The sexual life of woman in its physiological, pathological and hygienic aspects

by E. Heinrich Kisch

Broudardel reports a case of rape in which the lacerated hymen healed so completely that an expert maintained the integrity of the membrane, until another pointed out the fine scar.

In general, that we may be assured of the existence of virginity, we must find the hymen uninjured; and, on the other hand, we must regard the laceration of the membrane, unless known to be the result of gynecological examination or other manipulation, as a proof of defloration.

In ancient times among savage races the integrity of the hymen was prized as a proof of virginity, and in the Bible also great stress is laid on this sign in connection with defloration, and its absence was even regarded as a ground for the death punishment (Deut. xxii, 21). But amongst other races the hymen was held in no particular esteem as a token of virginity.

Fig. [46].—Mamma, the breast of a virgin aged eighteen years. (From Toldt: Atlas of Human Anatomy.—Rebman Company, New York.)

In ancient times, and even at the present day in the Philippine Islands, the Ladrone Islands, and certain other islands of the Polynesian Archipelago, also among many African tribes, the right of defloration belonged, not to the bridegroom, but to every man belonging to the same tribe; sometimes on the bridal night all the men of the tribe had access to the bride, the bridegroom coming last, but thenceforward having undisputed possession of his wife. Amongst certain other tribes a similar custom prevails, differing however in this respect, that the rite of defloration is performed by a priest or by one of the chiefs of the tribe. In mediæval Europe, again, the great landed proprietors exercised the well-known jus primae noctis or droit du seigneur.

In girls at the time of the menarche who have long practiced masturbation, some of the following indications of the habit will be found: Elongation, redness, and general enlargement of the clitoris; elongation and thickening of the nymphæ, which are also of a tough consistency and deeply pigmented; flaccidity of the labia majora; redness of the vaginal orifice; flaccidity of the hymen, which also may exhibit lacerations, caused by the forcible introduction of the finger or of some hard foreign body.

Not until the time of the menarche do the breasts attain the hemispherical form which constitutes one of the graces of young womanhood, and at the same time these organs assume a firm, elastic consistency; their size of course varies in different individuals. The nipple now has a rose-red color, darker in brunettes than in blondes; it is usually small, sometimes quite inconspicuous, being withdrawn into a cutaneous furrow. The two breasts when regarded from the front are seen to diverge from the longitudinal axis of the body. In some cases even in childhood, before the time of the menarche, the breasts are powerfully developed, being as large as an apple or larger. This depends on climate, race, and sexual excitement; as regards the last of these, early sexual stimulation promotes premature mammary development.

Although it is unusual for any secretion to appear in the mammary gland before the occurrence of pregnancy, cases have certainly been observed in which the breasts of virgins secreted a milk-like fluid, especially in consequence of sexual excitement or during menstruation. Thus Maschka observed in a girl the condition of whose genital organs showed her to be a virgo intacta that pressure on the breast caused a few drops of an opalescent fluid having the appearance of milk to exude from the nipple. She acknowledged that amatory relations had long subsisted between her and a lover who was in the habit of handling her breasts, and that this always produced strong sexual excitement. Hofmann also reported that in two virgins who died during menstruation he was able to express a drop of milk from the breast.

The most important indication of the general changes occurring in the external and internal genital organs, the proof that the young woman has become fitted for the fulfilment of her reproductive vocation, is the appearance of menstruation, a sanguineous discharge from the genital organs recurring every four weeks as the external manifestation of the internal process of ovulation.