The essential female organs of sex.—These consist of ovaries, oviducts, womb, vagina and breasts. All these organs, except the breasts, are on the inside of the body—in the lower part of the abdomen.
In a mature woman the (1) ovaries, two in number, are small almond-shaped glands just below the navel and are four or five inches apart, one located in the left side of the body and the other in the right. The ovaries are enveloped in a broad, thin, strong membrane and connect with the upper part of the (2) womb by slender cords called (3) oviducts.
Location and function of the ovaries.—There takes place in every girl, when she is from twelve to fifteen, a remarkable change, called puberty, or adolescence. From this time on, until she is forty to forty-five years old, there will be formed in one of the ovaries every four weeks a tiny egg, or ovum. The ovum is less than 1/120 of an inch in diameter. When this little egg breaks through the membrane of the ovary, it would drop down into the cavity of the body were it not for a most wonderful provision. The oviducts, or, as they are often called, the fallopian tubes, are ducts connected with the upper part of the womb, are three inches in length and have finger-like ends. When the little egg breaks through the membrane of the ovary, the little fingers of the oviducts close about the ovary and receive the little egg which then enters the tiny mouth of the oviduct and is conveyed through its small cavity to the womb.
The location and function of the womb and vagina.—The womb, or uterus, is located midway between the ovaries on the right and left, and between the bladder in front and the rectum behind. The ovaries and the womb are supported near the center of the abdomen by means of cords and muscles stretched across from the walls of the abdomen. The womb is a pear-shaped muscular organ with the small end pointing downward, and in a matured woman is three inches in length, two inches in width and with walls one-half inch thick. The cavity of the womb is small and has three openings, two near the top leading into the oviducts and one at the bottom opening into the (4) vagina. It will be seen from the cut that the lower end of the womb dips into the upper end of the vagina about one inch. This part of the womb is called the (5) os uteri, or mouth of the womb. The vagina in a grown woman is from four to six inches in length, of firm but very elastic tissue. It aids in holding the womb in position, serves as a passageway for the menstrual fluid to pass from the body, and has other purposes that will be mentioned in another chapter.
The breasts.—The form and position of the (6) breasts, or mammary glands, being known to you, it is not necessary for me to describe them here. Through the nerves they are closely related to the other sexual organs. With the approach of puberty they make considerable growth. However, it is not common for a girl’s breasts to develop to any considerable size before she is married. When she becomes a mother, the hundreds of tiny glands in her breasts form milk from her blood with which to nourish her child.
The creative energy.—From the dawning of puberty, all through life, day and night, asleep and awake, the breasts and other sexual organs are generating an energy that is being distributed throughout her entire being. It is this energy that helps to develop the girl into perfect womanhood. If the breasts and ovaries of a small girl could be painlessly and skillfully removed without injury to any part of her body, she would not develop into perfect womanhood in other respects. This experiment proves that these organs are secreting an energy that is necessary in developing and maintaining an ideal womanhood.