_Chapter 22—Standard of morality._
Moral standard of revealed religion, law, ethics, custom, Supreme
Intelligence, chaos in morality, economic determinism, the superman,
ethics and work, morality of love, philosophy of pleasure, moral
standard in nature, rationality in nature, aim of nature, altruism and
morality.
_Chapter 23—Sexual morality._
History of marriage, promiscuity, consanguineous family, punaluan
family, pairing family, patriarchal family, female chastity, adultery,
law of obstacles, modesty, coyness, female morality and reason.
_Chapter 24—Male chastity._
Two reasons for male chastity, syphilis and gonorrhoea, prevalence
of gonorrhoea in men, infection of mothers and children, sterility,
syphilis, its complications, alimentary canal, respiratory tract,
circulatory system, genito-urinary system, skeleton, muscles, nervous
system, prostitution, clandestine vice, injury of abstinence, ethics
of evolution.
LOVE
PART I.
INTRODUCTION
Two intense desires rule and govern mankind and control all man’s
thoughts, his joys and sorrows. They are man’s two appetites, hunger
for food and craving for love. Curiously enough, while man takes
great pains in the education of the young to prepare them for the
gratification of hunger, the much tabooed question of sex has been
excluded, in our present civilization, from every discussion.
Yet love lies at the foundation of society, it permeates unconsciously
the thoughts, aspirations and hopes of mankind. Love is glorified as
the source of the most admirable productions of art, of the sublime
creations of poetry and music; it is accepted as the mightiest
factor in human civilization, as the basis of the family and state.
The egoism of passion and the power of love are absorbing all other
considerations. Virgil calls love the greatest conqueror:
“Omnia vincit amor, nos et cedamus amori.”
Solomon sings, “Love is strong as death.”
In its right appreciation, love has been exalted by the ancients in
song and story and extolled by priest and philosopher. “To the Spirit,
to Heaven, to the Sun, to the Moon, to Earth, to Night, to the Day, and
to the Father of all that is and will be, to Eros.” Such an invocation
was possible only among the ancient civilized nations. They recognized
the importance of sexuality in life. They could not see any moral
turpitude in actions, regarded by them as the design of nature and
as the acme of felicity. They discovered in Love the focus of life.
For this reason sexuality among the ancients was an object of pure
reverence as the fundamental force of life. The divine adoration of sex
was the practice of every tribe and nation of prehistoric antiquity.
Even the organs of sex were considered beautiful and pleasurable
objects, and were admired accordingly. The phallus, or the male
sex-organ, and the yoni, the external female genitals, were symbols of
the worship of the ancients and were objects of special religious rites.
In the remotest antiquity the worship of the generative principle was
the only religion known to men. Sex-worship was not confined to any
one race. It was the form of worship common to all primeval nations
of the globe. The Hindus, Chaldeans, Hebrews, Egyptians, Greeks,
Romans, Gauls, Celts, Teutons, Britons and Scandinavians, all shared in
phallicism and yonism.
The study of sexual activities and of generation was the basis of
ancient Hindu theology. Siva had on his left arm a ring on which
was portrayed the sex organs in the act of procreation. The Greek
bacchanalia, and the Roman saturnalian mysteries, the free love that
prevailed during the festivities in honor of Mylitta, Anaitis, and
Aphrodita were still relics of sex-worship. Herodotos’ statement that
in Babylon women offered themselves, once at least in their lives, in
the Temple of Venus, and that only after so doing were they considered
free to marry, and his further report that the women on the vessels
sailing for Bubastis to the festivals of Iris uncovered themselves in
the presence of the men, show that sex-worship was not unknown among
Assyrians and Egyptians.
In the historic time sex worship was almost replaced by other forms
of religion. Yet there are traces of the cult of the phallus to be
found everywhere in ancient profane and sacred history. The temple in
which the emperor Elgabal was brought up was represented on a bronze
coin of his reign; an ionic peristyle with a peek into the Cella, but
instead of the statue of a god was a gigantic phallus. Even the Hebrews
worshipped in the phallus the principle of the production of life
before the adoption of the cult of Jehovah. Records of phallicism can
still be found in the Old Testament. Instead of invoking the Deity
in taking a solemn oath, Abraham orders his servant to place his hand
upon his phallus, because the phallus was still kept in its former
high veneration. The slain enemy was, for this reason, deprived of his
phallus. David bought Saul’s daughter with a trophy of two hundred
phalli, taken from the slain Philistines. Circumcision also shows the
incorporation of phallic ritual with religion.
In the same light and with the same veneration as the phallus was the
yoni worshipped. In the yoni was worshipped the receptacle of life,
the divine ark, within the hidden enclosure of which was contained the
mystery of life. Its interior was considered the holy of holies. The
yoni was for that reason often represented by an ark, which was the
holiest of all symbols in the worship of the Ancients. The worship of
Osiris took place before an ark; the sanctum sanctorum of Jehovah’s
temple harbored an ark.
Yonism was the adoration of the vulva, as the organ through which the
sexual powers are manifested. It is through the woman that the divine
sexual emotions are aroused; it is the sight or thought of her that
calls into activity the man’s generative nature and powers.
The female principle in nature was hence not considered simply as a
passive medium, but was exalted and worshipped as a potent factor
in the mystery of creation and reproduction. The earth itself was
considered feminine, and all natural orifices have been regarded as
typical of that part which characterizes woman. The vulva, therefore,
was the sacred symbol of the female principle in nature.
The Ashereh, so often mentioned in the Bible, was nothing but the image
of the yoni. It was a symbol of Ashtoreth, or of the union of Baal
and Ashtoreth. The Ashereh was made of wood and had in its centre an
opening or fissure as the door of life. Above the fissure was a small
elevation as an emblematical representation of the clitoris.
The most common forms of the feminine symbol were those made in
representation of the mons Veneris. The mountain of Venus was
represented by mounds, columns and pyramids. Mounds and hills were
considered holy. The graves of Egyptian kings were erected in form
of huge pyramids in honor of the feminine creative deity. The yoni
worshippers of the Old Testament had the temples of their feminine
deity on high hills. The obelisk, pillar, column, altar, mount and
cave, all have their origin in the pristine symbolism of yonic worship.
Even the present belief in the lucky horseshoe is connected with the
ancient emblems of the female genitals, the yoni. In Ireland the yoni
seem to have been the symbol of sex-worship most in use. Even in the
arches over the doorways of Christian churches a female figure, with
the person fully exposed, was so placed that the external organs of
generation at once caught the eye. In olden times, the people were in
the habit of making charcoal drawings of the female genitals over the
doors of their houses to ward off ill luck. Now, the horseshoe has
a great resemblance with the form of the vulva. Hence the drawings
over the doors resembled a horseshoe. From this symbol originates the
horseshoe’s alleged power to ward off evil and to bring luck. Father
Dubois found that the lingam which the devout Hindus attach either to
their hair or arms or is suspended from the neck is a small amulet
representing the organs of both sexes in activity. Even the symbol of
the cross has been identified with the earliest records of sex-worship.
The cruciform symbol on the Assyrian relics and in the temples of
Vishnu typifies the sacredness of Love’s physical expression.
Thus with the ancients the passion of sex and the fervor of religion
were closely interwoven. Accordingly every ancient temple had within
its confines a number of consecrated women whose office it was to
submit to the embraces of any man upon the payment of a specified sum.
The money was used for religious purposes. To the mind of the Ancients
no more appropriate nor holy means could be devised for raising money
for the maintenance of the temple than a sanctified indulgence in the
divine act. It was the most sacred and sublime of all human functions.
Hence the temple-courtesan was held in high honor and was considered
as sacred as the priest. The Old Testament calls the temple-courtesan
“Hakdeshoh,” the consecrated, the holy; and it was not in the least
degrading to associate with her, in the early history of the Hebrews,
as the story of Juda and Tamar shows. Later on, Amos (ii, 7) complains
that the Hebrew maidens received the embraces of men at every altar.
Hosea (iv, 14) distinguishes between the common prostitute and the
temple-courtesan.
The lapse of Israel into the former sex-worship, at the time of these
prophets, caused a reaction against any sex-manifestations. This
reaction is especially noticeable among the faithful adherents of the
religion of Jehovah in the latter days of the second temple. The pious
men sought the greatest virtue in chastity and celibacy and looked with
contempt upon sexuality. In the beginning only individual persons took
to celibacy, as did Elijah and Elisha. Later on these celibates became
more numerous and formed different orders, of which the order of the
Essaeans was the most important, because Christianity took its origin
within the folds of this order.
In accordance with its origin, Christianity never looked with favor
upon sexuality of any kind. The immaculate virgin is the ideal. Even
holy matrimony was only tolerated. “It is good for a man not to touch
a woman,” writes Paul to the Corinthians (Cap. vii). Christianity,
therefore, always surrounded with a halo those who vowed chastity.
To overcome the passion of sex was always praised as the highest
virtue, and asceticism was held in high veneration. Justinus says that
total sexual abstinence is a high virtue, and that sexual activity
is unnecessary to life. Hieronymus claims that God and the Church
requested singleness and only permitted marriage. Christianity entirely
overlooked the tremendous strain upon the physical, mental and moral
forces such an unnatural life must carry with it. For though complete
abstinence is possible and feasible during the period of adolescence,
men and women, when mature in years, suffer under such enforced
abstinence, and although the final act, or the culmination of the
sex-attraction, may be suppressed by the will, yet its emotions are
irresistible. The neurotic nun who imagines herself being embraced by
a saint thinks that she has subjugated the instinct of sex, but in
reality her emotions have a sexual origin.
Actions caused by great sexual excitement may be found in the life of
many a saint. Augustinus, in his confessions, says: “My heart was
burning, boiling and foaming with unchastity; it was poured out, it
overflowed, it went up in licentiousness.”
Origines found sexual abstinence too difficult and castrated himself.
For that reason he never was canonized. For the spirit should kill
the flesh. Parkman’s report about Marie de l’Incarnation is highly
interesting in this respect. She heard, while in a trance, a miraculous
voice, Christ promising to become her spouse. Months and years passed,
when again the voice sounded in her ear, this time with the assurance
that the promise was fulfilled, that she was indeed his bride. Now
ensued phenomena which are not infrequent among female devotees, when
unmarried or married unhappily. In her excited imagination, the divine
spouse became a living presence, and her language to him, as recorded
by herself, is of intense passion. Her prayer is, “O! my Love! when
shall I embrace you? Have you no pity on the torments which I suffer?
Alas, alas, my Love, my Beauty, my Life! Instead of healing my pain you
take pleasure in it. Come, let me embrace you and die in your sacred
arms.”
A curious instance of perversion in religio-sexual feeling, bordering
on zoöerastia, is the case of St. Veronica. According to Friedrich she
was so enamored of the divine lion, symbolizing St. Mark, that she took
a lion whelp to her bed, fondled it, kissed it “et præbebat ei mammas.”
Thus the preaching of the Church on the subjugation of the flesh was
no great success even among the saints. If the ascetics are not frigid
they remain subject to the emotions of sex. Mankind at large is surely
ruled by the dictates of the sex-urge, in our day no less than at the
time of sex-worship. Especially do all feminine thoughts, aspirations
and pursuits aim, though sometimes unconsciously, at love, in spite
of our false modesty, prudery and conspiracy of silence about the
fundamental facts of reproduction.
One glance at the fashions in dress will bear out this contention. The
question of dress surely rules the thoughts and actions of a majority
of our modern women. Now what is the meaning of dress? Grosse in his
“Anfänge der Kunst” shows that the desire for clothes was originally
an irradiation of the sex instinct. The man adopted dress for the
purpose of decoration, the woman for the purpose of attraction through
covering. The first coverings of the private parts served as an
ornament of the same and to render the parts covered more conspicuous.
For where nudity generally prevails, the practice of covering certain
parts of the body excites curiosity and solicits the observation of
the other sex. Mortimer reports that in Australia girls cast off their
aprons after marriage, being no longer anxious to engage the notice of
men.
This fact serves to prove that clothes, which originated from the first
coverings, were originally worn to allure. It was not the feeling of
shame that caused resort to coverings and created clothes, but the very
coverings provoked in time the feeling of shame.[A]
Clothes owing their introduction to the irradiation of sex-attraction,
fashion never disowned their origin. Fashion, says Bloch, bears witness
of its intimate relationship to the vita sexualis, in that it always
started from the ranks of courtesans and at the instance of opulent
demi-mondaines. Gunther says: The demi-monde has always, since fashions
are in existence, dictated them, in Rome, in Venice and now in Paris.
Fashion has in two ways introduced a sensual element in dress. Either
it renders conspicuous certain parts of the body and exaggerates their
size, by the shape of the garment, its drapery and trimmings, or it
leaves uncovered these parts to catch the eye. Both manoeuvers aim
at the production of a sensual effect. The stretching of the skirt
over the abdomen and legs in such a way that the outlines of the hips
and thighs obtrude themselves upon the eye was surely invented by a
Parisian demi-mondaine to serve sensuality. The corset, says Bloch,
aims to render conspicuous and prominent the specific female organ, the
bosom. It tries to effect an exciting contrast between the form of the
bosom and the slimness of the waist, increased by tight lacing. At the
same time, fashion dictates for a great number of occasions an ample
nudity of this most alluring female organ.
The bosom of the woman, says Berg, is the organ by which she is able
to express herself most ingeniously. Its undulations were always
her most expressive and skilful rhetoric. The bosom represents the
woman’s language and her poetry, her history and her music, her
purity and her longing, her policy and her religion, her worship
and her art, her secret and her convention, her character and her
pride, her consciousness, her magic mirror and her mystery. The bosom
is the central organ of all female ideas, desires and humors. No
wonder, therefore, that fashion concentrates its greatest endeavors
and painstaking effort upon this particular part of the female body.
Being Cupid’s most faithful servant, fashion selects this part which
it expects to serve best as the target of the winged god’s arrows. To
be sure, the individual refined and chaste woman is unaware of the
underlying principle of the creators of fashions. She is convinced
that clothes were adopted for esthetic reasons, although the sculptor
who knows most of beauty seldom covers up the naked body. By heredity
and social custom, clothing for refined women has become a mere side
current of irradiation of the sensual. Clothes are used, by a majority
of women, mainly as a means of beautifying. Ornamental clothing is
not any longer a simple lure. It is a sign or symbol of a greater
refinement of perception and delicacy of feeling. By the use of clothes
the attention is directed rather to the personality than to the person.
It is an attempt to display psychical rather than physical features.
The impulse of the normal woman to attribute an exaggerated value
to clothes is more an imaginative radiation and far remote from the
desire of physical exhibition. But as far as fashion is concerned, the
original close connection between clothes and the attraction of the
sexes is still the commanding principle. Fashion is still standing
in the service of sensuality. This explains its modern fickleness.
In previous epochs the same mode of dress was worn for centuries, as
the European peasant’s dress shows. The present feverishly frequent
change of fashion is a pathological phenomenon, betraying the diseased
eagerness for ever stronger and more original sensual stimulations.
Love and sex attraction being the chief objects in the lives of a
considerable part of mankind, it is surprising that until recently
sexuality was not looked upon with great favor, and that a sane
knowledge of sex and reproduction was assiduously withheld from the
people. While our ancestors considered the sex functions sacred, by a
strange mental process it is now considered shameful. So deeply is the
sense of shame morbidly associated with the sensual desire that most
people, and especially women, frequently disavow their propensity and
attempt to hide their ardor from the world. They do not recognize that
normal, well-ordered amativeness is a physiological and moral virtue,
while manifestations of spurious spirituality are often induced by
certain perversions. Indifference to amatory pleasures is frequently
professed by those who resort to artificial stimulants. Only those most
occupied with amatory delights feign to look with contempt upon sex
and to despise its wonderful functions.[B] To the really innocent and
pure all things are pure. The result of this morbid sense of shame is
that there is scarcely any other subject so completely ignored as the
sex function, although so much of the health and happiness of the race
depends upon it. This false sense of shame is the cause of our modern
fig-leaf modesty and prudery, which attributes a particular obscene
meaning to everything sexual. It has created that diseased imagination,
depraved beyond all hope, which can find any prurient gratification in
the cold, chaste nakedness of ancient marble. The mere nude arms or
legs of a small school girl, the furnishings of a public bath-house,
the naked limbs of a Tirolian peasant, or the grandest works of art
awaken in them lascivious thoughts. Individuals with such traits
are accustomed to interject their own diseased imagination, guilty
conscience and obscene sentiments into the purest artistic creations,
be they sculptured, painted, written or spoken.
The prudery and obscenity of these victims of a diseased imagination
and perverted moral sense have succeeded in distorting our judgment
on questions of sex in such a way that any desire for scientific
instruction in these subjects has become inextricably confused
with ideas of prurience and impropriety. Matters pertaining to the
generative functions are, as a rule, excluded even from treatises on
physiology. But for the anatomists and alienists, nothing would be
known about the physiology of normal Love. The zealots wish to persuade
us that the population of the earth increases by the stork-method.
Even the physician who is often called upon for advice about things
pertaining to the psychological phase of sex, prudishly ignores the
mightiest of human instincts which is so intimately related to human
weal and woe. He is conversant with the sexual question by virtue of
its anatomical and physiological knowledge, and he is well aware of
its hygienic, sociological and ethical importance. But when he is to
furnish enlightenment on psychic or pedagogic questions of sex, he
is embarrassed because of a lack of knowledge of sex psychology. The
great teachers in our medical schools, who ought to impart to their
pupils all their knowledge about the nature of things concerning Love
that they have gathered in their long and extensive experience, seem
either to consider Love a subject too sacred for physiological and
psychological analysis, or are really afraid to arouse the anger of the
zealots who made of the sanctuary of sex-attraction a “noli me tangere.”
Only the writers of fiction and poetry are allowed to approach the
sanctuary of Love, because with their abnormal imagination they sang
dithyrambs on this natural sentiment and morbidly transformed it into
a supernatural, obscure phenomenon. The hyperaesthetic writers of this
morbid fiction are encouraged to continue their practice of elevating
the natural sentiment of love to the height of a fetich, which only the
lover is capable of understanding. The scientist who dared to analyze
this sentiment, so important to the human race, and tried to enlighten
us about the nature of the attraction of the sexes, was met with
the cry, “To the Tarpeian rock.” The unbiased observer was declared
incapable of feeling and comprehending this natural sentiment. Even
philosophers, such as Schopenhauer, Hartman and Spencer, though they
touched upon the subject only from a philosophical point of view,
without probing it with the anatomist’s scalpel, have been decried as
heartless and soulless cynics whom nature denied the possession of this
sublimest of sentiments, because they dared to attack the majesty of
Love.
No wonder, therefore, that no other physical function has been treated
with so stepmotherly a regard and scant attention as the important
instinct of the preservation of the species, no wonder that no other
physiological phenomenon has been approached with such hesitancy as
the study of love in man. The works on physiology and gynaecology are
significantly silent on the subject of this important sentiment, and
the practitioner who so often has to deal with the pathological side of
love looks in vain for light in his text-books.
In the last decennium, a certain change has taken place in this
respect. A wave of sex discussion is sweeping over the civilized
countries of the world. The former taboo on the discussion of sexual
matters has been more or less removed and the veil lifted. Things which
not very long ago could not have been mentioned in polite society
except in whispers and with low breath, are now publicly discussed
in season and out of season. As it is often the case, we have turned
from the one extreme of complete darkness to the other extreme of too
glaring light. Sex enlightenment runs rampant at present. It haunts the
stage, lurks in innumerable societies and crops out in newspapers and
magazines.
But, although the world is full of sex discussion, the emphasis is
generally laid upon sex-hygiene and upon the knowledge of the relations
of the sex function to mental and physical development. Sex-hygiene
is nowadays held to be a proper subject of pedagogy and is taught in
many schools and colleges. But the emotion of Love is still very little
studied, and it is still wrapped in complete darkness. A great deal
of ignorance still prevails in regard to this important emotion. Few
people understand under this much-abused word one and the same emotion.
The same word is used to designate entirely different feelings. The
ancient Greeks had three different words to express the different
emotions that go under the name of love. One of the highest emotions
is expressed by the word ἀγαπάω. It is the love man feels for God,
parents or country. It is the love founded upon worship, adoration,
gratitude and habit. The other kind of love was expressed by the word
φιλέω. It designates the love founded on sympathy and liking, as the
love of friends, of humanity, of wisdom. The last, amatory emotion, was
expressed by the word ἐράω. It is the love founded upon sex-attraction.
It is a purely instinctive emotion, found throughout the animal
kingdom and even among some plants. Hence it is just the feeling which
should not be treated with such besotted reverence. True enough sexual
passion is the passion of creation, the most important function in
the universe. Sympathy, affection, fidelity, sacrifice, indeed, all
those noble traits, included under the term altruism, spring from the
reproductive instinct. Still the two emotions, love, sung by poetry
and exalted by art, and sex-attraction, found in animals and plants as
well as in man, can not be identical. Still they are both generally
confounded even by the best writers.
To spread more light upon this important subject is the aim of this
treatise. It has been written for the elucidation of the normal amatory
emotions, considering the pathological changes only by way of contrast,
for the perusal of the profession of medicine and of students of
medical jurisprudence.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] James (Psychology, 1890, II. p. 449) asserts that emotions follow
and do not precede the bodily state. We fear because we run away,
reverence because we kneel, love because we kiss.
[B] The tendency of the mind is to project in imagination upon the
world about us what we possess in our own souls. An accentuated
mental attitude in an individual is, as a rule, proof that in its
subconsciousness dwells a type of reversed feeling to the one that is
active in consciousness. The excessive prude is generally at heart a
sensualist.
PART II.
EVOLUTION OF SEX
CHAPTER I
ORGANIC EVOLUTION
The emotion of love, like any other psychic trait, is subject to the
laws of evolution. Its history is written on the pages of Life’s book.
The amatory emotions have followed step by step the evolution of plant
and animal.
The fact of organic evolution is nowadays tacitly accepted even by
those powers who in a not very remote period fought against the theory
of the heliocentric system. What is still _sub judice_ is the method of
evolution. Here we have two main theories:
1. The mechanistic.
(a) Neo-Lamarckians.
(b) Neo-Darwinians.
2. The vitalistic.
(a) Teleology.
(b) Creative evolution.
According to the mechanistic theory, all life can be accounted for
through the application of the laws of physics and chemistry, while the
claim of the vitalistic theory is that physics and chemistry do not
explain all. Teleology holds that life is carrying out a prearranged
plan; creative evolution postulates a blind primordial energy, a
psychic force, a life impetus, without any prearranged plans. The
Neo-Lamarckians hold that acquired characteristics during the lifetime
of the individual are transmitted to its offspring. This transmission
is the method of evolution. The Neo-Darwinians deny the transmission
of acquired characteristics and claim that evolution has been and is
effected by natural selection. The animal’s germ-cells being a product
of its own soma-cells and the parents’ germ-cells, they must change
continually, since the soma-cells are being continually changed. Those
germ-cells which are beneficial to the organism are selected by nature
for preservation. The claim of the Lamarckians is that environment
gives rise to variation, while the Darwinians maintain that a given
variation is selected by environment for survival.
All four theories assume evolution as a fact. That the neck of the
giraffe, for example, has been evolved to reach the leaves of high
trees is admitted by all of them; they only differ in the principle
underlying this evolution. According to teleology, the faculty to
evolve a long neck has been infused into the protoplasm by the creative
power, according to a prearranged plan. Creative evolution assumes a
blind primordial vital impetus without purpose, end or aim. Organic
life is an infinite addition, a continuance without conclusion.
Creation, once started, the long neck has evolved without any
previously arranged plan. The Neo-Lamarckian explains the evolvement
of the long neck by the continual stretching of the organ to reach
the leaves of high trees. The increase in length was then transmitted
from generation to generation, each generation contributing its quota.
In this way the present long neck has been evolved. The Neo-Darwinian
assumes an accidental variation. At one time in the animal’s history an
animal with a long neck has been accidentally bred. This variation with
its higher survival value survived during a scarcity of food, while the
low-necked varieties disappeared.
Neither of the four theories gives entire satisfaction to the
fastidious critic. The mechanistic theory denies or rather ignores
the presence of an intelligence in the universe, and the human mind,
as now constituted, can not understand how the power, that could
create a substance with the potentiality to develop into the human
intellect, could itself be devoid of intellect. If, on the other
hand, the creative power is endowed with intelligence, then its
working without aim or purpose is equally unthinkable. The vitalistic
theory offers other difficulties. Teleology, for instance, does not
answer the question why an intelligence, unlimited by space and time,
omnipotent and omniscient, should need the vast machinery of evolution
to accomplish its end; why could it not create a full-fledged Adam of
the theologist? Moreover, the human mind can not grasp the How, Whence
and the Where of the Supreme Intelligence, except by faith, and science
has no dealing with faith. The same objection may be raised against
creative evolution, whence this initial, vital impetus, whence this
original life?
The part of the mechanistic theory enunciated by the Neo-Lamarckians
seems quite probable. Nature, or environment, does sometimes change
organic beings either by chemical or by physical influences, and these
changes are not seldom transmitted to the offspring. Antonio Marro
(First Eugenic Congress) cites a case where a bull while leaving the
stable had its tail cut off, the door suddenly closing; all the calves
born through the impregnation of this bull were tailless. Marro also
made guinea-pigs epileptic by the resection of the sciatic nerve, and
the offspring of the animals were also epileptic. Climate, temperature,
moisture, nutrition and unusual activity produce effects upon the
organism, and the offspring of the new generation have in their blood
and brain the consequences of the habits of their ancestors. Prolonged
disuse of an organ causes its degeneration and often its disappearance.
High temperature changes the color of insects which is then inheritable
or racial. Poisons such as alcohol, syphilis, arthritic diathesis,
intoxicants of contagious diseases do also change the germ-plasma.
Franz Boas (“The Immigration Commission. Changes in bodily form of
descendants of Immigrants”) has found that none of the characteristics
of the human types that come to America remain stable. Not even those
characteristics of a race which have proved to be most permanent in
their old home, as the form of the head, remain the same under the new
surroundings. The length of the head of the brachycephalic Hebrews is
increased, the width of the head and of the face is decreased. On the
other hand, the length of the head of the dolichocephalic Sicilians
is decreased, while the width of the head is increased. The effect
of these changes is the development of a greater similarity of the
descendants of Sicilians and Hebrews, one to the other. The height
of body of the American-born Hebrew is increased. This influence of
American environment upon the descendants of immigrants shows that
acquired characteristics are transmissible. On the other hand, many
facts tend to show that acquired characteristics, as a rule, are
not transmitted to the offspring. Since the beginning of history
circumcision has been practised among the Jews, still the Jewish boy is
born with an intact prepuce.
For the reason that in the majority of cases acquired characters are
not transmissible, the Darwinian rejects the explanation of evolution
by appetency, or the use and disuse of certain organs, and assumes a
quasi “deus ex machina” in the form of variation.
Ordinary variation is a fact that can not be disputed. No two plants
or animals are exactly alike. The amphimixis or the blending of the
inheritances of two individuals is, according to Weismann, the great
factor in the production of variations. The two parents of every animal
or plant have the species-character in common, but there are certain
distinctive traits that hybridize. Hence ordinary variation is a fact,
and Nature by selection may evolve, in a slow way, new species, just
as Luther Burbank creates new kinds by artificial selection. Favorable
variations are then bound to furnish the possessor with a greater power
of resistance and with higher possibilities of life and propagation.
Evolution, accordingly, occurs primarily through sudden mutations or
sports which are the fittest for survival.
While the principle upon which the Lamarckian doctrines rest is the
power of adaptation, the basis of evolution for the Darwinian is the
transmissibility of unlikeness or individuality just as likeness.
Acquired characters are not transmitted; each generation has to make a
fresh start. It does not begin where the last generation has left off.
But variations are transmitted to the offspring, and evolution proceeds
by sports or by the transilient variation.
A serious objection to this theory is the tendency of Nature to revert
to the normal average of the race. The law of Galton means the return
to the mean of the species. The children of the sport tend to return
towards the mean of the race.
Thus the four explanations do not satisfactorily explain, and the
subject of the method of evolution is not yet decided. Neither
teleology with the initiatory psychic energy working towards definite
ends, nor Bergson’s vital impulse or original profound cosmic force,
nor Lamarck’s appetency or use and disuse, nor Darwin’s natural
selection, furnish an unobjectionable satisfactory explanation of
organic evolution. Still the world’s thinkers and scientists have
accepted organic evolution as a fact which may be proven by embryonic
development, in conformity with Haeckel’s biogenetic axiom that
ontogeny is only a short recapitulation of phylogeny.
The ovum or even the zygote (i. e., the impregnated ovum) is a
single-celled organism and resembles the animals of the first or
lowest type in the animal kingdom. The protozoa are nothing else than
single-celled animals. Some of them have even a lower structure than
the common cell. The Monera, e. g., has neither nucleus nor membrane.
The manifestations of life are recognizable only by the possession
of the faculties of the assimilation of food and of propagation by
segmentation and division.
[Illustration: CUT I.
a, cell; b, morula; c, blastula; d, gastrula; ec, ectoblast; en,
endoblast.]
Like the protozoon, the ovum, immediately after its impregnation,
begins to undergo a certain division, by a series of successive
segmentations, into 2, then 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc., cells. By
continuous cell segmentations a great mass, the morula or mulberry,
is produced. The structure of the morula corresponds with that of the
coelenterata, or the animals of the second type. To this type belong
the animals with gemmiparous reproduction, or multiplication by means
of buds. The divided animals remain together and form colonies, as e.
g. in sponges or corals.
The next event in the formation of the embryo is the blastula. The
solid spherical mass of cells becomes hollow like a rubber ball. In
the subsequent stage the blastula becomes flat at one pole. By degrees
a depression is formed at this point, which becomes deeper step by
step, until the inner layer reaches the outer layer, representing half
a sphere of two layers, like a collapsed rubber ball. In the farther
growth the edges approach the middle line till they finally meet and
fuse together. The oval body, called the gastrula, thus consists of two
layers, the primitive germinal membranes, the ectoderm and entoderm.
The gastrula resembles in its structure that of the worms, or the third
type of the animal kingdom.
[Illustration: CUT II.
_Diagram, showing the development of the organs._
ek, ektoderm; mp, medulary plate; ms, mesoderm just forming from the
ed, entoderm; c, coelom or body cavity; nt, nerve-tube or spinal cord;
ac, abdominal cavity; cd, chorda dorsalis; it, intestinal cavity.]
By certain foldings of the ento- and ectoderm transformations arise, and
new organs develop. Two folds of the entoderm grow higher, approach
each other and finally meet. In this way the embryo consists of four
germinal membranes. A certain folding of the ectoderm marks the
position of the future backbone in the primitive stripe. A longitudinal
furrow marks the origin of the nerve-tube. The different membranes
have thus formed several tubes, the chorda dorsalis, the definitive
intestinal canal and the abdominal cavity or coelom. The structure of
the embryo resembles now more or less that of the animals of the fourth
type or the echinodermata.
The membranes which include the intestinal canal soon overgrow on both
sides the nerve-tube and the chorda and are then differentiated partly
into the bones of the skeleton and partly into the muscles. In the
meantime, the vascular spaces develop. At one point of the vascular
tube a rhythmical pulsation is observed, representing the primitive
heart, similar to that of the mollusca.
A certain fold, the head-fold, arises at the front end of the embryo
by the bending of the spinal column. Beneath the head-fold arise five
processes or gills, as in fishes, which later on are transformed into
the face of the fetus. Four other processes are budded off from the
trunk and subsequently become the extremities. A furrow at the ventral
side of the embryo shows the origin of later trachea and lungs. On
both sides of the head-fold can be seen two pits for the eyes. At
this point, the embryo is in the same stage of development as many
arthropoda.
The skeleton begins now to ossify. The heart tube begins to bend and
takes the form of an “S.” In this way the tube is turned into an
auricle and ventricle as in the amphibia. The ventricle is then divided
by a partition as in the reptiles. One part of the nerve-tube is
differentiated into three cerebral vesicles, as in birds.
Thus the embryo resembles in its structure at different stages the
structure of the different types of the animals of the animal kingdom.
The different formations do not follow the chronological order as
described, but, as a rule, they take place synchronously. At the end of
the fourth month the fetus is about sixteen centimeters or six inches
long and has reached its definite human shape.
CHAPTER II
EVOLUTION OF THE GENITAL SYSTEM
_A. The Indifferent Stage_
Before the last described stage has been reached, there has developed
simultaneously with the other organs a set of organs, known under the
name of the genito-urinary system, which deserves here our special
attention.
The urinary secretion is effected throughout the animal kingdom by
three systems: the pronephros or the head-kidney; mesonephros, or
primitive kidney, or Wolffian body, “Urniere”; and metanephros, or true
kidney. The pronephros must be regarded as the phylogenetically oldest
part, since only traces of it are found in the human embryo. Here in
the earlier stages of embryonic development, the Wolffian body is the
organ for the urinary secretion.
The Wolffian body, or mesonephros, appears in the shape of two
longitudinal protuberances on either side of the mesentary along the
spinal column. The protuberances consist of a series of transverse
excretory tubules or nephrides. These tubules open into two pronephric
ducts, or Wolffian ducts, which are running alongside the abdominal
aorta. These two Wolffian or primitive male ducts open at the caudal
end of the embryo into the hind-end of the alimentary canal, or the
cloaca (Cut III, Fig. 2).
When the Wolffian body has almost reached its greatest development a
second longitudinal duct makes its appearance by the evagination of
the ventral surface of the Wolffian body. These ducts lie in close
proximity of the Wolffian ducts, along the dorsal aspect of the coelom,
or body-cavity, and are known as the ducts of Müller, or the primitive
female ducts. The function of these canals in lowly organized animals
is that of receiving from the body-cavity the ova and of evacuating
them from the body. The Müllerian ducts also open into the cloaca. At
the lower end the Müllerian and Wolffian ducts run in close apposition
and form the genital cord. At this stage of development the embryo is
thus hermaphroditic like the worms.
[Illustration: CUT III.
_Fig. 1, horizontal cut through embryo; Fig. 2, vertical cut; schema
of indifferent stage._
Wb, Wolffian body; Wd, Wolffian duct; Md, Müllerian duct; gg, genital
gland; m, mesentery; i, intestine; sc, spinal cord; ch, chorda; ao,
aorta; a, allantois; clo, cloaca; k, kidney.]
The metanephros, or the true kidney, appears first as an epithelial
or renal evagination of the Wolffian duct on the dorsal side of the
latter and near its opening into the intestinal canal or cloaca.
This bud grows forward, extends headward toward the position of the
Wolffian body and becomes a long, narrow tube, the ureter. The blind
end branches into different tubules, each having a sacculated end. They
soon assume a tortuous and convoluted form and represent the permanent
kidney. The Wolffian body is now replaced in its function by the true
kidney, and enters into special relations with the sexual organs, by
being transformed into the genital apparatus of the male.
Before the Wolffian body has yet degenerated the mesothelial cells
overlying the free surface of that body, at its upper part, and at the
ventro-mesial side, assume a high columnar form and form an elongated
swelling, known as the internal genital ridge. As the degeneration of
the Wolffian body proceeds the genital ridge is differentiated into the
indifferent sexual gland, by producing a projection upon the wall of
the coelom or body cavity. This prominence is attached to the surface
of the Wolffian body by a fold of the peritoneum. At this stage there
is no distinction of sex. The sexual gland represents the indifferent
type of the sexual apparatus.
While this metamorphosis is going on at the head-end of the sexual
ducts, the caudal ends undergo also a certain degree of development.
In the early embryonic life the intestinal canal is in communication
with the allantois. In fact, both form one continuous canal. When
the caudal, pointed end of the intestine becomes obliterated,
the allantois-duct on the ventral side, and the intestine on the
dorsal side, both open into a kind of pouch, the cloaca. When the
body-cavity of the embryo closes in the course of farther development,
the allantois, which is the connecting link between the embryo and
the placenta, enters the embryo by the small opening known as the
umbilicus. Very soon the middle segment of the intra-embryonic
allantois dilates and assumes the form of a spindle-shaped sac, the
later urinary bladder. The portion of the intra-embryonic allantois,
connecting the summit of the bladder with the umbilicus, soon becomes
an impervious cord, known as the urachus. The portion of the allantois
intervening between the bladder and the intestine is designated as
Sinus Urogenitalis.
Into this sinus opens the short canal, connecting the lower end of
the bladder with the upper end of the urogenital sinus which becomes
later on the urethra. The sinus also receives the genital ducts, the
Müllerian and the Wolffian ducts, and the latter’s evaginations, the
ureters. Later on, owing to alterations through unequal growth, the
orifices of the ureters, which originally lie in close apposition with
the openings of the Wolffian ducts, change their position and are moved
toward the bladder. The interval between the two pairs of ducts, the
Wolffian ducts and the ureters, increases, until the ureters finally
open into the bladder.
The intra-embryonic allantois has thus furnished the following organs:
the solid cord urachus, or ligamentum vesico-umbilicale, the urinary
bladder, the urethra and the urogenital sinus. The latter is still in
communication with the intestine by means of the cloaca.
At the next step ridges or folds spring from each side of the cloaca,
grow toward each other, until they finally coalesce and form a complete
septum. By farther development the original epithelial septum becomes
the permanent perineum. Since the intestine is now no longer in
communication with the urogenital sinus, the cloaca as such disappears.
At this stage the intestine ends in a blind sac. It is closed up
towards the exterior by the anal membrane. Neither are urethra and
genital canal in communication with the exterior. They both open into
the urogenital sinus, and the latter is closed up towards the exterior
by the urogenital membrane. The anal membrane soon breaks through and
the rectum opens to the exterior by the way of the anus.
_B. The Internal Male Sexual Organs_
After the genital ridge had made its appearance, columns of cells
begin to grow down into the substance of the Wolffian ridge. The
columns are composed of two kinds of cells, small epithelial cells
and large spherical cells, known as sex-cells. Two regions may be now
recognized in the ridge, the rete-region and the sex-gland region. The
cell-columns of the rete region are termed “rete-cords,” and the cell
columns of the sex-gland region are called “sex-cords.” The sex-cords
unite to form a complicated network and the rete-cords grow backward to
the Wolffian ridge. They then develop a lumen and send off branches to
the sex-cord reticulum.
The genital portion of the Wolffian body persists in the male in its
entirety and serves as the efferent ducts of the testis. They open into
the upper part of the Wolffian duct. The latter is retained complete.
The portion nearest the testis is thrown into coils and forms a part of
the epididymis, the remainder is converted into the vas deferens and
the ductus ejaculatorius and the lateral outpouching of the wall, the
vesicula seminalis.
The Müllerian ducts disappear completely in the male. Only the lower
ends of the ducts fuse to form the sinus pocularis, or utriculus
prostaticus.
_C. The Internal Female Sex Organs_
In the female the Wolffian body and ducts degenerate. The remainder
of the body is known as the parovarium, an organ without any apparent
function, while the remainder of the ducts are designated the ducts of
Gartner.
The ovary is produced from the asexual stage by the following
metamorphosis. The mesothelial cells on the peritoneal surface of the
sexual gland change into the germinal epithelium and form the so-called
egg-columns or sexual cord which represent the primitive ova.
[Illustration:
CUT IV.
_Vertical cut through male and female embryos, Schema; Fig. 1, male;
Fig. 2, female._
a, allantois duct; b, bladder; u, urethra; ur, ureter; su, sinus
urogenitalis; sp, sinus pocularis; cd, cloacal depression; ad, anal
depression; t, testicle; hy, hyatide; e, epididymis; vd, vas deferens;
Md, Müllerian duct; de, ductus ejaculatorius; k, kidney; i, intestine;
va, vagina; ov, ovary; pa, parovarium; Ft, Fallopian tube; Wd,
Wolffian duct; ut, uterus.]
At the caudal end, the Müllerian ducts fuse together into one, the
walls, along the entire line of the union, degenerate, and the two
ducts thus form a single duct, the later vagina and uterus. Until
the fifth month there is no distinction between vagina and uterus,
the two organs form a single sac-like structure. At the beginning of
the fifth month, a circular ridge in the wall of the sac makes its
appearance and marks the division between the vagina and the uterus.
When the lower portion of the two Müllerian ducts have fused to form a
single canal, the utero-vaginal sac, the lumen of the vagina is still
obliterated, being filled with epithelial cells. By the breaking down
of the central epithelial cells, the cavity is established.
At this period a little semicircular crescentic fold attached to the
dorsal margin of the aperture of the vagina arises and forms the hymen,
an organ which has always played such an important rôle in the fancy of
all nations.
The upper blind ends of the Müllerian ducts, with their expanded
funnel-shaped mouths, diverge and form the oviducts, or the Fallopian
tubes.
_D. The External Genitals_
At the time when the urethra, the sexual ducts and the intestine
still open into the sac-like tube, the so-called cloaca, there is
distinguishable on the exterior surface of the body, corresponding to
the position of the cloaca, a certain depression called the cloacal
depression. When the intestine is separated from the cloaca by the
septum, the later perineum, the exterior cloacal depression is cut into
two, the anal and the urogenital depressions. Between the urogenital
depression, later called the genital groove, exteriorly and the
urogenital sinus interiorly, there is only a dividing membrane, the
urogenital membrane which later on breaks through and transforms the
entire sinus into a shallow depression, termed the vestibule.
[Illustration: CUT V.
_Six stages of the development of the external genitals. Fig. 1 and 2,
two in different stages; m and M, two male stages, f and F, two female
stages after O. Hertwig._
pl, posterior limbs; clo, cloacal depression; gt, genital tubercle;
gs, genital swelling; gf, genital fold; gg, genital groove; gp, glans
penis; p, perineum; a, anus; pr, prepuce; sc, scrotum; r, raphe; cl,
clitoris; su, entrance to sinus urogenitalis; lm, labia majora; ny,
nymphæ; vv, vestibule of vagina.]
Before the urogenital sinus has opened to the exterior the mesenchym
surrounding the urogenital depression exteriorly begins to thicken and
produces an encircling elevation, the genital swelling. On the ventral
side within this swelling appears a projection, the genital tubercle,
which is thus surrounded by the genital swelling. The tubercle soon
increases in size, so that the urogenital depression, now called the
genital groove, becomes partly situated at its under aspect (Cut 5,
Fig. 2). The lips of this genital groove thicken and form the two
genital folds. All these four organs are common in both sexes and
represent the asexual or bisexual state of the external genital organs.
_E. The Male External Genitals_
In the male the genital tubercle increases enormously in size to form
the penis. Its extremity becomes bulbously enlarged and forms the glans
penis. The lips of the groove or rather of the vestibule, since by this
time the urogenital membrane had broken through and had transformed the
sinus urogenitalis into the vestibule, the so-called genital folds,
meet together and fuse, thus converting the vestibule and the groove
into the terminal portion of the male urethra and bringing it about,
that the ductus ejaculatorii and the sinus pocularis open upon the
floor of that passage. The prostate, consisting of several independent
glands, has also its openings at this point. In its development the
prostate belongs to the urethra as well as to the sinus urogenitalis.
The two genital swellings are brought closer together in the male and
form the scrotum, a sac containing two separate pouches into which the
testes descend.
_F. The Female External Genitals_
In the female the vestibule, or the shallow depression which was formed
through the breaking through of the urogenital membrane, remains open
throughout life, and is termed the vestibule of the vulva. From the
sides of the lower part of the sinus a pair of evaginations are formed
and give rise to the Bartholinian glands. The vestibule being in fact
the open sinus urogenitalis, the urethra and the vagina naturally have
their orifices in the same.
The genital tubercle ceases to grow in the female and becomes the
clitoris. The genital folds or the lips of the vestibule become
prolonged and form the labia minora or the nymphae. The genital
swelling increases in size through adipose and fibrous tissue. The part
situated on the ventral side of the clitoris becomes the mons veneris,
while the lateral parts are converted into the labia majora of the
vulva.
PART III.
ANATOMY
CHAPTER III
THE MALE GENITALS
The knowledge of the anatomy of the genitals, of the mechanism of
erection and ejaculation, and the nervous centres which preside
over these functions, is essential for a clear comprehension of
sex-attraction in men and in women. It will, therefore, be of some
profit even to medical men briefly to recall to memory those parts of
the human anatomy which have a particular bearing upon the subject of
this treatise.
_Scrotum._—The main generative glands in the male, the testicles, are
situated within a bag, the so-called scrotum, outside of the abdominal
cavity. This bag or pouch, hanging between the thighs, below the
symphysis, consists of two compartments which are separated by the
septum scroti. The scrotum may be considered as a diverticle of the
anterior abdominal wall. Before the descent of the testicles from the
abdominal cavity, two diverticles of the abdominal wall are formed,
at two points anteriorly to the genital swelling, where later on the
inguinal canals are found. The diverticles extend to the swelling and
coalesce to form the bag. The raphe, or last, at the point of their
union, can be observed through the entire life of the individual. This
median raphe runs from the perineum to the penis, indicating the inner
division of the scrotum.
The scrotum being a derivative of the abdominal wall, it follows that
its wall will consist of the same elements as the abdominal wall. The
first layer of the abdominal wall, the epidermis or cutis, forms
also the epidermis of the scrotum. The fascia superficialis abdominis
constitutes the second layer of the scrotum, or the tunica dartos.
The musculus obliquus abdominis externus goes to make up the third
layer, the so-called Cooper’s fascia. The musculus obliquus abdominis
internus forms the fourth layer, or the musculus cremaster externus.
The musculus transversalis abdominis furnishes the cremaster internus
muscle, and the tunica vaginalis communis, or the fifth layer. Finally,
the double layer of the abdominal peritoneum forms the tunica vaginalis
propria of the scrotum. Between the two lamina of this tunica is found
some fluid which, when pathologically increased, constitutes the
anomaly called hydrocele.
_Testicle._—The testicle is an ovoid organ with two surfaces, a
median and lateral, with two poles, an upper and lower pole, and two
margins, an anterior convex and a posterior straight margin. In the
natural position, the upper pole is somewhat anteriorly inclined. The
average weight of the testicle is 15 to 25 grammes, average length 5
centimeters, breadth 2 to 5 centimeters and thickness 3 centimeters.
The superior pole and the posterior margin of the testicle are covered
by the epididymis. The left testicle, as a rule, hangs deeper than the
right.
_Descent of testicles._—In embryonic life already, the testicle
is connected, at its lower pole, with the bottom of the scrotal
diverticle, the latter ventricle of the scrotum, by a cord containing
unstriped muscular fibres, the so-called gubernaculum testis. This
cord does not grow in length, hence, with the growth of the embryo,
the testicle has to descend from its position, on either side of the
mesentary along the spinal column. Thus, in the seventh month of
embryonic life, each testicle descends through its respective inguinal
canal into its compartment in the scrotum. In this descent the testicle
takes along its peritoneal covering. When the bottom of the scrotum has
been reached this peritoneal covering, together with the lining of the
scrotum coalesce, and the two lamina form the above-mentioned tunica
vaginalis propria.
_Structure of testicles._—The testicle is covered with a thick, white,
fibrous coat, the tunica albuginea. This tunica sends off about 200
to 400 septa or trabeculae testis. These trabeculae divide the
parenchymatous tissue of the testicle into numerous conical lobules,
and, converging towards the posterior margin of the testicle, form a
solid fibrous mass, the so-called corpus Highmori.
The parenchymatous tissue of the testicles consists of numerous fine
tubules, the canaliculi seminiferi. Each lobule contains a number of
these fine tubules. In the beginning and through their entire course
the seminal tubules or canaliculi are tortuous; towards their ends,
however, they become straight. When they reach the corpus Highmori,
the thickened, enlarged part of the tunica albuginea, they collect and
unite, to form a network, the rete vasculosum. This rete sends off 12
to 14 large tubules, the vasa efferentia, which, running in a straight
line, pass the corpus Highmori and enter the epididymis. The corpus
Highmori serves as a point of entrance for the arteries and nerves and
as an exit for the veins of the testicles.
[Illustration: CUT VI.
_Schema of the seminiferi tubules. After Brösike._
1, tubuli contorti; 2, tubuli recti; 3, rete vasculosum; 4, vasa
efferentia; 5, coni vasculosi; 6, epididymis; 7, vas deferens.]
_Epididymis._—The epididymis is the excretory duct of the testicle. It
is situated at the posterior margin of the same, covering this margin
and the upper pole of the testicle. The upper end of the epididymis
tapers off to pass into the vas deferens. The epididymis is divided
into the head, middle piece and tail. At the lower point, the tail
turns directly upwards and backwards, and is now called vas deferens.
The vasa efferentia enter the epididymis at the head. The unfolded
vas epididymis is about six meters long. Its diameter is about 0.5
millimeter. It gradually dilates as it approaches the vas deferens.
_Vas deferens._—The vas deferens runs down the posterior wall of the
epididymis and turns upwards to enter the abdominal cavity through the
inguinal canal. It then runs between bladder and rectum to end as the
ductus ejaculatorius. Before the vas deferens receives the duct of the
seminal vesicle it forms a spindle-like enlargement, the so-called
ampulla. The vas deferens opens under the name of ductus ejaculatorius
into the prostatic urethra.
The length of the vas deferens is about 60 centimeters, its diameter
is about 3 millimeters. The wall of the vas deferens is very thick,
giving on palpation the feeling of a piece of rope. It is lined inside
with a light cylindrical epithelium which rests upon a layer of fibrous
connective tissue. This fibrous substratum is surrounded by a thick,
muscular coat of non-striated fibres. The muscular coat is composed of
two longitudinal layers, which include between them a circular layer.
The muscular coat is surrounded by a layer of connective tissue, the
so-called adventitia.
_Spermatic cord._—In its course from the testicle to the internal ring
of the inguinal canal the vas deferens is accompanied by the arteria
and vena spermaticae internae. The three organs form the spermatic
cord. But although the three organs are intimately connected, still
the vas deferens is recognizable without difficulty by its rope-like
consistency and is easily severed, as in the operation for the
sterilization of the male. The vein forms a tendril-like tress-work,
which is called the plexus pampiniformis. In pathological conditions
the plexus forms the varicocele.
_Seminal vesicles._—The seminal vesicles may be considered as
diverticles of the vasa deferentia. The vesicles are lying in the
sulcus, between the prostate and the bladder, and extend obliquely
outward and backward. The length of the seminal vesicles is about 8
centimeters, their diameter is about 7 millimeters. The vesicles form
a bulbous mass of convoluted tubes. Being a derivative from the vas
deferens, the wall of the tubes consists of the same strata as the
vas deferens, i. e., of an adventitia followed by the muscular coat,
then by the fibrous substratum, and finally by a layer of cylindrical
epithelia. The mucous membrane possesses numerous tubulous glands. In
this way the vesicles serve not only as reservoirs for the sperma, but
may be considered as veritable glands. By the junction of the pointed
ends of the seminal vesicles with the vasa deferentia, the ejaculatory
ducts are formed.
[Illustration: CUT VII.
_Male genital apparatus, side view. After Zucherkandel and Testut._
b, bladder; p, al, ml, the three lobes of the prostatic gland; u,
ureter; sv, seminal vesicle; vd, vas deferens; ed, ejaculatory duct.]
_Ductus ejaculatorii._—The ejaculatory ducts traverse the prostate
and open, by slit-like orifices, into the sinus pocularis. The wall
of the ducts is much thinner than that of the vas deferens. The
muscular fibres of the latter are gradually substituted in the ducts by
cavernous tissue. The mucous membrane differs little from that of the
vas deferens and of the seminal vesicles.
[Illustration: CUT VIII.
_Male urethra_
1, bladder; 2, prostate; 3, colliculus; 4, orifice of the sinus
pocularis; 5, orifices of the prostatic ducts; 6, orifices of Cowper’s
glands; 7, corpus cavernosum urethræ; 8, corpora cavernosa penis; 9,
præputium; 10, glans; 11, fossa navicularis.]
_Urethra._—The urethra is divided into three parts, the prostatic,
the membranous and the cavernous parts. The prostatic part is the
widest portion of the entire urethra. It is surrounded by an unstriped
muscular layer and the muscles of the prostate. The membranous part
is the narrowest, shortest, and most thin-walled portion of the three
parts of the urethra. It is entirely surrounded by the muscular fibres
of the diaphragma urogenitale, which takes here a circulatory course.
It is in this way situated on the border-line of the abdominal cavity
and the exterior, within the abdominal wall. The cavernous portion
of the urethra is surrounded by the corpus cavernosum urethrae. This
portion shows two dilatations, one in the bulbous part, just anterior
to the termination of the membranous part, where the ducts of the two
Cowper’s glands open; the other dilatation is near the end, behind the
meatus, forming the so-called fossa navicularis. The meatus itself is
the narrowest part of the entire urethra. Numerous mucous crypts, the
glands of Littré and certain lacunae, the largest among them near the
fossa, open into the lumen of this part of the urethra. The entire
urethra is lined with a cylindrical epithelium, except at the fossa
navicularis. The latter is covered by a layer of pavement epithelia.
The length of the urethra is about 18 centimeters. In the usual state
the urethra possesses only a virtual lumen, i. e., the walls touch each
other.
[Illustration: CUT IX.
_Schema of sagittal cut through penis. After Testus._
1, bladder; 2, vas deferens; 3, colliculus; 4, prostate; 5, urethra;
6, bulbus urethræ; 7, symphysis.]
_Prostate._—The prostate is a gland, chestnut-like in shape. Its
greatest diameter is in average about 4 centimeters. The diameter from
the base to the apex is about 3 centimeters. The thickness of the
prostate is about 2 centimeters, and its weight is about 18 grammes.
The upper broad margin, the basis, is adjacent to the bladder, the
lower, narrower end, or the apex, rests on the diaphragma urogenitale.
It thus lies completely within the abdominal cavity. The anterior
surface is connected with the lower end of the symphysis pubis by the
ligamenta puboprostatica, the posterior surface is connected with
the rectum by loose connective tissue. The prostate is lobulated and
generally divided into three lobes, a median and two lateral lobes. The
prostate embraces the neck of the bladder and the first portion of the
urethra.
The structure of the prostate is a framework of muscular fibres, in
which are embedded numerous racemous glands. The latter collect and
open into the prostatic ducts. The main substance of the prostate is
glandular. The mucous lining of the prostate, which forms at the same
time the mucous membrane of the prostatic urethra, shows upon the
posterior wall a linear elevation of the mucous membrane which covers a
fold of erectile tissue, the so-called colliculus seminalis.
[Illustration: CUT X.
_Colliculus_
1, orifice of the sinus pocularis; 2, orifices of the prostatic ducts.]
_Colliculus._—The colliculus is a massive button, 3 millimeters in
height and in breadth, and lies anteriorly to the fossa prostatica.
On the summit of the colliculus there is an opening which leads to a
pear-shaped pouch, the so-called sinus pocularis, a remnant of the
Müllerian ducts. The two orifices of the ejaculatory ducts are found
within the pouch, near its opening into the urethra. The orifices of
the prostatic ducts are situated in the furrows, on either side of
the colliculus. In the state of erection the colliculus fills out
the urethra completely and closes it up tightly and absolutely, so
that not a drop of urine can pass out of the bladder or escape during
ejaculation.
_Cowper’s glands._—Cowper’s glands are two acinose glands of the size
of a pea. They are embedded between the muscular fibres of the musculus
transversus perinei profundus. The ducts run between the two leaflets
of the diaphragma urogenitale to the posterior end of the bulbus, hence
within the cavernous tissue near the septum and open on either side of
the bulbus on the floor of the bulbous urethra.
[Illustration: CUT XI.
_Crosscut through the penis._
1, vena dorsalis; 2, arteriæ dorsales; 3, septum; 4, corpora
cavernosa; 5, tunica albuginea; 6, vena profunda; 7, urethra; 8,
corpus cavernosum urethræ.]
_Penis._—The penis is chiefly made up of three erectile bodies, the
corpus cavernosum urethrae and the two porpora cavernosa penis. The
latter arise each from the ramus descendens ossis pubis, by strong
fibrous processes, the crura. The crura converse and coalesce at the
inferior margin of the symphysis to which they are fastened by the
ligamentum suspensorium penis mediale. The anterior ends of the corpora
cavernosa are rounded. They are situated in the furrow of the glans of
the penis. After their coalescence the two corpora are divided only by
a fibrous septum. The lower surface of the corpora shows a deep furrow
which serves as a receptacle for the corpus cavernosum urethrae. The
latter thus occupies the same relation to the corpora cavernosa penis
as does the ramrod to a double-barreled gun.
The corpus cavernosum urethrae forms two expansions. The anterior
expansion is represented by the glans penis, the posterior expansion by
the bulb, a tuberous enlargement, situated between the diverging crura
of the corpora cavernosa penis. The bulb is covered by the musculus
bulbo-cavernosus.
_Structure of the corpora cavernosa._—The walls of the corpora
cavernosa are made up of a dense fibrous elastic membrane, the tunica
albuginea. From this tunica arise numerous trabeculae, composed
of fibrous tissue and non-striped muscular fibres. In this way a
sponge-like tissue is formed in which the spongy superstructure
consists of elastic fibres. The mesh-spaces are filled with circulating
blood. The spaces of these cavernous bodies are covered with an
endothelial lining like blood-vessels. The caverns communicate with
each other by the arteriae helicinae, short arterial branches,
anastomosing in the cavernous spaces. The arteries, capillaries, and
veins pass along the trabeculae of the spongy tissue and open into the
caverns. The caverns may thus be considered as enlarged capillaries.
The arteria and vena profundae penis run through the middle of the
corpus.
The arteries within the trabeculae possess not only circular muscular
fibres, as all other arteries, but also longitudinal fibres. These
muscular fibres are normally contracted and thus prevent the blood from
flowing into the cavernous spaces. If by some inhibitory influence the
muscles are relaxed, the caverns are immediately filled with blood.
This blood has to return by the vena profunda communis which passes
through the unstriped muscular fibres of the musculus transversus
perinei profundus. Hence by the contraction of this muscle the veins
are compressed, and the blood is prevented from flowing off. As a
result, the spongy and cavernous bodies become turgid and the corpora
cavernosa penis become stone hard. The blood of the corpus cavernosum
urethra, on the other hand, returns through the vena dorsalis penis
which enters the abdomen through connective tissue parts, beneath
the symphysis. For this reason the corpus cavernosum urethrae remains
compressible even during erection.
The main muscles of the penis are the erector penis and the
bulbo-cavernosus. The latter arises from the central perineal tendon
and inserts by embracing the bulb. The erector penis muscle arises at
the inner surface of the tuberositas ossis ischii and inserts into the
sides of the crura.
The penis is covered with an integument which forms the continuation
of the skin of the abdominal wall, but it is somewhat darker than the
latter. At the anterior end a fold of skin forms the prepuce which
covers the glans penis.
_Genital nerves._—The genital nerves are of three different kinds.
There are first the efferent nerves, or centripetal nerves. They are
the sensitive terminal branches of the nervus pudendus and end, or
rather arise, in the genital nerve bulbs. They are richly distributed
throughout the prostatic part of the urethra. These centripetal nerves
are connected with the Pacinian corpuscles, within the prostate, and
with the extensive nerve-plexus, interspersed with ganglia, which are
found in the superficial layers of the urethral mucosa as well as in
the cortical layers of the prostate. These nerves return to the centres
in the spinal cord and in the brain through the rami of the nervus
pudendus.
The second kind of nerves are the centrifugal nerves, which arise by
two roots at the sacral plexus, from the first to the third pair of
sacral nerves. This sacral plexus sends off anastomosing branches
to the vesical plexus. The latter is made up of branches from the
hypogastric plexus of the sympathetic nerve and of filaments from
the sacral ganglia, the pudendal plexus and the sacral nerves. The
latter innervates the bladder, seminal vesicles, the urethra, and the
prostate. The nervi erigentes are vasodilator-nerves. Their centre, in
the lumbar part of the spinal cord, is connected with the centre of the
vasodilators of the medulla oblongata by filaments, running within the
spinal cord. When these nerves or their centre are irritated, as in
diseases of the cord, or excited by electricity, erections will ensue.
The third kind of nerves are those of ejaculation. They are centripetal
and centrifugal nerves and run through the nervi perinei, the latter
being branches of the nervus pudendus communis. They innervate the
ejaculatory ducts, the seminal vesicles, vasa deferentia and testicles.
The centre of these nerves has also its seat in the lumbar portion of
the spinal cord.
_Genital centres._—The centres for the genital nerves are six in
number, three cerebral, one in the medulla oblongata and two spinal
centres. There is first the cerebral centre of voluptas or cupido. It
is the seat of the sexual instinct or of sex desire. The second centre
is the centre of libido. It is the centre for experiencing pleasure.
The third centre is that of inhibition. It is the centre where, under
certain circumstances, sexual activity is prevented. The vasodilator
centre in the medulla oblongata and the two spinal centres regulate
erection and ejaculation. Connecting fibres are passing between the
cerebral centres and the spinal centres. Hence psychic stimulation may
cause erection and ejaculation.
CHAPTER IV
THE FEMALE ORGANS OF GENERATION
_Vulva._—The main female generative organs are entirely situated within
the pelvis. The less important external organs are those comprised in
the name vulva (derived from the Latin word valva, the folding door).
When the woman is in erect position, the vulva runs horizontally from
the mons veneris to the frenulum of the fossa navicularis.
[Illustration: CUT XII.
_Vulva, the nymphae separated._
1, mons veneris; 2, labium majus; 3, prepuce of clitoris; 4, glans
of clitoris; 5, urethral orifice; 6, nympha; 7, orifice of the
Bartholinian gland; 8, vaginal orifice; 9, hymen; 10, frenulum; 11,
perineum; 12, anus.]
_Mons veneris._—The mons veneris is the name of the fatty cushion which
rests upon the anterior surface of the symphysis pubis. After puberty,
the mountain is covered with a growth of hair. In the female sex the
hairs occupy a triangular area, the base corresponding with the upper
margin of the symphysis. This sign is sometimes of value for the
determination of the real sex of an apparent hermaphrodite.
_Labia majora._—The labia majora are a pair of integumentary folds,
extending from the mons veneris to the perineum, or the triangular
partition between the anus and the vagina. Each labium has two
surfaces, an outer one pigmented and covered with strong, crisp hair
as on the mons veneris, and an inner one, usually lying in close
apposition with its fellow. The fissure between the two labia is termed
rima pudendi. The inner surfaces are moist and resemble a mucous
membrane in appearance. The outer surface has the same structure as the
skin. Beneath the skin there is found a layer of connective tissue,
rich in elastic fibres and fatty tissue. The next layer is a dense mass
of adipose tissue, which is supplied with an abundant plexus of veins.
The labia are richly supplied with sebaceous glands.
[Illustration: CUT XIII.
_Labium majus and sebaceous gland._
g, gland; sc, stratum corneum; e, layers of pavement epithelium; f,
fibrous tissue; v, blood vessel.]
_Nymphae._—The nymphae or the labia minora, are two triangular
structures which run parallel to the labia majora, from the clitoris
to either side of the vaginal aperture. Their free borders are
crenulated or lobed. The nymphae consist of thin folds of tissue, are
smooth, and when protected, as in the child, of a pale rose color,
resembling a mucous membrane in appearance. They contain numerous
papillae and sebaceous follicles. Their interior contains connective
tissue, some muscular fibres and erectile tissue. Hence they take part
in the female erection. They are extremely sensitive, being abundantly
supplied with nerve-ends. At the side of the clitoris, each nympha
is divided into two lamellae. The two anterior lamellae unite at the
glans of the clitoris and form the praeputium clitoridis. The posterior
lamellae fuse at the back of the clitoris and form the frenulum. The
nymphae diverge backwards and terminate in the middle of the rima.
[Illustration: CUT XIV.
_Nympha and vagina._
pe, pavement epithelium; v, vagina; sc, stratum corneum; n, nympha; p,
papilla.]
_Vestibulum._—The vestibule is the area inclosed between the two
nymphae, extending from the clitoris to the fourchette. Some authors
call vestibule only the space from the clitoris to the vaginal opening,
the rest from the vaginal orifice to the fourchette is then called
fossa navicularis. On either side of the vestibule, beneath the mucous
membrane, embracing the urethra, are situated the vestibular bulbs, two
pyriform, thick, erectile vein-plexus.
_Bulbs._—The bulbs are under the influence and partly covered by the
ischio-cavernosus and constrictor vagina muscles. The lower ends
terminate at the middle of the vaginal aperture. Hence during the
engagement under sexual excitement they help to narrow the entrance of
the vagina. The anterior ends of the bulbs extend toward the clitoris
and unite with the cavernous tissue of this organ.
_Clitoris._—The clitoris is a small organ situated between the branched
anterior extremities of the nymphae which furnish the praeputium and
frenulum of the clitoris. It is rarely, even in the state of erection,
larger than two centimeters. The clitoris consists of two crura, a
corpus, and a small glans, which is rarely exceeding a small pea in
size. The crura arise from the inferior surface of each ischio-pubic
ramus of the pubic bone, and after fusing below the pubic arch form the
body of the clitoris. The clitoris is sharply bent on itself, the glans
looking downward and backward towards the vaginal aperture.
The clitoris is the analogue of the male penis, with the only
difference that it is not perforated by the urethra. The latter
opens into the vestibule, midway between the clitoris and vaginal
orifice, and is surrounded by a fold of mucous membrane. The clitoris
is equipped with two erectile organs, the corpora cavernosa, and
two muscles, the musculi ischio-cavernosi, and is, therefore, very
erectile. The clitoris is supplied with an abundance of delicate
sensory nerve-ends, including the end-bulbs and the Pacinian and
Meissner’s corpuscles, and is therefore extremely sensitive.
[Illustration: CUT XV.
_External genitals after removal of skin. After Martin._
1, clitoris; 2, plexus of veins in the vaginal wall; 3, glans of
clitoris; 4, bulbus vestibuli; 5, orifice of vagina; 6, constrictor
cunni; 7, sphincter ani; 8, anus.]
_Bartholinian glands._—On either side of the vaginal orifice open
the ducts of the Bartholinian glands. The two small glands are of
the racemose type and not larger in size than a small pea. They are
situated beneath the bulbs of the vestibule.
_Hymen._—The vaginal orifice, in the virginal state, is partly closed
by an imperfect septum, the hymen. The hymen is a fold of tissue,
presenting a structure similar to that of the vagina. The fold is
usually attached to the posterior vaginal wall. The hymen closes only
incompletely the vaginal entrance, leaving an opening which varies in
size from the head of a pin to a calibre which will admit the tip of
one or two fingers. The opening of the hymen is, as a rule, semilunar
and reaches the anterior vaginal wall. After defloration or sometimes
only after the first confinement, the hymen is torn at several points
and shows only remnants, the so-called carunculae myrtiformes.
[Illustration: CUT XVI.
_Genitals of a girl at puberty._
1, right labium majus; 2, duct of Bartholinian gland; 3, Bartholinian
gland; 4, rima pudendi.]
_Vagina._—The vagina is a musculo-membranous tube, extending from
the vulva to the uterus. The lumen is only virtual, i. e., at rest
the vaginal walls are in contact with each other, and the passage
appears as a fissure, the latter assuming on a crosscut the form of
the letter “H.” The walls of the vagina are composed of three coats,
an exterior connective tissue coat, a thick muscular coat and a mucous
membrane. The muscular coat comprises two layers of strong unstriped
muscular fibres, the outer longitudinal, the inner circular. The
latter, being more largely developed near the vaginal aperture, forms
a part of the sphincter vaginae. The mucous membrane is covered with
a pavement epithelium and is equipped with a great number of papillae,
but is devoid of glands. The entire vagina is surrounded by a strong
net of venous blood-vessels. The anterior vaginal wall is about
seven centimeters long and presents at the mucous surface a median
longitudinal ridge; the posterior wall is about ten centimeters long
and has two ridges, from which a number of transverse rugae pass, the
columnae rugarum. Only a small part of the posterior vaginal wall is in
contact with the floor of the pelvis and is covered with peritoneum.
The entire vaginal tube lies between the bladder and the rectum.
[Illustration: CUT XVII.
_Diagram of the pelvic organs._
1, labia majora; 2, nympha; 3, clitoris; 4, symphysis; 5, urethra; 6,
bladder; 7, vagina with columna rugarum; 8, orificium utero-vaginale;
9, internal os; 10, body of uterus; 11, perineum; 12, anus; 13,
rectum; 14, peritoneum; 15, vertebra.]
[Illustration: CUT XVIII.
_Diagram of the uterus._
1, fundus; 2, cavum uteri; 3, body; 4, internal os; 5, cervix; 6,
external os.]
“Inter faeces et urinas nascimur”
laments the pious father of the Church. A part of the musculus
constrictor ani surrounds the orifice of the vagina and is known under
the name of constrictor cunni.
When the woman is in an erect position, the vaginal orifice looks
directly to the ground, the course of the vagina being almost vertical,
with a slight inclination from the front to the back toward the vaginal
vaults. The vault or fornix is divided by the projecting cervix into
two lateral vaults, an anterior shallow and a posterior deep vault.
[Illustration: CUT XIX.
_Uterus of a four-year-old child._
ce, cylindrical epithelium; mt, muscular tissue; g, uterine gland.]
_Uterus._—The uterus is a hollow, pyriform, flattened, thick muscular
organ. It is divided into the upper thick end, or fundus, the body,
and the neck or cervix. The uterine cavity has somewhat the shape of
a triangle, its basis corresponding to the uterine base. The uterine
cavity communicates with the canals of the Fallopian tubes by two
openings at the angles of the basis. The lower angle is continued into
the cervical canal and opens into the vagina. The median part of the
cervical canal is widened. The narrow opening into the cavity of the
uterus is known under the name of os internum, while the opening into
the vagina is called os externum. The uterine cavity is coated with a
mucous membrane, covered with columnar epithelia of the ciliated type,
which bears a great number of tubular glands.
The mucous membrane of the cervical canal shows a system of small
folds, the arbor vitae. The covering of the cervical canal is also a
high columnar, ciliated epithelium. The latter changes into a pavement
epithelium at the external os.
[Illustration: CUT XX.
_Cervix uteri from a day-old infant._
pe, pavement epithelium of the vaginal portion of the cervix;
c, border-line of the portio and the cavity of the cervix; CE,
cylindrical epithelium of the cavity of the cervix; v, blood-vessels.]
The second uterine coat consists of non-striated muscular fibres.
The uterus has no submucosa. There is an inner circular and an outer
longitudinal muscular layer. The larger uterine blood-vessels lie
chiefly between these two layers.
The cervix is composed mainly of connective tissue in which is found
a large amount of elastic fibres. The cervix contains also erectile
tissue of the same kind as the clitoris and the bulbs.
The entire uterus, as far as it is not situated between other organs,
is covered with peritoneum. The anterior surface of the uterus is
almost flat and is covered with a layer of peritoneum which is
inflected upon the bladder at the level of the os internum. The
posterior surface is convex and covered, in its whole extent, with a
layer of peritoneum which is prolonged downward for a short distance
upon the posterior wall of the vagina. The anterior and posterior
peritoneal coverings unite laterally and form the broad ligaments.
The uterus is fixed in its place by the round ligaments. The latter are
the continuations of the uterine tissue. They run between the folds
of the broad ligaments and through the inguinal canals and terminate
within the tissue of the labia majora.
[Illustration: CUT XXI.
_Schema of the internal female genital apparatus._
a, Fallopian tube; b, ovary; c, cervix; d, round ligament; e, vagina;
f, uterus.]
The uterus is normally anteflected, the fundus lying forward near the
symphysis, and the cervix to the rear. The average length of the uterus
is about seven centimeters, the breadth is about four centimeters.
_Fallopian tubes._—The Fallopian tubes are two serpentine,
trumpet-shaped tubes, of about twelve centimeters in length. They lie
at the upper margin of the broad ligaments, between the two layers of
the same. The uterine half of the tubal canal is narrow, about three
millimeters in diameter, and opens into the basic uterine angle; the
distal half is of a width of about eight millimeters in diameter,
widens into the ampulla and opens into the abdominal cavity. This
opening is surrounded with fringes, one of which touches almost the
ovary and probably furnishes the road the ovum takes to reach the tube.
[Illustration: CUT XXII.
_Crosscut of a Fallopian tube of a child four years old._
E, epithelium; mc, mucosa; ml, muscular layer; p, peritoneum; v,
blood-vessel.]
The tube is composed of three coats, the outer peritoneal coat, the
middle muscular coat, consisting of two layers—the outer longitudinal
and the inner circular layer—and the mucous membrane coat. The latter
is covered with a high ciliated, columnar epithelium. The ciliar motion
is toward the uterine cavity. The mucous membrane forms a large number
of plications in the adult.
_Ovaries._—The ovaries are two flattened almond-shaped organs of about
four centimeters in length and two centimeters in breadth. They lie
on the posterior surface of the ligamentum latum, on either side of
the uterus, with which they are connected by the ligamenta ovarii.
The ligament running between the two lamellae of the ligamentum
latum, leaves the latter through a fissure in the posterior lamella
and enters the ovary at the pointed end, the so-called hilus. The
ovarian ligament furnishes the fibrous tissue elements for the fibrous
skeleton, the stroma ovarii. The vessels and nerves also enter the
ovary at the hilus.
[Illustration: CUT XXIII.
_Ovary from a girl one year old._
E, germinal epithelium; PO, primitive ova; G, Graafian follicles; S,
stroma ovarii.]
The ovary is covered with a cubical genital epithelium. The epithelia
put forth solid nests of epithelial cells into the fibrous stroma.
These nests represent the primitive ova. Some of these cells become
larger and, surrounded by the other unchanged or follicular cells, are
finally changed into permanent ova. The entire crust of the ovary, the
zona parenchymatosa, consists of fibrous and epithelial elements. The
interior part, the zona vasculosa, consists of fibrous elastic tissue
and of non-striated muscular fibres.
_Graafian follicle._—The ovum surrounded by the follicular epithelium
is called the Graafian follicle. The ripe Graafian follicles lie
usually near the periphery of the ovary. The Graafian follicle is
bubble-shaped and is surrounded by a fibrous sheath, the theca
folliculi. The cavity contains a light yellow fluid, liquor folliculi.
The interior of the cavity is coated with several layers of follicular
epithelia. This coat is called the membrana granulosa. The follicular
epithelia form at one point a disc of cells, the discus oophorus, which
includes in its midst the ovum.
[Illustration: CUT XXIV.
_Graafian follicle, found by the author in a woman of forty, operated
for cancer of the uterus._
vg, vesicula germinativa; mg, macula germinativa; o, ovum; zp, zona
pellucida; cr, corona radiata; l, liquor in a coagulated state; a,
antrum folliculi; t, theca folliculi.]
_Ovum._—The ovum is a modified cell with a membrane, called zona
pellucida, a cytoplasm, called vitelus, a nucleus called vesicula
germinative, and a nucleolus, called macula germinative.
At the time of menstruation the Graafian follicle bursts; the ovum thus
freed, is taken up by the current, called forth by the ciliar motion of
the tubal epithelia, and brought through the tubes into the uterus.
_Nerves and their centres._—The centres of the female genital nerves
are, just as in the male, six in number, three cerebral, two spinal and
one in the medulla oblongata. There is, in the first place, the centre
of voluptas or cupido, or the centre for the sexual instinct; secondly
the centre for experiencing libido or pleasure, and thirdly the centre
of inhibition, which under certain circumstances, as in fear, disgust,
grief, etc., prevents the erection of clitoris, bulbs, and cervix. The
inhibitory centre, however, plays a secondary rôle in the female. The
two spinal centres are the centres of erection and of ejaculation.
[Illustration: CUT XXV.
_Schema of a cell._
a, cell membrane; b, cell-body or cytoplasm; c, nucleus.]
The nerve-supply of the genitals is furnished by the spinal nerves and
the nervus sympathicus. The lumbar plexus, formed by the four lumbar
nerves, sends off the nervus ilio-inguinalis, the terminal branches of
which are distributed in the mons veneris. The sacral plexus, formed by
a part of the fourth and the entire fifth lumbar nerves and the four
upper sacral nerves, sends off the nervus pudendus communis, which is
distributed in the clitoris, as nervus dorsalis clitoridis and in the
labia, as nervi labiales posteriores. The nerves of the vagina are
derived from the hypogastric plexus, the fourth sacral nerve and the
pubic nerve. The nerves of the uterus are derived from the ovarian
plexus, and from the third and fourth sacral nerves. The nerves of the
ovary are derived from the hypogastric, pelvic and ovarian plexus.
The oviducts are supplied by the ovarian plexus. The nervi erigentes,
distributed in the corpora cavernosa of the clitoris, in the bulbs and
in the erectile tissue of the vagina and cervix, are derived from the
hypogastric plexus.
CHAPTER V
THE SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERISTICS
In the preceding two chapters there were described the primary sexual
characteristics of man and woman which are already found in early
foetal life. The secondary sexual characteristics, by which we are able
to distinguish the male from the female, quite irrespective of the
essential organs of reproduction and by which the sexes are made more
attractive to each other, begin to develop at the time of puberty.
At this period of life certain changes take place in the body of the
child, and the differences between the sexes become more pronounced.
The stamp of sex is no longer confined to the pelvis, but is impressed
on every part of the body. In the first years of existence the child
is almost asexual, in physical as well as in mental relation. The
child is yet neutral; it is only a spinal being or a digestive tube.
All its actions are directed upon one aim, the preservation of the
individual. Hence there is no great physical difference in children of
the different sexes. The differences begin to show with the beginning
of puberty and are definite at the close of this period. In the animal
kingdom, especially among birds and mammals, nature has distinguished
the male with the greater beauty. Man’s galantry designates women as
the beautiful sex.
The man’s figure is characterized by a relative robustness, the forms
are sinewy, the contours less rounded. The bony prominences are more
conspicuous and the muscles more clearly defined. The skeleton is
relatively larger, the stature is higher and the form is erect. The
head is much larger, and the growth of the hair on it less pronounced.
The male skull is more tilted back, the occipital protuberance larger.
The glabella or the projection over the nose is more pronounced. The
superciliary ridges more prominent. The eyes, therefore, appear much
smaller. The lower jaw is markedly larger, the lips are thicker
and the mouth is larger. Hence the face appears less delicately cut.
The chin and upper lip are covered with hair. Man’s neck is less
cylindrical than woman’s and presents four slightly flattened surfaces.
The laryngeal projection is highly pronounced.
[Illustration: CUT XXVI.
_Showing proportions of man and woman._]
Man’s shoulders are not sloping but square, showing traces of sinews
and muscles. The thorax is longer. The beautifully rounded form of the
female bosom is missing. The breasts appear atrophic, the mammillae
insignificant. The trunk is relatively shorter.
The pelvis is higher and smaller. The circumference of the hips is
relatively smaller. The angle formed by the superior plane of the
pelvis with the horizon, when standing, is relatively smaller. Hence
the buttocks are less protuberant.
The limbs are longer. The forearm is more in a straight line with the
arm. The muscles are highly developed, hence no traces of the pleasant
rotundity of the female arm. The hands are larger, the fingers thicker.
The thigh is more columnar and does not taper so rapidly as in woman.
The obliquity is less emphasized. The feet are larger and more sinewy.
The skin is of coarser texture, darker, lacking of smoothness and
softness, and is more hairy. The figure shows a lack of curves through
the paucity of the paniculus adiposus.
Man’s steps are longer, his gait is less swinging. Man’s voice is
vibrant and deep. Man’s respiration is of the lower costal type.
Woman’s figure is ordinarily characterized by a relative gracility,
the forms are more delicate, the contours more rounded, and the waist
narrower than in man. The skeleton is more delicate, the stature
lower. The head is smaller and covered with more hair. The hairs are
luxuriant. The features of the face are more delicately cut, the beard
is wanting, the eyes are more beautiful and lustrous, the cheeks are
rounder, and the lips daintily curved. The neck is round and long,
lacking the laryngeal projection. The chest is narrower, the shoulders
sloping. The hemispheric form of the breasts with the well-pronounced
mammilae render the bosom highly attractive. The abdomen is longer,
hence the distance between the navel and the pubes is greater than in
men. The pelvis is lower and larger than in the male, and surpasses
the line of the shoulders. The inclination of the pelvis is more
pronounced, hence the buttocks are more protuberant. The woman’s body
thus seems to be somewhat more reminiscent of the quadrupedal posture
than man’s. There is a greater obliquity and conicity of the thighs.
The calves are very pronounced. The skin, in general, is of a finer
texture, whiter, smoother and less hairy than in men. The paniculus
adiposus is abundant, hence the figure is all curves and does not show
the angles, as in man. The limbs are relatively short, more delicate,
more rounded, tapering and less muscular than in man. The feet are
smaller and more daintily shaped. The hands are comely and the fingers
slender.
The woman’s steps are shorter, her gait more graceful. The woman’s
voice differs in pitch as well as in timbre from man’s. It has a higher
note and sweeter tone. The woman’s respiration is of the upper costal
type.
PART IV.
PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX
CHAPTER VI
CELL-DIVISION, MATURITION, IMPREGNATION
[Illustration: CUT XXVII.
_Fissiparous reproduction of the amoeba._
The single-celled animal “a” is divided after different steps into two
animals, “f” and “g.”]
The main function of the genital glands is the production of
germ-cells, the spermatozoa in the male and the ova in the female. This
production is effected by means of cell-division. The division may be
direct as found in the fissiparous reproduction of the amoeba. As soon
as the cell reaches a certain size, it divides itself into two cells.
The more complicated form of cell-division is the indirect division
called “Mitosis” or “Karyokynesis.”
As shown before the cell consists of two main parts, the smaller part
called the nucleus and the larger portion called the cytoplasm. The
nucleus shows in its interior a linin net and deeply staining granules.
Because of this quality they are called “chromatin.” The cytoplasm in
the close proximity of the nucleus contains minute granules, situated
either singly or in pairs which are called “centrosomes.”
In the indirect division the nucleus is divided by a complicated
process. Simultaneously the cytoplasm and the membrane are also
cleft in two parts. In the typical cell division two parallel series
of changes occur nearly simultaneously, one affecting the nucleus,
the other the cytoplasm. The chromatin which is usually (Fig. A,
Cut XXVIII) in form of scattered granules, arranged along the linin
network, becomes aggregated together in certain definite areas (Fig.
B), forming usually a convoluted thread or skein. This skein appears
either in form of a long filament or divided up into a series of
segments called “chromosomes” (Fig. C). The number of chromosomes is
constant for each species of plant and animal. Thus, in the common
mouse these chromosomes are twenty-four in number, in the onion
sixteen, in the sea-urchin eighteen, etc. The number is always an
even one. By this time the nuclear membrane has disappeared, and the
chromosomes appear usually as a collection of bands lying free in the
cytoplasm (Fig. D).
At the same time, another series of changes has gone through the
centrosome and the cytoplasm in the cell-body. The centrosome assumes
an ellipsoid form, constricts transversely into a dumb-bell-shaped
figure (Fig. B), and divides into two daughter centrosomes. Around
each of them is gradually developed a stellate figure composed
of a countless number of delicate fibrils, radiating out in all
directions from the centrosome as a centre. The entire constellation
is called “aster.” The two asters grow in size progressively as the
two centrosomes move apart toward the poles of the cell (Fig.
C). Between the two asters a spindle-shaped system of delicate
fibrils appears stretching from one aster to the other which is
called “central-spindle” (Fig. D). The two asters together with the
central-spindle represent the “Amphiaster”.
[Illustration: CUT XXVIII.
_Mitosis or indirect division of a cell._
cy, cytoplasm; n, nucleus; c, centrosome; nu, nucleolus; l, linin;
sk, skein; a, aster; cs, central spindle; ch, chromosome; u, U-shaped
loops; mf, mantle fibres; cf, connecting fibrils.]
At this point the centrosomes or the asters and the chromosomes begin
to work together. A system of fibrils grows out from each aster which
attach themselves to the individual chromosomes. The latter bent into
U-shaped loops arrange themselves in a circle around the centre of the
spindle and form the “equatorial plate” (Fig. E).
The chromosomes are now longitudinally split, and the halves move
toward the poles as if drawn by the mantle fibres (Fig. F). The loops
are still connected with each other by these connecting mantle fibres
(Fig. G and H).
The new U-shaped loops form now new skeins at each pole (Fig. I). The
chromatin granules now separate along the thread of the linin network,
and the new nuclear membranes are formed (Fig. K).
Simultaneously with the forming of the two daughter nuclei the
cell-body constricts across the middle of the somewhat elongated cell.
The constriction increases until a complete division in the equatorial
plane of the spindle has taken place. The result is the formation of
two separate daughter cells (Fig. L).
_Maturition._—This mode of cell division is made use of by the
organism in the maturing of the germ cells into gametes. Before the
conjugation of the ovum with the spermatozoön takes place, most ova
extrude two polar bodies in the following way. Twice a division of
the ovum takes place, each time into two quite unequal parts. The
smaller, called polar bodies, remain near the periphery of the egg
cell and are extruded later on. The same phenomenon is observed in the
spermatocytes. The immature germ cell can neither impregnate nor become
impregnated respectively, until, by a twice repeated cell division,
a part of the nuclear substance has been cast off. Only after this
has been effected does the germ cell become a gamete (a marriageable
cell, from the Greek word γαμέω, I marry), i. e., a cell capable to
impregnate or being impregnated.
This maturition of the germ cell has hitherto been veiled in a mystery,
which did not admit any plausible explanation. Why is the loss of half
of the chromosomes necessary? Nowadays it has been accepted by most of
the biologists that maturition stands in close connection with Mendel’s
law of segregation.
The learned monk Mendel, in his convent garden, made several
important discoveries concerning the heredity of living organisms.
He first discovered the quality which he called “unit characters”.
Unit characters are, in the first place, the characteristics of the
species, such as the number of the fingers. Unit characters are further
characteristic of the sex, as the beard in the male and the breast in
the female. Lastly there are the individual unit characters, as black
hair or blue eyes. Unit characters are controlled by determiners which
are either dominant or recessive. Unit characters, for this reason, do
not blend. The color of the eyes, for example, is a unit character,
and black is the dominant color. Hence when a black animal or plant is
crossed with a white one, the hybrid is always black. The black type
predominates in the influence upon the hybrid, while the type of white
exercises the lesser influence.
The second phenomenon Mendel discovered is that of segregation. By
segregation is understood the separation of opposite determiners.
Every unripe ovum or spermatocyte in the hybrid plant or animal,
contains, for example, white and black determiners, but the ripe ovum
or spermatozoön contains only one kind of determiner, either white or
black, that is, during the ripening of the germ cell into the gamete
one kind of the determiners has been eliminated.
Segregation, therefore, means that the gamete, or sex cell after
maturition, has either dominant or recessive determiners, never both.
Segregation thus affects the purity of the gametes. The matured ovum
and spermatozoön are always pure, even in the hybrid plants or animals.
Accordingly, when a spermatozoön, with a white determiner impregnates
an ovum with a white determiner, although both originated in black
hybrids, the zygote, or the impregnated cell, will be a pure white.
When a black ovum is impregnated by a black spermatozoön, the zygote
will be a pure black. If the ovum is black and the spermatozoön is
white or the ovum is white and the spermatozoön is black, the zygote
will also be black, but a black hybrid.
Black + black = black, 25% pure.
Black + white = black, 25% hybrid.
White + black = black, 25% hybrid.
White + white = white, 25% pure.
Thus, when a black bean e. c. is crossed with a white bean, all the
offspring in the first generation will be black but hybrids. When two
of these hybrids are then crossed, the dominant color black will be
represented by 75 per cent. of the offspring and the recessive color
white by 25 per cent., i. e., the offspring in the second generation,
although both parents are black, will be three-fourths black and
one-fourth white. For the gamete of two hybrid parents is always pure.
The zygote of two hybrid parents is either pure or hybrid. When the two
gametes are similar, the zygote is pure and is called homozygous, when
the two gametes are dissimilar, the zygote is heterozygous. Hybrids,
by the faculty of segregation, produce in the first generation of
hybridism, fifty per cent. homozygous zygotes (25% pure whites and
25% pure blacks) and fifty per cent. heterozygous zygotes (all hybrid
blacks). Hence the apparent paradoxical phenomenon that when a pure
blond is married to a pure brunette, all the children are brunette,
while when both the parents are brunette, but hybrids, the offspring
will be twenty-five per cent. blond and only seventy-five per cent.
brunette. The blond being recessive can only be pure, while the
brunette being dominant, may be either pure or hybrid.
[Illustration: CUT XXIX.
_Diagram illustrating the fertilization of the egg after Boveri._
A, egg surrounded by spermatazoa, one penetrating the membranes,
the cytoplasm sending at “p” a hill-like processus to meet the
spermatozoön; B, the tail of the spermatozoön is vanished, the sperm
nucleus preceded by its centrosome is moving towards the egg nucleus
which shows a chromatin reticulum; C, egg nucleus and sperm nucleus
are near each other, between them the aster fibrils; D, the centrosome
has divided, the chromatin has taken the form of chromosomes; E, first
cleavage of the chromosomes, the splitted chromosomes are lying on the
equatorial line; F, the cleavage is complete, the two-celled stage;
s, spermatazoa; on, nucleus of the ovum; p, hill-like processus; sn,
spermatozoön-nucleus; sc, spermatozoön centrosome; cn, chromatin-net;
af, aster fibrils; cho, chromosome of the ovum; chs, chromosome of the
spermatozoön; dc, divided centrosome; spc, splitted chromosomes, the
lighter that of the spermatozoön and the darker those of the ovum; nn,
new nuclei, each containing four chromosomes, two from the ovum and
two from the spermatozoön.]
This law, that the determiner in the protoplasm of the parent cell,
or rather in the nucleus of the cell, always fixes the character of
the progeny, holds good only of the unit character. Many individual
characters are fluctuations and play no part in Mendelian heredity.
Bodily modifications, resulting from environing conditions, are not
Mendelized. Most of the human traits Mendelize, such as stature,
span, size of head, shades of color of hair and eyes, hair curliness,
pulse rate, digestion and the psychic traits, such as determination,
cheerfulness, alertness, resistance to fatigue. Some anomalies also
depend upon the determiners and Mendelize, such as colorblindness,
ness, night blindness, albinoism, brachydactylism (only two finger
joints instead of three), syndactylism, polydactylism, keratosis,
hemophilia, cataract, deaf-mutism, imbecility, Hutchinson’s chorea,
epilepsy, and some forms of insanity.
The Mendelian law of segregation has somewhat lifted the veil in which
maturition was wrapped. Every germ cell, being a product of two parent
cells, is in one way or other a hybrid. By casting off half of the
chromosomes during its maturing, it becomes pure. The gamete is thus
always pure and ready for impregnation.
_Impregnation._—The process of impregnation is about the same in most
many-celled animals. As soon as the head of a single spermatozoön
enters the egg-cytoplasm, a new membrane is formed around the ovum
which effectually prevents the entrance of any other spermatozoa. The
head and the middle piece penetrate now into the egg, the tail usually
remaining imbedded in the membrane where it soon degenerates.
A few moments after the spermatozoön has entered the egg, a system of
radiation appears around the middle piece which develops into an aster,
surrounding the centrosome of the sperm cell (Cut 29, Fig. B.).
The sperm nucleus now increases in size, and its chromatin changes into
a reticulate form. Sperm aster and sperm nucleus, the aster preceding,
now move toward the egg nucleus. As the nuclei approach each other the
sperm nucleus increases still more in size, until both become almost of
the same size (Fig. C.).
The chromatin network of each nucleus now breaks up into a number of
chromosomes and the nuclei come into contact and fuse together. The
centrosome, together with its aster, divide now into two parts, and the
two daughter centrosomes move apart to the opposite poles of the ovum,
and the typical amphi-aster of cell division, as above described, is
formed (Fig. D.).
The nuclear membranes now disappear and the chromosomes are drawn
together into the equatorial plate where each splits longitudinally.
The halves are drawn by the mantle fibrils toward the opposite poles
where they are transformed into two daughter nuclei (Fig. E.). In
the meantime the cytoplasm has also divided. The result are two new
cells. This process of division is repeated continuously in each of
the resulting generations of cells. From the mass of cells thus formed
develops the new organism.
CHAPTER VII
THE FUNCTION OF THE MALE GENERATIVE ORGANS
_Testicles._—The function of the testicles is threefold. There is first
the inner secretion of certain substances, spermines, which are the
cause of the male secondary characteristics. Eunuchs who have been
operated upon before puberty show feminine traits in their appearance
throughout their lives. They have sloping shoulders, flabby muscles,
beardless faces, high-pitched, squeaky voices and festoons of fat on
breasts and hips. Secondly, certain stimuli starting from the testicles
serve to increase the tonus of the centres of erection. The main
function of the testicles is the production of spermatozoa.
[Illustration: CUT XXX.
_Spermatogenesis._
1, basement membrane; 2, Sertoli’s or sustentacular cell; 3,
spermatogone; 4, spermatocytes; 5, spermatids; 6, heads of
spermatozoa.]
_Spermatogenesis._—The testicles belong to the class of tubulous
glands. The tubules are through the greater part of their course
convoluted, tubuli contorti, toward the end they become straight,
tubuli recti. The wall of the convoluted tubules consists of three
layers, (1) an external connective tissue layer, (2) a middle
basement membrane, and (3) interiorly, an epithelial lining. The
epithelium consists of two kinds of cells, first the supporting or the
sustentacular or Sertoli’s cells and secondly the glandular cells.
When in activity, the glandular cells show three different strata,
which represent the three different stages of spermatogenesis. The
first stratum, the spermatogones, lie against the basement membrane.
They soon begin to increase by cell division and move toward the centre
of the tubule. During this movement they increase in size and show the
different stages of mitotic division. These enlarged cells are called
spermatocytes and form the second stratum. The cells produced by the
mitosis of the spermatocytes constitute the third stratum and are
called spermatids.
During the transformation of the spermatocyte into a spermatid a
reduction of its chromosomes to one-half the number, specific for the
species, takes place. This reduction represents the maturition of the
sperm-cell, when the segregation of the unit characters is effected. A
spermatid is, therefore, already a gamete, i. e., a reproductive cell
in the reduced condition.
The spermatids are small round cells which line the lumen of the
seminiferous tubules. The spermatids soon become ovoid. The nucleus
forms the head, and the cytoplasm is drawn into a tail-like processus.
In this stage the spermatids are called spermatozoa. A Sertoli’s cell,
together with a group of developing spermatozoa attached to its central
end, is called spermatoblast.
The epithelium of the tubuli contorti thus consists of three strata,
first of the stratum of the spermatogones, lying against the basement
membrane, secondly of the stratum of spermatocytes which are
spermatogones in the state of mitosis, and thirdly of the stratum of
spermatids which are transformed spermatocytes. The spermatozoa are
spermatids which have assumed their permanent shape.
The spermatozoön is divided into three parts, the head, which is the
modified nucleus of the male reproductive cell, the intermediate
segment, which is the cytoplasm of the cell, and the tail, which is
a veritable vibrating cilium, as found in ciliated epithelial cells.
[Illustration: CUT XXXI.
_Spermatozoön._
a, head; b, intermediate segment; c, tail.]
The spermatozoa soon detach themselves from the spermatoblasts and
wander into the seminiferous tubules toward the rete vasculosum and
epididymis. The spermatozoa possess their own motion. The head is
propelled forward by a whip-like wriggling of the tail. The rate of
movement is 1.2 to 3.6 millimeters a minute. Water checks the movement
and causes the tail to curl up. Concentrated solutions of salts,
sugar, albumen and urea may revive the spermatozoa to former activity.
Metal salts and acids arrest the movements, while caustic potash and
soda invigorate them. Even thin and weak acid solutions, as urine and
the vaginal contents,[C] are harmful, while alkaline solutions are
favorable to the spermatozoa. In spermatozoa, which have died gradually
after ejaculation, the tail is outstretched or slightly curved, while
in those discharged dead, the tail is rolled up in a spiral.
_Seminal vesicles._—The seminal vesicles have several functions.
The internal secretions serve directly as an excitans of the sexual
impulse. The distension of the vesicles reflectorily stimulates the
sexual centres. It is a well-known fact that the distention of the
vesicles in strict continence gives rise to frequent erections, just as
well as the full bladder, constipation, lithiasis, and diseases of the
prostate or of the rectum.
The main functions of the vesicles are three in number. The vesicles
serve, in the first place, as a reservoir for the testicular
secretions. The other function consists in the reabsorption of the
unejaculated sperma. The third function is to furnish a fluid for the
dilution of the very thick testicular secretion and a medium where the
spermatozoa can best carry out their motions.
The seminal vesicles secrete a peculiar mucus, which is thick,
fibrinous, glairy, and albuminous. This secretion constitutes the bulk
of the semen.
_Prostate._—The prostatic gland has a double function. It is the main
point wherefrom the stimuli for the sexual impulse start. The internal
secretions of the prostatic parenchyma send libidinogenous substances
into the blood. The colliculus, rich in nervous elements, sends also
out nervous libidinogenous stimuli. The principal function of the
prostate is its secretion which imparts to the otherwise sluggish
spermatozoa their lively movements.
The secretion of the prostate is thin, milky, translucent, amphoteric
or slightly acid. It contains the base spermin which causes the
peculiar seminal odor. The secretion gives to the inert spermatozoa
their peculiar motion and life.
_Cowper’s glands._—The Cowper’s glands secrete a mucous albuminous
fluid of alkaline reaction. The secretion takes place before the
ejaculation of the semen.
_Urethral glands._—The urethral glands secrete a viscid clear fluid.
The secretion of these glands, together with that of Cowper’s glands,
serve first as a lubricant for the walls of the urethra. The other
function is to neutralize the contents covering the urethral walls. The
latter are ordinarily bathed in acid urine. This acidity would harm the
spermatozoa.
[Illustration: CUT XXXII.
_Normal sperma._
1, Boettcher’s crystals; 2, amyloid bodies; 3, hyaline bodies; 4,
testicular cells; 5, urethral epithelia; 6, lecithin bodies; 7,
spermatozoa.]
_Semen._—The semen is composed of the secretions of the testicles,
seminal vesicles, prostatic gland, Cowper’s glands and the urethral
glands. The semen is a thick, colorless, gelatinous, opalescent,
non-transparent, viscid fluid, resembling boiled starch. It possesses a
specific odor sui generis, due to the presence of phosphate of spermin.
Its specific gravity is higher than that of water, its reaction is
alkaline. It is soluble in water and acids, and is coagulated in
alcohol. If it is let stand in a test tube, two layers will be formed,
a lower one opaque, consisting of spermatozoa and other cellular
elements, and an upper one turbid and translucent, with only a few
cells and detritus. The two layers are of about equal thickness.
The semen consists of about ninety per cent. water and ten per cent.
solids. Of the solids sixty per cent. are organic substances, thirty
per cent. earthly phosphates, and ten per cent. sodium chloride. When a
drop of fresh semen is observed under the microscope, it is found full
of motion, as if an anthill had been stirred up. This motion lasts for
about twelve hours. It is caused by the living spermatozoa. The number
of spermatozoa in an ordinary emission, of about ten grammes, is about
two hundred to three hundred millions. Besides the moving spermatozoa,
there are found a certain number of lecithin globules. Their size is
about half the size of a red blood corpuscle. When semen is let stand
for a certain time, Boettcher’s crystals, consisting of phosphate of
spermin, are formed from the base which gives to the semen its peculiar
smell and which is derived from the prostatic secretions. The semen
also shows the presence of different kinds of epithelia, the pavement
epithelia from the fossa navicularis urethra, the round cells from the
prostate, and the columnar epithelia from Cowper’s glands.
_Erection._—The male sexual activity consists in the essential
features, intromission and ejaculation. For intromission erection is an
absolute necessity. The lumen of the vagina is only virtual, there is
no real lumen. It follows that only an unflexible body could penetrate
into this organ, where the semen has to be deposited for the production
of the new being. For this reason, it is prerequisite to copulation
that the penis, which is normally in a state of flaccidity, should
obtain the required rigidity. This rigidity is gained in the following
way.
The tonus, which is present in all the blood-vessels of the body, is
the cause that the arteries of the corpora cavernosa penis have only a
virtual and not a real lumen. For between the layers of the circular
muscular fibres of these vessels is found a layer of longitudinal
fibres which narrow the lumen and almost entirely compress it.
When the tonus relaxes, the blood precipitates into the enlarged
vessels and the cavernous spaces, and an active increase in the amount
of arterial blood is the result. Through the increase of the lumen
of the arteries and caverns, the veins are compressed and the blood
cannot flow out of the cavernous bodies. Thus the active increase of
arterial blood serves as a check of the reflux of the blood through
the veins by the pressure of the distended arteries and caverns upon
these veins. Besides this check, the vena profunda cummunis, by which
the blood of the corpora cavernosa penis has to return, passes through
the unstriped muscular fibres of the musculus transversus perinei
profundus. Now, this muscle contracts synchronously through the same
influence of the nervi erigentes which caused the relax of the tonus
in the arteries. The contraction of the muscle causes the compression
of the vena profunda and prevents the blood from flowing off. Besides
the muscular transversus perinei, the musculus ischio-cavernosus which
arises from the os ischii and encircles the radix of the penis, as well
as the musculus bulbo-cavernosus by compressing the bulbus urethrae
will, both, at their contraction, prevent the blood from flowing off.
In this way there is not only an active increase in the amount of
arterial blood, but also an abrupt decrease in the amount of venous
blood, flowing out of the penis. The corpora cavernosa, therefore,
become of almost cartilaginous hardness, and the penis reaches the
state of rigidity, necessary to the performance of the male sex-act.
When erection is complete the contraction of the musculus erector penis
draws the organ up against the abdomen and gives it the same direction
as that of the vagina.
_Colliculus._—With the erection of the corpora cavernosa, the
colliculus also swells and almost fills up the entire lumen of
the prostatic urethra. In this way the bladder which has already
been closed by the contraction of the sphincter, is closed up more
tightly, so that not a drop of urine could escape. The erection of the
colliculus also causes the orifices of the ejaculatory ducts to take
the direction forwards toward the pars membranacea.
_Urethra._—At this stage the urethra obtains an actual lumen. Through
the net of veins which surround the mucous membrane of the urethra and
through the turgescence of the corpus cavernosum urethrae, the canal
of the urethra opens and remains gaping through the entire duration of
the erection. In this way it is admirably fitted to give a free passage
for the semen. In the mean time the urethral glands are constantly
secreting their viscid clear fluid, which, together with the secretion
of the Cowper’s glands, provide a lubricating and protecting coat for
the urethra and neutralize the contents of the urethral walls which are
otherwise bathed in acid urine.
_Ejaculation._—The last important step of the male sexual act is
ejaculation. The spermatozoa leave the lining of the tubuli contorti
and wander through the tubuli recti to the rete vasculosum and hence
through the vasa efferentia to the head of the epididymis. They
continue their wanderings through the epididymis and vasa deferentia
until they reach the seminal vesicles and the ejaculatory ducts. During
sexual tranquility and in a normal state of health, the ejaculatory
ducts, owing to the narrowness of their diameter and the oblique
direction of their orifices, are sufficiently compressed to prevent the
semen from reaching the urethra. The semen, therefore, remains in the
seminal vesicles until needed for ejaculation. If not needed in due
time, it is, as a rule, reabsorbed, and the overflow, if there be any,
is discharged during sleep, accompanied by libidinous dreams.
Coincident with erection the entire situation changes. Before
ejaculation the testicles are forcibly drawn up to the external rings
of the inguinal canal, by the action of the cremaster muscle. Through
the contraction of the epididymis and the coni vasculosi, the seminal
fluid is propelled toward the vasa deferentia. Through the peristaltic
movement of the vasa deferentia and the seminal vesicles, the semen
is pressed into the ejaculatory ducts. The latter, by means of the
muscular layer in their walls, forward the semen to the prostatic
urethra. The action of the ducts is at this moment facilitated by the
changed direction of their orifices. The change takes place through the
turgescence of the colliculus. The swelling of the colliculus and the
contraction of the external sphincter of the bladder prevent the semen
from flowing backward into the bladder.
At this stage the muscular substance of the prostate contracts and
squeezes out the prostatic fluid into the urethra. The fluid had been
stowed up in the follicles until there was a demand for it. All these
secretions of the testicles, seminal vesicles, and prostate, meet
synchronously in the prostatic urethra and are there temporarily stowed
up.
The muscular layer which surrounds the membranous portion of the
urethra is a veritable sphincter, the contractions or dilatations of
which will propel or retain the semen. The semen pouring from the
ejaculatory ducts and the secretion of the prostate are steadily
forced forward. But, retained by the contracted sphincter externus,
the semen is forced into the bulb of the urethra, as the place of
least resistance. In this way the bulbous part of the urethra becomes
distended and serves as a temporary reservoir for the semen before
ejaculation. By reflex excitation, this distention causes spasmodic
contractions of the musculus bulbo-cavernosus and clonic contractions
of the accelerator urinae. The contractions of these two muscles
overcome the contractions of the sphincter, i. e., the muscular layer
of the membranous portion of the urethra, and the semen is driven
forward and gushes out of the meatus, in several jets, through the open
and well-lubricated canal of the urethra.
_Nervous control of erection._—The mechanism of erection and
ejaculation is controlled by six centres, the three cerebral, one in
the medulla oblongata, and the two spinal. Erection may be caused
by the stimulation of the cerebral centre of voluptas. Impressions
originating in the brain, as sexual thoughts, may evoke vigorous
erections. There is no function of the human economy over which the
mind exerts a more powerful influence than over that of sex. The
imagination, says Hammond, is always a more potent stimulant of sexual
desires than the physiological incentive supplied by nature. Besides by
imagination, the cerebral centre may be excited by impressions conveyed
through the senses. Sight, smell, hearing, and in some pathological
states even taste are well known to convey sexual stimulation to the
brain. The sense of touch has such an influence over the generative
function that it is considered the inseparable companion of sexual
activity.
[Illustration: CUT XXXIII.
_Diagram of nerves and centres._[D]
1, brain; 2, centre of inhibition; 3, centre of libido; 11, centre of
voluptas; 4, vasodilatory centre in the medulla oblongata; 16, centre
of erection; 7, centre of ejaculation; 10, genitals at the periphery.
The broken lines designate centripetal nerves, the solid lines denote
centrifugal nerves.]