The vaginal orifice gapes a little, so that the irregular carunculæ myrtiformes are visible. In parous women, the vaginal orifice is enlarged in such a manner that the wall of the vagina passes directly and without limitation into the wall of the vestibule, and the external orifice (meatus) of the urethra is situate immediately in front of the anterior vaginal column, and thus lies within the vaginal orifice.
The breasts of a strong, healthy woman who has attained complete sexual maturity are more or less firm in consistency, and considerable in size, exceeding now Ovid’s demand concerning these organs, ut sit quod capiat nostra tegatque manus. The normal hemispherical form and the somewhat soft texture are subject to many variations, these being dependent upon race, climate, and sexual activity and also upon the kind of clothing worn. The nipple and its encircling areola are usually of a brownish colour; but in beautiful women they sometimes retain the pink colour characteristic of these structures in the virgin. In parous women who have suckled their children, the breasts are usually pendent, and often the left breast will be found to be somewhat larger than the other; generally also in such women the nipples are longer and thicker than normal. Not infrequently the nipples are withdrawn into a furrow of the skin, and become prominent only on local stimulation or as a result of sexual excitement. Sometimes in the region of the areola, especially in brunettes, we see a circle of small glands, which produce eminences beneath the skin.
It is easy to understand that the breasts of such women in general no longer have the virginal form of small hemispheres, but have matured to a greater fulness and size. This, however, does not diminish their beauty, for the ideal of beauty must take into account the natural development of the body. Whereas at the present time, under the influence of the modern negation or at any rate undervaluation of maternity as the goal of woman’s life, it is the tendency of a certain school of art to misprize the influence of that state on the form of the breast, and to esteem the “flat bosom,” at an earlier day under the influence of Rousseau’s Emile, a book in which mothers are strongly urged to suckle their own children, the full bosom as a beauty was the fashion in art.
Only a perverted taste can find a woman beautiful without bosom—without “that golden chalice, from which men quaff love, and children life” (Mantegazza),—an angular, flat being, without a rounded form. Nothing but a morbid desire for equality with man can induce woman herself to endeavor to conceal also the external manifestation of her sexual characteristics, and by her clothing to disguise, like a nun, the sexual curves of her figure.
Great deposit of fat, such as occurs from liberal feeding in conjunction with a sedentary mode of life, or as a result of several pregnancies, destroys the beautiful form of the breasts, which attain an immoderate size, thus disturbing the grace and symmetry of the feminine figure, a fact recognized already by the Romans. Hyrtl condemns, from the point of view of anatomical beauty, the nude female figures in the pictures of Rubens, remarking that “the goddesses and angels of this painter are as luxuriant in their development as a Flemish dairy-maid;” and the buxom “goat’s-udder breast” prized by the Arabs does not represent any nobler ideal of beauty. Sometimes these excessively large and fat breasts hang down in a conical form, or, as more or less flattened hemispheres, reach right down over the gastric region; moreover, the interspace between the two breasts seems to disappear, and they touch or rub against one another.
According to Ploss and Bartels, the various forms of breast occurring in different races may be classified as follows: A. According to size: 1, very large; 2, large; 3, medium; 4, small. B. According to consistency and firmness: 1, high; 2, semi-pendent; 3, pendent. C. According to shape: 1, shell-shaped (disc-shaped); 2, hemispherical; 3, conical. The nipples also, according to these authors, exhibit variations dependent upon race, being in some cases small and flat, like a little knob, in some cases large and conical in shape, with a broad base and a rounded extremity, and in some cases large and cylindrical, having almost the shape of a finger-joint. The areola, finally, is in some women quite pale in color, in some dark pink, in some brown and even almost black from excess of pigment.
The uterus of a woman who has attained complete sexual maturity, has undergone such alterations in its proportions that the cervix and the body are of almost the same length. The constriction, visible externally, indicating the separation between these two segments of the organ, is depressed somewhat toward the external os. In sexually active women, a widening and an increased curvature of the region of the fundus occur, the uterine extremities of the Fallopian tubes becoming more widely separated; at the same time the posterior wall becomes more and more convex. The more frequently the uterus has functioned as a reproductive organ, the more strongly marked is the convexity of the body of that organ. The relative lengths of the corporal and cervical portions of the uterine cavity are now the reverse of those that obtain in the uterus of the child; the transverse and antero-posterior diameters have greatly increased. Transverse diameter at the fundus; virgin, 4 centimetres (1.575″), multipara, 5.5–6.5 centimetres (2.165–2.559″): sagittal (antero-posterior) diameter; virgin, 2 centimetres (0.787″); multipara, 3–3.5 centimetres (1.181–1.378″). (Chrobak and von Rosthorn.)
During the menacme, in consequence of the act of reproduction, the uterus undergoes important changes in form. In a nulliparous married woman, the uterus differs little from that of a virgin; the cavity is somewhat more extensive, the convexity of the outer surface a little greater, there is some increase in width in the neighborhood of the fundus, the plicæ palmatæ (arbor vitæ uterinum) are confined to the cervical canal; further, under the influence of copulation the appearance of the vagina changes, it becomes larger, and its walls become smoother, sometimes quite smooth, from the disappearance of the rugæ of the mucous membrane and especially of those attached to the posterior vaginal column. Much more extensive are the alterations in the uterus of a multipara. According to Toldt, “the parts of the cavity representing the cornua, which are pointed on either side as they pass toward the Fallopian tubes, become completely included in the lower undivided portion of the cavity, this change being effected chiefly by means of the increasing outward curvature of the walls, so that the cavity comes to assume an amygdaloid form; the cervical canal is also enlarged, especially the lower part, where also the plicæ palmatæ (arbor vitæ uterinum) becomes less distinct; the vaginal portion of the cervix is shortened, the os uteri externum gapes, the lips of the cervix are tumid, nearly equal in length, and usually beset with scarred depressions.” In nulliparae, the vaginal portion of the cervix is, as in a virgin, of a rather tough consistency, smooth on the surface, while the external os is small, like a dimple, or transversely oval; the color of the vaginal portion of the cervix is identical with that of the vaginal mucous membrane in general. Through frequent copulation, however, the form of the vaginal portion of the cervix is so far altered inasmuch as it is more freely supplied with blood, and, therefore, changes slightly, in consistency. In multiparæ, in consequence of lacerations of the cervix, the os uteri externum changes to a wide transverse fissure with tumid margins, justifying the old designation of this orifice as os tincæ;, carp’s mouth. A large size of the external and internal os, moderate enlargement of the cavity, rounding of the upper angles adjacent to the uterine orifices of the Fallopian tubes, increased convexity of the walls, and partial or complete effacement of the plicæ palmatæ (arbor vitæ uterinum), are the characteristics of the uterus of a multipara (Chrobak and von Rosthorn). According to Hennig, the vaginal portion of the cervix is longest in women who have undergone defloration, and in nulliparae; widest in prostitutes; narrowest in childless wives; thickest in young widows. This author gives the following measurements of the external os, showing its variations in accordance with age and sexual activity:
| In childhood, transversely oval | 0.46–0.56 cm. | (0.18–0.22″) |
| In the virgin, rounded | 0.20–0.50 cm. | (0.08–0.20″) |
| In prostitutes, transversely, oval | 0.60–2.50 cm. | (0.24–0.98″) |
| In sterile married women, round | 0.16 cm. | (0.06″) |
| In parous married women, transverse fissure | 1.10 cm. | (0.43″) |
| After the menopause | 0.81 cm. | (0.32″) |
In the fully-developed woman, the ovaries undergo changes in size, shape, and consistency, these changes being dependent upon the age, the sexual functional activity, and the constitutional predispositions of the individual. The average length of the ovary is 3–4 centimetres (1.18–1.58″); the average width, 2–3 centimetres (0.79–1.18″); and the average thickness 1 centimetre (0.39″). The surface of this organ gradually assumes a ragged appearance, from the scarred depressions caused by the great number of successive menstruations (ovulations)—sometimes the appearance produced resembles that of a mulberry.