the marriage state necessary to restore them to health. Mothers are apt to attach too little importance to this disease.

The entrance to the Vagina, a small oval opening, easily seen by parting the lips of the private parts, is usually closed in virgins by a thin membrane, or skin, which grows over it. This is called the Hymen; and in ancient times its presence was considered necessary at marriage to establish the virginity of the bride. If in reality such proof was demanded, we think that very many brides must have been pronounced lewd, for there is scarcely one woman in a hundred at the present day who preserves her Hymen intact until she is twenty years old. In some, it is broken at the first menstrual flow—in others, any debilitating disease of the parts destroys it—and many girls who constantly bathe and wash their private parts, unconsciously wash away this membrane. These are cases where it is very thin; but where it has strength to resist such accidents, it may even then be quickly destroyed by any attempt of the female to produce sexual excitement. Some curious facts are related in the medical books of the toughness of the Hymen in certain cases. Dr. Wakley, of London, was applied to by a woman who alleged that though her husband regularly performed his marital duties, yet she herself could not enjoy the nuptial act. On examination, it was found that the Hymen had not been broken, though the woman had been married eight years. The membrane was a tough, calloused substance, and it was deemed necessary to cut it out entirely. This lady became a mother in less than eleven months from the time of the operation. Dr. Bostwick, of New York, had a case where a thick piece of flesh grew over the mouth of the Vagina; and though the woman had the menstrual flow regularly through a small opening, yet her husband could have no sexual pleasure with her. A very painful and dangerous operation relieved this lady, and she is now the mother of a family. As a general rule, a girl loses her Hymen before she is twenty, and it is seldom that she knows when it is destroyed.

In some women the mouth of the Vagina is so small that a first connection is painful, tearing the part and causing a flow of blood. When such women become widows, or refrain from sexual intercourse for a long period, the same tearing and flow of blood may again occur on resuming connection.