“That is right. The pelvic cavity contains the bladder, which is the reservoir for waste fluid, and the rectum, the outlet for waste solids. But it contains more than these. It is here in the pelvis that these organs of which you have not heard are located. You remember when you asked me about yourself and how you came into the world I told you of a little room in mother’s body where you lived and grew until you were large enough to live your own independent existence. Did you ever wonder where this room is?”
“Why, I never thought much about it. I guess I just thought it was in the abdominal cavity. Isn’t it?”
“No, the room is a little sac that lies here in the pelvis. I can best explain it to you by a picture. Here it is. You see it looks like a 47 pear hanging with the small end down. It lies just between the bladder and the rectum, and a passage leads up to it.”
“O, I see. Doesn’t the bladder empty itself through that passage?”
“No, the outlet to the bladder is just at the very entrance to this passage, but does not open into the passage at all. This passage is called the vagina, and the little room has two names. One is Latin, uterus; the other is Saxon, womb—it means the place where things are brought to life. The Latin word is used by scientists, but the Saxon word is used in the Bible and by poets. Do you remember when Nicodemus came to Jesus that he was told he must be born again, and he said in surprise, ‘Can a man enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’”
“O, I see now what he meant. I could not understand it before. Of course, he knew that was impossible, and so he could not see what Jesus meant.”
“David says, ‘Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.’ Poets sometimes speak of the womb of the morning, meaning the place where morning lies and grows until it is ready to burst forth in beauty on the world.”
“I like the Saxon word better than the Latin one, don’t you?”