The Ovaries, or egg-vessels of a human female, are two bodies situated on each side of the Pelvis just within the lower edge of the hip bone. They vary in size, averaging about the same as the male testicle, but of a different shape, being flat and oblong, like an almond. When in a healthy state, they are of pale red color, and have a rough exterior. Every Ovary consists of a large number of cells about the size of a buck-shot, called the Graafian Vesicles, and which contain a transparent fluid. On looking at this fluid with a glass, the Ovum, or germ of the human being, can be plainly seen in each cell. It is very small—not much larger than a grain of sand. A healthy and perfectly formed female has some thirty or more of these vesicles. It is impossible to tell the exact number, because all of them are not fully developed at the same time. In fact, they ripen and become perfect in succession, from month to month, and one is expelled at each menstrual flow, as described below, beginning at the age of puberty, and so continuing until the turn of life, when all have been expelled and the Ovaries then become barren. The Ovum generally comes from each side alternately—the right ovary expelling its egg one month, and the left the next, and so on. But where disease or any cause has disabled one Ovary, the other one, if healthy, expels its egg monthly. Such are the curious workings of Nature.
When an Ovum, or egg, is fully developed, it leaves the Ovary, and passing through a very curious hollow ligature called the Fallopian Tube, is thus conveyed into the Womb. This occurs once in four weeks in a healthy female. In order to detach this ripe egg from the Ovary, real inflammation is experienced, which causes a discharge of blood and mucus, called the menstrual or monthly flow. This constant action of the Ovaries has a most extraordinary influence upon the whole being of woman. It not only absorbs a large portion of her nervous power, but it actually affects her mind to a considerable extent. It is the principal cause of hysteria, fickleness, gayety, peevishness, and other eccentricities peculiar to female character.
The Ovum usually reaches the Womb from one to two days after the monthly flow ceases. After being retained a certain time by a thin membrane called the Decidua, the membrane loosens and passes out of the body, taking the Ovum along with it. While it remains in the Womb, it is of course liable to be impregnated by the semen from the male; but the moment it is expelled, no impregnation can take place until another monthly flow. Many French females, who have studied this subject closely and attentively, are enabled to tell with certainty when the Ovum leaves them, and they avoid contact with the other sex except during the interval between its expulsion and their next monthly turn. In this way they avoid child-bearing.
The usual healthy time during which the Ovum remains in the Womb, is fourteen days. In some females it remains as long as sixteen or seventeen days. Cases of supposed barrenness are frequently those where the ova are expelled from the womb very soon after lodging there. It is then necessary for the husband, if he desires children, to cohabit with his wife immediately after the menstrual flow ceases. On the contrary, those who would avoid having offspring, (unless they use the means pointed out in another part of this book,) should refrain from sexual indulgence until the Ovum has been expelled, which is generally the third week after the menstrual flow has ceased.
By a curious provision of Nature, the blood and vital energy required to ripen and expel the monthly Ovum in a female, is turned in another channel during pregnancy, and tends to secrete the milk and the fluids on which the growing fœtus subsists. Thus the ova lie dormant during that period, and they seldom begin to ripen again until the new-born infant is weaned.
FEMALE ORGANS CUT IN HALF ... SECTION OF INTERNALS.
Explanation of the Engraving.
1. The Clitoris.
2. The Outer and the Inner Lips of the Private Parts.