Menstruation is the monthly discharge of a red fluid, common to females from fifteen or sixteen years of age to between forty and fifty; and it is held that, while a female menstruates, she is apt, and capable also, to conceive. Menstruation is a device of nature to relieve the system, or to preserve the balance of the circulation, from the non-fulfilment of her intentions, by the absence of procreation. It usually continues for four, five, or six days, and seldom exceeds a few ounces. Its suppression is usually attended with marked ill health, and many of the formidable complaints of females are attributable to its irregularities. When anticipated, the female encounters feelings of depression and lassitude, and exhibits an aspect of feeble health. As a physiological fact, women, before and after menstruation, are more desirous of the exercise of sexual privileges, and usually the approach of the menstrual flow is accompanied by a sexual orgasm. It has ever been deemed, by almost universal consent, prudent for married persons and others to abstain from the sexual embrace during that period. If only on the score of cleanliness, it should be observed; besides, the likelihood of establishing irritability, and the probability of interfering with this healthful provision of nature, should deter from the indulgence. In some countries, menstruating women are excluded from associating with the other sex altogether, and are even forbid mingling with household duties. At the close of this article will be found a series of prescriptions and suggestions for the removal of the various disturbances this function is liable to.

The act of connexion is urged by what is called the sexual propensity. It is accompanied by feelings of the intensest kind: the acme of enjoyment is at the moment of seminal ejaculation. The penis is excited to erection by the influx or rush of blood into its cavernous or cellular structure; the scrotum becomes constricted, and compresses the testicles; the vesiculæ seminales, and the prostate gland, are also elevated by the muscles called levatores ani, as shown in the preliminary anatomical drawings, whence their use may now be better understood, as well as those of the perineal muscles, which all more or less assist in causing the prompt and forcible ejaculation of the spermatic fluid.

“In[7] the female, the sense of enjoyment, sub coitu, appears to be principally excited by the friction of the labia interna and clitoris, which are alike in a state of turgescence or erection. This nervous excitement, as in the male, often reaches such a degree of intensity that a kind of syncoptic state is induced.” A sense of contented lassitude follows, and the mind is permitted to return from the regions of excited imagination to its ordinary quietude.

The due occurrence of the phenomena just detailed does not necessarily secure, although it generally succeeds in producing, a prolific result. Health, aptitude, and one important condition, are indispensable; and the last is—a positive contact between the male sperm and female ovum.

There are many remarkable eccentricities that embitter married life. A union may exist between two parties who are wholly inapt for mutual enjoyment. The sensations belonging to the sexual act are involuntary, and are provoked independently of the will: hence, in connexion without consent, or under feelings of great repugnance, the orgasm is sometimes aroused; and yet, where the greatest affection and desire prevail, the male oftentimes unseasonably concluding before the female, is a most tantalizing source of disappointment. Further allusions will be found to this subject under the heads of “Sterility,” and “Impuissance.”

As a preliminary aid to the description of the process of impregnation, which ensues, the following anatomical draft is presented:—

1. Section of the womb, upper part.

2. Do. of side.

3. Do. of lateral covering.

4. Do. of lower part of womb.

5. Cavity of the womb.

6. A prominence leading from the openings of the fallopian tubes.

7. The vagina.

8 and 9. Fallopian tube cut open.

10 and 16. The fimbriated extremity of do.

11. The pavilion.

12. The ovary.

13. Vesicles in do.

14. Continuation of ovary.

15. Ligament of do.

17. Pavilion of right ovary.

18. Right ovary.

19. Connecting band.

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1. Section of the womb, upper part.