THESE Parts are generally so well known, that I would not so much as mention them, out of Modesty, were it not, that, I presume, the young MIDWIFE may find something in the ensuing Description worth her singular Notice; which however, I shall not so much insist upon: But succinctly——
BEGINNING with the First, call’d the Vulva or Pudendum; we find it situated below the Os Pubis, having a great Chink or Fissure in the Middle, as it has the Frænulum and Perinæum in the lower Part. And above the Chink there is a little Protuberance occasioned by Fat under the Skin, call’d Mons Veneris.
THE two Labia Vulvæ being a little separated, the Nymphæ appear, join’d one to each interior Side of them: They are two small Pieces of red Membranous Flesh, much resembling Pullet’s Gills: They encrease the Pleasure of Copulation, and direct the Course of the Urine.
IN the upper Part of the Chink, next to the Os Pubis, are several little round Substances; which the most ingenious Fallopius call’d the Clitoris, almost hid under the Skin denominated the Præputium.
A little deeper, or straight below the Clitoris, is the Urethra, or Orifice of the Neck of the Bladder; being a little Hole as big as a Goose-Quill; which discovers itself by a small Eminence, and is about two Inches long.
BETWIXT the Muscle, call’d Sphincter Urethræ, and the inner Membrane of the Vagina, are several small Glands; whose excretory Ducts are the Holes observable about the URETHRA, call’d[153]LACUNÆ GRAFFI; which discharge a Liquor for lubricating or making the Vagina slippery, and encreasing the Venereal Titillation.
IN the Orifice of the Vagina, there is a slender subtile Membrane situated a-cross, which is call’d the Hymen, of a different Form in different Women; being sometimes Annular, and sometimes Semilunar: It is almost always to be found in young Girls, having a small Hole into the Vagina; which Hole in Adults is somewhat larger. In the first Act of COPULATION this Membrane is torn, which generally occasions an Effusion of a little Blood; but this may also happen by many other Procatarctick Causes[154], and accidental Occasions.
THE GLANDULÆ or CARUNCULÆ Myrtiformes are constituted of the contracted Fibres of the dilacerated HYMEN; and are situated on the Side opposite to the URETHRA, next the ANUS, in the FOSSA Magna, or Navicularis; being the same Place where the HYMEN was at first established. These are small fleshy Eminences, and are sometimes Two or Three, and sometimes Four or Five in Number: They are deficient in GIRLS, and defaced in those WOMEN who have had CHILDREN.
THE VAGINA or Neck of the Womb, is a long and round Canal, reaching from these Caruncles to the Orifice of the Womb; not very unlike a strong small Gut: Its Orifice is narrow in Virgins, and in All Women much narrower than its other Parts: It’s Substance (according to Ruysche’s Observations) is membranous, nervous, papillary, and wrinkled Within; which consequently must be of an exquisitive Sense: In Virgins the WRINKLES are very Large, especially in the Fore-Part; but after frequent Embraces they are Less, and after repeated BIRTHS, they entirely disappear.
THE VAGINA lies betwixt the Bladder and the strait Gut, or Rectum; with which last it is wrapt up in the same common Membrane, from the PERITONÆUM, adhering to it, all its Length upwards, from its Orifice to that of the Womb, and quite round on the lower Side, as it does to the Neck of the BLADDER above.
IN Maids, the VAGINA is about Five Inches Long, and one and a half Wide: But in CHILD-BEARING-WOMEN, it cannot be determin’d; because it lengthens in the time of PREGNANCY, and dilates in time of BIRTH; having likewise (in all) some little Holes or Ducts in it, which discharge a mucous Liquor. The VAGINA Serves also, in fine, for a necessary Conduit to the MENSTRUA and LOCHIA, as it does for a proper Passage to the INFANT, &c.
THESE are, in short, all the external Parts of GENERATION in Women; and these have all their proper respective Functions assign’d them by Nature; contributing conjunctly and severally to the Charms of COPULATION: Which ACTION alters the very Course of the Blood, and Motion of the Animal SPIRITS; and consequently sets all the describ’d Parts in full AGITATION. Namely, thus
THE Labia dilate: the Orifice swells: the Nymphæ give way: the Clitoris (of exquisite Sensibility) erects: The Glands (by a Protuberancy of the Parts) yield their succous Contents: The Vagina draws close: The Fibres of the Womb complicate to open its Orifice: The Branches of the Spermatick Artery contract to draw the Extremities of the Tubes to the OVARIA, as they carry the Seed to them: The Seed circulating in the Veins, which open in the Cavity of the VAGINA and MATRIX, it ferments immediately with the Mass of Blood: This Fermentation swells the Membranes of the Tubes, opens the Cavity of the Womb, and disposes All perfectly for the right Reception of the impregnated Egg.
FROM hence we may plainly see, in what a miraculous Order and Manner, all These Parts minister, and are subservient unto that (yet more) admirable and wonderful Body the Womb. Which being thus in brief anatomically described, I come next in Course to