Love: A Treatise on the Science of Sex-attraction / for the use of Physicians and Students of Medical Jurisprudence

by Bernard Simon Talmey

CUT XXIV.

Graafian follicle, found by the author in a woman of forty, operated for cancer of the uterus.
vg, vesicula germinativa; mg, macula germinativa; o, ovum; zp, zona pellucida; cr, corona radiata; l, liquor in a coagulated state; a, antrum folliculi; t, theca folliculi.

Ovum.—The ovum is a modified cell with a membrane, called zona pellucida, a cytoplasm, called vitelus, a nucleus called vesicula germinative, and a nucleolus, called macula germinative.

At the time of menstruation the Graafian follicle bursts; the ovum thus freed, is taken up by the current, called forth by the ciliar motion of the tubal epithelia, and brought through the tubes into the uterus.

Nerves and their centres.—The centres of the female genital nerves are, just as in the male, six in number, three cerebral, two spinal and one in the medulla oblongata. There is, in the first place, the centre of voluptas or cupido, or the centre for the sexual instinct; secondly the centre for experiencing libido or pleasure, and thirdly the centre of inhibition, which under certain circumstances, as in fear, disgust, grief, etc., prevents the erection of clitoris, bulbs, and cervix. The inhibitory centre, however, plays a secondary rôle in the female. The two spinal centres are the centres of erection and of ejaculation.

CUT XXV.

Schema of a cell.
a, cell membrane; b, cell-body or cytoplasm; c, nucleus.

The nerve-supply of the genitals is furnished by the spinal nerves and the nervus sympathicus. The lumbar plexus, formed by the four lumbar nerves, sends off the nervus ilio-inguinalis, the terminal branches of which are distributed in the mons veneris. The sacral plexus, formed by a part of the fourth and the entire fifth lumbar nerves and the four upper sacral nerves, sends off the nervus pudendus communis, which is distributed in the clitoris, as nervus dorsalis clitoridis and in the labia, as nervi labiales posteriores. The nerves of the vagina are derived from the hypogastric plexus, the fourth sacral nerve and the pubic nerve. The nerves of the uterus are derived from the ovarian plexus, and from the third and fourth sacral nerves. The nerves of the ovary are derived from the hypogastric, pelvic and ovarian plexus. The oviducts are supplied by the ovarian plexus. The nervi erigentes, distributed in the corpora cavernosa of the clitoris, in the bulbs and in the erectile tissue of the vagina and cervix, are derived from the hypogastric plexus.