Part 4
The Womb is seated in the lower part of the _Hypogastrium_, between the straight Gut and the Bladder. The Cavity where ’tis lodg’d, is call’d the _Pelvis_ or _Basin_, and is larger in Women than in Men, so as to give the Womb liberty to distend it self upon Impregnation; it is tied fast at the bottom, and at the Neck. The Neck is knit before to the Bladder, and the Share-bone, and behind to the straight Gut and the _Os Sacrum_. The bottom is not tied so fast as the Neck, it requiring more liberty to move and dilate it self; but to prevent the shifting of its Seat, the Ligaments are equipp’d, being four in Number, two above, and two below.
Having describ’d the Privities of Man and Woman: I come now to my dissertation upon the _Generation_ of Man, and the more particular use and dimensions of the Parts employ’d therein.
_Of the _Generation_ of __MAN__._
An Animal cannot be produc’d without a Couple, _viz._ a Male and a Female, each of which performs its part in the work of _Generation_.
Their entring on this work is call’d Copulation, which is the joining of the Male to the Female: And both of them are equally transported with a furious and restless Passion, occasion’d by a mix’d motion of pleasure and pain in the _Genitals_, which strongly excites a desire for each other.
As this Enjoyment is natural, there needs no Instruction; Instinct in all Animals directs the way of acting, that is most convenient for propagating their Species: And a Man, though brought up in never so great Ignorance, at his Age of Maturity naturally enclines to it, and needs no other Guide but the dictates of Nature to find out the center of Enjoyment.
But if Nature had not planted in the _Genitals_ a sense of extraordinary pleasure in the amorous Engagement, Man would seldom give himself the trouble of Copulation: The cause of this pleasure some impute to the mixing of Spirits with the Seed, which give a pleasing tickling; and that this is encreas’d by the fineness and bending of the _Nervous Fibres_ of the parts: Others are of opinion, that the Salt in the Seed, and the Spirits accompanying, prick the parts through which they pass and occasion such an agreeable Titillation: And some give this reason for the pleasure, that as in Eating we have an Enjoyment, which no part but the Tongue and Palate partake of; so in Copulation a peculiar pleasure arises, of which the _Generation_ Organs are only sensible; and that Animals are mov’d to the Act of _Generation_, as they are to Eating.
The tickling Pleasure which affects Women, proceeds from the Emotion, that is excited when the Seed disengages it self from the Testicle, and passes through the Cavities of the ejaculatory Vessels, in order to be darted into the Womb. When a Woman is not with Child, the Seed is thrown into the Womb by the shortest Vessel, and when she is pregnant, the Seed is thrown into the Neck of the Womb by the longest Branch: And for this reason, big-belly’d Women are more passionately fond of Embraces than others; for the Seed spending more time in its intricate Passage, raises a more transporting and lasting Titillation.
In respect to the Parts of a Man employ’d in the work of _Generation_, the Yard when lank cannot go about it; and it may be so stiff, as not to be proper: And sometimes the erection of the Yard is so strong, that it is always bent: A large Yard does not stand so readily, as a small one; and when it does it cannot subsist so long, by reason it requires more Blood to fill it; and when full, it is heavier, and consequently apt to fall in a very little time: And the business of _Generation_ suffers no alteration from the shortness or length of the Yard within the Neck of the Womb; for the office of the two round Ligaments, is to enforce the bottom of the Womb to approach the head of the Yard, in order to receive the Seed in time of Ejaculation: But ’tis as difficult a matter to perswade some Lascivious Females, that a Yard of small Dimensions is equally useful and pleasurable to one of a considerable Longitude and Circumference, as it is to perswade a Club of Ravenous Stomachs, that a thin shrivell’d Shoulder of Mutton is of equal Goodness with a Haunch of well-fed Venison.
The parts of Women frequently differ in their Extent and Furniture; a great many Husbands are such Fools, as to covet difficulty in their first Approaches; and to measure the Virtue of their Wives, by the labour of their consummating Attack; not considering Nature has so order’d, that the Privy Parts are in the same Condition with the Mouth and the Eyes; some are little, and others are large; so that those who have naturally the larger size, may be unjustly charg’d with Lewdness; and on the other hand, those, who by the natural disposition of the Parts are straighter, may after Copulation be reputed Virgins. A Little Woman may have a large Mouth, _&c._ and a large Woman a little one, whereby the lesser Person may have the more capacious Privities: And the same rule may be observ’d in Men, in respect to the Nose, which seems to have equal Authority in determining the Dimensions nature has provided in the Male, as the Mouth or Eyes in the Female.
Nature does not always observe an exact rule of _Symmetry_, the visible Limbs and Parts are oftentimes disproportion’d; we frequently see a large personable Man, supported with slender Legs, and a Dwarf equip’d with large nervous Calves; and the same want of proportion is certainly to be found in the Privities.
I have known a wanton Female marry a Person of an extraordinary Stature, in expectation of a large Pleasure, with Sorrow confess she was greatly mistaken. And as a strong Soil does not constantly afford the most plentiful Crop of productive Grain; so the Privy Parts of a robust Person, are not always stock’d with the greatest quantity of surrounding Ornaments.
But to return to the Privy Parts of Women; in some extraordinary cases, the Lips of the _Matrix_, may be so closely join’d, that a Yard of the smallest Size, cannot possibly enter (when they are to be artfully separated by a Surgeon:) And in other Females the Passage is so wide, that the largest Member will make its way without the least difficulty: And I at this time know a Gentleman very well provided in the parts of _Generation_ (beyond what is common) that has had three Wives, all of them of unspotted Reputations, and the oldest not above Nineteen; who affirms that the Nights of consummation with each of his Spouses; he was in quite to the Testicles in his first penetrating attempt.
The same Gentleman has declar’d, that in his Youth, when his Curiosity led him to the utmost variety; he has sometimes met with a Lady of Pleasure, whose Parts must be suppos’d to be extended to the utmost latitude of Nature, and to which upon Examination, no binding Preparations had been applied; that he could not possibly enter in the most encountering Embrace, which sufficiently shews the incertainty of Nature, and the difficulty attending the proof of Virginity. And this Gentleman is of the same Opinion with many others, that a narrow entrance to the Privy Parts of a Female, very much impedes a mutual Enjoyment.
Thus much for the Dimensions of the Privities: I now proceed to _Generation_. When the Fancy warm’d with an _Idea_ of Pleasure, occasions a diffusion of the Animal Juice, of Consequence ensues Erection: An Erection being effected, and the Yard lodg’d in the Neck of the Womb; the Seed taking leave of the seminal Vesicles, passes through the Ejaculatory Vessels, and enters the _Urethra_; from whence ’tis squirted out with a Jirk, by vertue of the Convulsions that then seize the Yard: And as Ejaculation the last point of the Man’s Action, is the critical moment of pleasure, so ’tis the principal aim, he has in View, and all the Circumstances that usher it in, have an eye upon that Instant: The sanguine Person is the most amorous, and produces the greatest quantity of laudable Seed.
The Seed of a Man being syring’d into the Privy Parts of a Woman by the Yard, it repairs to the bottom of the Womb, and its inner Orifice shuts it self close: ‘After which the Seed being embrac’d and press’d by the Womb, all its Particles begin to take their respective Posts; the subtilest continue in the Center, and consequently the grosser and superfluous Parts are thrust towards the Surface, where they produce the After-birth, the Navel-string, and the Membranes, in which the _Fœtus_ is wrapt. In the mean time all the Particles calculated for forming the different parts of the Body, disengage themselves by the force of their motion, and either part or join according to their mutual Disparity or Conformity; so that those design’d for the head Assemble in the place where they ought to be; and those for the rest of the Body do the like: And at the same time among those calculated for the Head, the Particles qualify’d for forming the Eyes, Ears, _&c._ rendezvous in their proper places: The same may be said of the Particles of which the Breast, Belly, and Limbs are compos’d. The Form, Structure, Order and Connection of all these parts, depends chiefly upon the Spirit enclos’d within the Seed; which by the meer necessity of its Motions, and without any Knowledge or Understanding, unravels the _Chaos_ where the Particles lay confus’d, and ranks them in the same Order, that they had when lodg’d in the Body of the Animals, from which they sprung. The parts of the _Fœtus_ being thus form’d, the subtilest part of the Spirit continues in the Center of the new-form’d Body, _i. e._ the Heart; and there makes a sort of Fire without Light (being the natural Heat that gives Life) which is fed by the circular motion of the Blood that passes there incessantly.’ This is the most probable _Idea_ of forming the _Fœtus_, and what passes in the Womb, that is given by any Ancient or Modern Writers.
Some are of Opinion, that the _Fœtus_ is form’d of a mixture of the Male and Female Seed; and that these two Seeds impregnated with the Spirit of Life, are the agent and matter of _Generation_. Some alledge that the Male Seed is sufficient of it self to form a _Fœtus_; and that the Woman only gives it a lodging, and furnishes the necessary Blood for its nourishment in the Womb: The Male being in this sense, look’d upon as an accomplish’d and perfect piece of Work, and the Female only a fertile Ground, which produces good Seed where the Labourer sows it well: And others are of opinion, that the Woman’s Seed contains the first, and the true Model of the _Fœtus_; there being small seminal Vesicles in the Testicles of a Woman, call’d the Eggs; which contain within themselves, all that is necessary to give the _Fœtus_ a Being.
But the most common and rational Opinion is, that of the _Fœtus_ being form’d by the mixing of the two Seeds in the Womb; that Man and Woman are equally perfect; and that both of them being furnish’d with Testicles, which make a secretion of Seed, both of them must supply; and a Woman cannot be got with Child, unless she and the Man ejaculate their Seed at the same time.
Those enclining to believe, that the Male Seed is sufficient of it self to form a _Fœtus_, plead that the Seed of a Man differs vastly from that of a Woman: That the former is white, and of a thick consistence, compos’d of all the parts that are capable to form a Body; and that the latter is only a sharp and yellowish serosity, which cannot contribute any thing towards the form of the _Fœtus_. But this is esteem’d by other Persons a groundless fancy; for the Structure of a Woman’s Testicle is more admirable than that of a Man, which shews that the Seed separated by it, is of considerable use: And several Children have their Mothers Features and Humour, which demonstrates that the Father, to whom they oftentimes bear no resemblance, does not furnish all himself.
Those Persons who pretend that the Woman’s Seed contains the first, and the true Model of the _Fœtus_, compare the Female Testicles to a bunch of Grapes, or a Bee-hive; consisting of Vesicles, each of which contains a little Animal, almost compleated in all its Parts, after the same manner as the Egg of a Fowl: And that Man’s Seed contributes to _Generation_, no otherwise than as it animates the Egg: But the Opinion which is generally receiv’d, is that both the Male and the Female Seed contain such Particles, as are qualify’d to form a Body and a Spirit capable of all the Motions perform’d by the Animal, from which they have Being; and that _Generation_ depends upon an exact mixture of the two Seeds.
The Opinions relating to the matter whereof the Seed is compos’d, are no less various than those of the forming of the _Fœtus_; some Anatomists say, ’tis prepar’d by the concoction and conversion of Blood, effected in this manner. The Blood imported to the Testicles by four spermatick Vessels, two Arteries and two Veins: The Vein and Artery of the same side, having a mutual Communication, blend the arterious and venous Blood together; and this mixture of arterious and venous Blood boyl and convert into Seed by the peculiar faculty and virtue of the Organs of the Testicles: This was the Opinion of the Antients.
Others say, that the Seed is a Juice imported by the Nerves to the Organs of _Generation_; and that it distills from the Brain to the Privities; that in the time of Ejaculation one may feel it trickling along the _Spina_ of the Back; that when the Adventure is over, the Animal is feeble and dejected through the great Dissipation of the Spirits that are hurry’d along with the Seed; and that the Seed is of the same colour with the animal juice of the Nerves.
Other Anatomists tell ye the Seed is compos’d of an infinity of little Animals, which they call seminary; that these swim and flutter about in the Liquor, and may be easily discover’d with a Microscope; that these seminal Animals are so many Seeds of Men, which being convey’d to the _Ovarium_, strike at the first Egg they meet with; upon which one of them perforates the Membrane, or gets into the Egg by a suppos’d Orifice, and presently shuts it self up, leaving the rest to perish without Doors, unless some of them have the good Fortune to slip into another Egg. The Animal that enters the Egg, serves for _Sperm_, which by swelling it up, prompts it to disengage it self from the _Ovarium_, and tumble into the _Tuba_, which conducts it to the Womb.
But the most substantial reasons given for the composure of the Seed are grounded upon Circulation, that the seminal Particles are separated and filtrated from the Blood by the Testicles; and Anatomists acquainted with the Structure of the Testicles, say, that the Seed is produc’d by a continual Filtration of several Particles, which being gather’d into a Body, make a Liquor that is qualify’d for the forming of a Man.
Mr. _Lamy_ in his Anatomical Discourses, says, that the same necessity which obliges Plants after a set period of time to put forth the Seeds which give being to others, does likewise influence Animals at a certain Age to produce prolifick Seed, which he explains thus: The moisture of Infancy being consum’d by the overpowering Heat, the Blood is crouded with a greater number of Corpusculums qualified to nourish the Parts and repair their Losses, than there is occasion for; so that a great number of these nutritious Particles meeting with no reception in the respective Parts, return along with the Blood. The Head sends back such Particles as are proper for recomposing all the different Parts it is made of; and so do the other parts. Now all these various sorts of Particles being mix’d with the Blood, are strain’d through the Testicles; after which they rally and compose a Humour which is the sensible and corporeal part of the Seed of Man.
Seed is a very sweet Liquor when ’tis in a regular State, but when ’tis long under confinement, it turns perfectly sower, and causes very pernicious effects in both Male and Female. Men are harsher in their Tempers, and frequently attack’d with Vapours to a degree; and Women are thrown into a deplorable Condition, which will find no absolute Cure, till the stagnating Seed is evacuated by Marriage: The Seed mixing with the Blood breaks its Texture and changes its Consistence; so that by rendring it more serous, liquid and cold, and by flattening the Redness of the Blood, it makes the colour of the Skin less lively; and at length occasions the _Virgins_ Distemper.
_Monsieur_ _DIONIS_ is of opinion, that most of the Nuns and other Girls that are taken to be possess’d with Devils, were subject to Vapours only when they acted the awkward extravagancies that History is full of. And I have been inform’d by the learned Dr. _C——n_, and other eminent Physicians, that Vapours will so powerfully prevail in some Young Females, by a stagnation of the Seed, that they are oblig’d to prescribe extraordinary Remedies, and sometimes Friction to procure relief; and to prevent Convulsions, irregular Imaginations, _&c._ which would otherwise ensue, if not a perfect Lunacy for a time.
An early Marriage is the most effectual Preservative against the numerous Disorders proceeding from quantities of Seed unnaturally confin’d; and will render a perfect Health and Tranquility; unless it be in the case of Impotency; or in some Countries where a Man by tying a Knot upon his Codpiece, when the Priest pronounces such and such Words on the day of Marriage; lays claim to a right of preventing its Consummation: But if a Man cannot consummate his Marriage, you’ll always find it proceed from a natural Cause; and that the Devil has no hand in it.
To conclude my Subject of _Generation_, and the Parts employ’d therein: I shall here insert an Observation of St. _Augustin. The Instruments of Generation (_says he_) are a call’d _Pudenda_, because they speak our Shame in this, that he who commands all the other Parts, cannot reduce these to Obedience._
_FINIS._
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling. 2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed. 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.