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LOVE

A Treatise on the Science of Sex- Attraction

For the Use of Physicians and Students of Medical

Jurisprudence

BY

BERNARD S. TALMEY, M. D.

IVith forty-seven cuis, eighty-four drawings, in the text

THIRD REVISED EDITION

Kinstweilen, bis den Bau der Welt Philosophic zusammenhalt, Erhalt .sif das Getriebe Durch Hunger und durch Liebe.

— Schiller. "Die Weltweiscn."

Practitioners' Publishing Company New York City

Copyrighted, 1919, by Cecilia Talmey

HAROLD B. LEE LIBRARY

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

PROVO, UTAH

PREFACE

Not only among laymen but also among serious thinkers and writers on medical topics the opinion is generally prevalent, that there is a vast difference m the degree of intensity of the sex-impulse in men and women. Upon this supposition rests the justification of the double standard of sexual morality of the two sexes. If the intensity of the amatory emotions is the same in both sexes, then there is no justification for a double standard of sexual morality.

Now, an emotion is, in its nature, subjective. Its intensity can never be objectively determined. Men and women may dispute the question of the different degree of intensity of the amatory emotions till the end of time, still they will never reach a definite conclusion. The only way to determine the nature of an emotion is to study its pathology. If it can be shown that the same pathological entities of the sex-instinct are found in men and women, the inference is justified that the normal emotions are also the same or similar in both sexes.

To prove the similarity or identity of the intensity of the sex-impulse in both sexes, the author published in the winter of 1906-1907 his book "Woman, A Treatise on the Normal and Pathological Emotions of Feminine Love." Since the publication of "Woman" he received numerous letters with requests to write a similar treatise on the amatory emotions of men. In 1910 the author published "Genesis, A Manual for the Instruction of Children in Matters Sexual." He thought that the Description of the evolution of sex in plant and animal in "Genesis" might supply the demand. Still the requests continued to arrive. He then published, in 1912, "Neurasthenia Sexualis, A Treatise on Sexual Impotence in Men and Women." In this treatise the

iv PEEFACE

anatomy and physiology of the male organs of generation were thoroughly discussed. Still it did not fill the demand. The chapter on pathology dealt only with impotence.

When the author finally decided to write the counterpart of "Woman," it occurred to him that if the amatory emotions are the same in men and women, they ought to be treated to- gether in one volume. Hence the present work "Love, A Treatise on the Science of Sex- Attraction." Naturally ^he present volume recapitulates all that the author has previously written in his three books, "Woman," "Genesis," and "Neurasthenia Sexnalis." The three previous works are mere chapters of the present treatise. Still every author grows with his work. After years of study of the subject of sex, he was able to expand the sphere of his previous lessons, so that even those readers who have read his three previous books will still find some new points in this work. If the readers should agree with this opinion, the author will consider himself well paid for his labors.

The Author. New York, May, 1915,

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION

The main criticism of "Love" by the reviewers of the first edition was directed against the frequency of Latin words and phrases used in veiling some of the more unpleasant aspects of the normal and especially the pathological sex-activities.

Still it was not prudery which dictated this course. The ancient language was used as a protection against the criticism of those who would take umbrage to plain sex expressions. There is (piite a number of people who are not only possessed of the Oedipus complex or the Electra complex, but who are also obsessed of the obscenety complex. For the impure every- thing is impure. Fortunately such people's knowledge of Latin

PREFACE V

is, as a rule, very slight, and for them this treatise will remain a sealed book. Physicians and lawyers for whom this book was written know enough Latin grammar, enabling them to appre- hend the meaning of all those phrases necessary for tlie under- standing of the main points of the treatise. To facilitate the reader's task the following vocabulary of the Latin words often used has been appended.

ab initio

adduce uxi

agitare

aliquamdiu

amatus

amicus

anser

ante

aperio

apertus

assiduus

aut

aux ilium

aversa Venus

bis

braca

caedo

canis

cito

coepio

coire

coitus

collum

commaritus

commingo

commisco

commiscor

commixtio

com plexus veneveus

comprehendo

compressio

comprimo

concarnat.io

conceptare

conceptus

concubitalis

concubitus

concumbo

congressio

congressus

conjuga

conjugatio

conjuges

conjugium

conjungo, xi

from the outset	conjux	husband
to induce	constuprare	to abuse sexually
to excite	continuus	continuous
a little while	contra	against
lover	corpus	body
friend	crinis	hair
goose	cubiculum	bed-room
before	cubile	nuptial bed
to open	cum	with
open	cunnilingus	tongue-vagina
constant	cupido	desire
or	cupio	to desire
help	delectatio	deliciousness
by rectum	delicia	pleasures
twice	dum	while
trousers	ea	she
to ravish	ecclesia	church
dog	ejaculare	to eject
quick	ejectio	discharge
to begin	eodemque tempore	at the same time
to cohabit	exerceo	to exercise
cohabitation	extraho	to withdraw
neck	facio, eci	to make
fellow-husband	fascinum	penis, male organ
to urinate	fellatio	sucking (obscene)
to copulate	fellatricia	sucking (obscene)
to cohabitate	femina	woman
copulation	feminare	to prostitute oneself
sexual intercourse	feminare se	to masturbate
get pregnant	fornicatrix	whore
copulation	fornix	brothel
copulate	fricare	to rub
coition	gallina	hen
to get pregnant	genu	knee
conception	grabatus	lounge
copulative	habeo	to have
cohabitation	hora	hour
cohabitate	hortus	garden
copulation	liumesco	t« become wet
coition	humor	moisture
wife	illicio	to excite
copulation	imitari	to imitate
married couple	impedire	to prevent
cohabitation	impeditare	to prevent
to copulate	impeditio	prevention

vi	PREFACE
inire	to enter	pes, edis	foot
initium	outset	pono, sui, itum	to place
initus	coition	porca	sow
injungo, se	to cohabitate	porta	door
insero	t« insert	posco, poposci	to demand
insertdo	insertion	positura	position
instar	like	post	after
inter	during	praebo mammas	to suckle
interiila	shirt	praedium	farm
intromitto	to introduce	praemo, essi	to press
jugiter	continually	prostibulum	brothel
labium	lip	pudibilia	genitals
lacesso	to excite	puella	girl
lam bo	to lick	piier	boy
lentils	slow	pulvilum	pillow, small
libido	material pleasure	pulvinus	pillow
lingua	tongue	quot noctibus	every night.
ludo, usi	to play	resolvo	to unbutton
lumbus	genitals	scamnum	bench
mamilla	nipple	sella	chair
mamma	breast	sitis	thirst
maniis	hand	solvo	to loose
marisca	wart	spatium, temporis	duration
marita	wife	statim	at once
maritus	husband	stupro manu	to masturbate by
mater	mother		hand
membrum	member	stupre	in a lewd way
mentula	male sex-organ	stuprum	lewdness, prostitu
mentulatus	erected		tion, coition
more	after the fashion	stuprum facio	to masturbate
meretricium,	facere to be a prostitute	stuprum manu	self-abuse
meretrix	prostitute	stuprum mutuum	mutual self-abuse
muliebria	female genitals	sugo	to suck
muliebris	female	suscipio	to receive
mulier	woman	suus, a um	his, hers
natis	buttock	tempus, poris	time
nono quoque	die every nine days	tento	to try
nudatio	denudation, baring	tergum	back
niidus	naked	tracto	to touch
omnis	every	tractus	the touch
ordo rei	course of act	traho	to pull
ovis	sheep	unus	one
paedicatio	pederasty	ut	as, that
paene	almost.	verbero	to whip, lash
parvus	small	vir	the man
perago	to finish	virilia	male sex-organs
pergo	to continue	vita sexualis	sex-life
permulcio	to touch	vitium	vice
permulsio	caress	volvula	small vulva
pernoctare	spend the night

With this small vocabulary on hand, the author hopes every college-bred man will be able to read this treatise without difficulty. The Author.

New York, October, 1916.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I: INTRODUCTION.

Hunger and love, love and civilization, sex-worship, phallicism, yonism, mount of Venus, horseshoe, lingam, the cross, temple-courte- sans, Christianity and sex, fashion and sex, female bosom, psychology of clothes, prudery, physician's ignorance, morbid fiction, change in sex discussions.

PART II: EVOLUTION OF SEX. Chapter 1 — Organic evolution.

Mechanistic and vitalistic theories, teleology, creative evolution, Lamarckism, Darwinism, variation, amphimixis, protozoa, morula, eoe- lent^rata, blastula, gastrula, primitive membranes, worms, chorda dor- salis, coelom, echinodermat.a, mollusca, arthropoda, vertebrates.

Chapter 2 — Evolution of the genital system.

Wolffian body, cloaca, ducts of Miiller, ureter, kidney, genital ridge, sex-gland, allantois, bladder, urachus, sinus urogenitalis, urethra, peri- neum, anal membrane, male internal sex-organs, female internal sex- organs, genital swelling, genital tubercle, groove, male external genita.ls, female external genitals.

PART III: ANATOMY OF SEX. Chapter S — The male genitals.

The male genitals, scrotum, testicles, descent of testicles, vas deferens, spermatic cord, seminal vesicles, ductus ejaculatorii, urethra, prostate, colliculus, sinus pocularis, penis.

Chapter Jf — Female genitals.

Mens of Venus, labia majora, minora, vestibule, bulbs, clitoris, Bartholinian glands, hymen, vagina, uterus, broad and round ligaments, tubes, ovaries, Graafian follicle, ovum.

vii

viii CONTENTS

Chapter 5 — Secondary sexual characteristics.

Man's figure, skeleton, laryngeal projection, shoulders, pelvis, limbs, skin, steps, gait, voice, woman's figure, head, hair, face, neck, chest, abdomen, thighs, respiration.

PART IV: PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX. Chapter G — General physiologic phenomena.

Cell-division, maturition, impregnation, mitosis, polar bodies, Men- del's law, unit-characters, segregation, zygote.

Chapter 7 — Functions of the male generative organs.

Function of testicles, spermatogenesis, maturition, function of seminal vesicles, prostate, Cowper's glands, urethral glands, semen, erection, ejaculation, nervous control, orgasm.

Chapter 8 — Functions of female sex-organs.

Function of ovaries, ovum. Graafian follicle, tubes, menstruation, function of uterus, female ejaculation, function of vagina, Bartholinian glands, of clitoris, course of the sexual act.

Chapter 0 — Lihido scxualis.

Quality of pleasure, symptoms of pleasure, orgasm, symptom of after-lust, intensity of libido, the senses in its service, inhibition of libido, duration of copulation, postorgastic stage.

PART V: PSYCHOLOGY OF SEX.

Chapter 10 — Psychology of sex-attraction.

Nature of the instincts, children's affections, puberty, sex instinct in animals, mechanism of sex activity, emotions of puberty.

Chapter 11 — Development of reproductive impulse.

Conjugation in unicellular animals, in metazoa, binary fission, bud- ding, sporulation, conjugation in chilodon, in monads, hermaphrodites, celf-fertilization, in phanerogamous plants, genitals of plants, sex dif- ferentiation, erotic chemotropismus in fishes, birds, mammals, attraction of mates, permanent mating, protection of the young, monogamy.

Chapter 12 — Sensual love. Egotism of sensual love, fondness, attachments, hatred.

CONTENTS is:

Chapter 13 — Sentimental love.

Conscious altruism, mental characters, psychic qualities, true friendship, love and passion, development of individual love, character- istic of the ideal woman's love, obstructions in the development of love, tension at puberty, reasons for the disturbances in love's develop- ment, disillusion of sensuality.

Chapter llf — Eros and libido.

Emotions of Eros and libido, in men, and in women, jealousy, transcendental attraction, two desires of Eros, difference in the two sexes, emotion of jealousy, its causes, vanity, woman's former love- affairs.

PART VI: PATHOLOGY OF SEXUALITY.

Chapter 15 — Paradoxia. Sexual desires in the old, in infants, causes of early masturbation.

Chapter 16 — Anaesthesia.

Etiology of impotence in male, chain of sex-act, satyriasis, nympho- mania, troubles in bladder, in menstruation, nervous debility, consen- sualism, break in chain, continence and impotence, woman's sexuality, impotence in women, clitoris sexuality, excesses in copulation, hysteria, practice of withdrawal, four impotencies in males, aspermia, azoosper- mia, four types of impotence of copulation, atonic impotence, partial impotence, premature ejaculation, symptoms of the impotent, pollutions, paralysis of bladder, urinary symptoms, female impotence, frigidity, sterility, impotence of libido, orgasmus retardatus, nymphomania, or- gasmus praecox, diminished frequency.

Chapter 11 — Hyperaesthesia.

Mixoscopy, its emotions, obscene sights, erotomania, in men, in women, satyriasis, nymphomania, priapism, masturbation, in animals, in women, incest in men, in women.

Chapter 18 — Paraesthesia.

Masochism, submission to pain, in men, in women, sadism, pla- tonic sadism, four degrees in men, in women, fetichism, in men, in women, exhibitionism, homosexuality, in animals, in savages, in history, in men, in women, perversity, four kinds homosexual perversion, psychic hermaphrodism, in men, in women, effemination, viraginity, transvest- ism, in men, in women, zooerastia in men, in women.

X CONTENTS

PART VII: SEXUAL HYGIENE.

Chapter 19 — Hygiene of childhood.

Necessity of early instruction, hygiene in infants, in children, in period of puberty, menstruation, pollutions, prevention of masturba- tion, syphilis, gonorrhoea, prostitution, alcohol, vanity, pleasure-seek- ing, prophylaxis against infection.

Chapter 20 — Eugenics.

Aim of eugenics, methods of elimination of the undesirables, mar- riage of defectives, personal liberty in marriage, segregation, sterili- zation, castration.

Chapter 21 — Sex-hygiene for adults.

Engagement-rules, selection of partner, wedding day, bed-room, positions of conjugation, frequency of conjugation, sequels of great fre- quency, in general health, in special organs, in the emotions, in sex pleasure, pain of defloration, conjugation during menstruation, conju- gation during pregnancy, after confinement, conjugation during lacta- tion, conjugation of nervous people, duration of conjugation, prepa- ration of the woman's muliebria in partial frigidity, offspring and sexual life, interval between two confinements, sterile time for conjugation, time of day for conjugation, dispareunia, impeditio of conception, sequels of withdrawals, of preventatives, abortion, abstinence, means of sexual excitement.

PART VIII: MORALITY.

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 stand- ard in nature, rationality in nature, aim of nature, altruism and morality.

Chapter 23 — Sexual morality.

History of marriage, promiscuity, consanguineous family, puna- luan 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, preva- lence of gonorrhoea in men, infection of mothers and children, sterility, syphilis, its complications, alimentary canal, respiratory tract, circu- latory 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 civiliza- tion, from every discussion.

Yet love lies at the foundation of society, it permeates un- consciously 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

1

2 LOVE

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 prin- ciple 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 pro- creation. The Greek bacchanalia, and the Eoman 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

INTRODUCTION 3

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 daugh- ter 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 en- closure 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 har- bored 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 genera- tive 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 Egyp-

4 LOVE

tian kings were erected in foim 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 re- semblance 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 cttach 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 re- ligious purposes. To the mind of the Ancients no more appro- priate 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

INTRODUCTIO.X '5

Tamar shows. Later on, Amos (ii, 7) complains that the He- brew 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-manifesta- tions. 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 sur- rounded 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 al- though 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:

6 LOVE

"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 rincarnation is highly interesting in this respect. She heard, while in a trance, a mii:aculous voice, Christ promising to be- come 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 imagina- tion, the divine spouse became a living presence, and her lan- guage to him, as recorded by herself, is of intense passion. Her prayer is, "0 ! 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 zooerastia, 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 prsebebat 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 con- tention. 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 "Anfiinge der Kunst" shows that the desire for clothes was originally an irradiation of the

INTEODUCTION 7

sex instinct. The man adopted dress for the purpose of decora- tion, 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 ob- servation 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 w^orn 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.*

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 Eome, 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 Pari- sian 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

* James (Psychology, 1800, II. p. 449) asserts that emotions follow nnd do not precede the bodil}^ st.ate. We fear because we run away, reverence because we kneel, love because we kiss.

8 LOVE

nnmber 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 lierself 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, al- though 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 at- tribute 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 com- manding 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

INTRODUCTIOF 9"

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 m.ental process it is now con- sidered shameful. So deeply is the sense of shame morbidly associated with the sensual desire that most people, and espe- cially 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 pleas- ures 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 won- derful functions.* 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 accus- tomed to interject their own diseased imagination, guilty con- science and obscene sentiments into the purest artistic creations, be they sculptured, painted, written or spoken.

* 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 conscious- ness. The excessive prude is generally at heart a sensualist.

10 ■ LOVE

The prudery and obscenity of these victims of a diseased imagination and perverted moral sense have succeeded in dis- torting 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 anato- mists and alienists, nothing would be known about the physiology of normal Love. The zealots wish to persuade us that the popu- lation 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, pru- dishly ignores the mightiest of human instincts w^hich is so inti- mately 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 be- cause 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 concern- ing 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 senti- ment, 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

INTRODUCTION 11

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 anat- omist'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 ap- proached 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 dis- cussion 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 soci'^ty 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 glar- ing 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 em- phasis is generally laid upon sex-hygiene and upon the knowledge of the relations of the sex function to mental and physical de- velopment. Sex-hygiene is nowadays held to be a proper sub- ject 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 ex-

12 LOVE

press the different emotions that go under the name of love. One of the highest emotions is expressed by the word ayairaw. 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 <^t\t(o. It desig- nates 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 cpaw. It is the love founded upon sex- attraction. It is a purely instinctive emotion, found through- out 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. Sym- pathy, 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 ex- alted by art, and sex-attraction, found in animals and plants as well as in man, can not be identical. Still they are both gen- erally 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 profes- sion of medicine and of students of medical jurisprudence.

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 ac- counted 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, with- out 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

13

14 LOVE

method of evolution. The Neo-Darwinians deny the transmis- sion of acquired characteristics and claim that evolution has been and is effected by natural selection. The animars 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 bene- ficial to the organism are selected by nature for preservation. The claim of tlie 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 proto- plasm 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 addi- tion, 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 jSTeo- 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, w^hile the low-necked varieties disap- peared.

Neither of the four theories gives entire satisfaction to the fastidious critic. The mechanistic theory denies or rather ig- nores 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 de- velop into the human intellect, could itself be devoid of intellect. If, on the other hand, the creative power is endowed with intelli- gence, then its working without aim or purpose is equally un-

EVOLUTION OF SEX 15

thinkable. The vitalistic theory offers other difficulties. Tele- ology, for instance, does not answer the question why an intelli- gence, 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 the- ologist? 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 im- pregnation of this bull were tailless. Marro also made guinea- pigs epileptic by the resection of the sciatic nerve, and the off- spring 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 Im- migration Commission. Changes in bodily form of descendants of Immigrants") has found that none of thn 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 brachyceph- alic 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 develop-

16 LOVE

Blent 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 environ- ment 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 charac- ters are not transmissible, the Darwinian rejects the explanation of evolution by appetency, or the use and disuse of certain or- gans, 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-char- acter 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 pro- pagation. Evolution, accordingly, occurs primarily through sud- den 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 imlikeness 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

EVOLUTION OF SEX 17

means the return to the mean of the species. The chiklren 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.

Like the protozoon, the ovum, immediately after its im- pregnation, begins to undergo a certain division, by a series of successive segmentations, into 2, then 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc., cells.

CUT I.

a be d

a, cell; b, morula; c, blastula; d, gastrula; ec, ectoblast; en, endoblast.

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 re- main together and form colonies, as e. g. in sponges or corals.

18

LOVE

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

CUT II.

Diagram, shoicing the development of the organs.

ck, 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.

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.

By certain foldings of the ento- and ectoderm transforma- tions arise, and new organs develop. Two folds of the entoderm

EVOLUTION OF SEX 19

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 back- bone 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 arc then differentiated partly into the bones of the skeleton and partly into the muscles. In the meantime, the vascular spaces develop. At one jDoint of the vascular tube a rhythmical pulsa- tion 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 ex- tremities. 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.

20 LOVE

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 re- garded 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 de- velopment 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 Muller, or the primitive female ducts. The func- tion of these canals in lowly organized animals is that of receiv- ing from the body-cavity the ova and of evacuating them from

CUT III.

Fig. 1

21

clo

Fig. 1, horizontal cut through ernbryo; Fig. 2, vertical cut; schema of indif- ferent stage. Wb, Wolffian body ; Wd, Wolffian duct ; Md, Mullerian duct ; gg. genital gland ; ni, mesentery ; i, intestine ; sc, spinal cord ; ch, chorda ; ao, aorta ; a. aiianiois

clo, cloaca ; k, kidney.

22 LOVE

the body. The Miillerian ducts also open into the cloaca. At the lower end the Miillerian and Wolffian ducts run in close apposition and form the genital cord. At this stage of develop- ment the embryo is thus hermaphroditic like the worms.

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 com- munication with the allantois. Tn 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 intes- tine 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

EVOLUTION OF SEX 23

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 inter- vening 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 Miillerian 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 duct? and the ureters, increases, until the ureters finally open into the bladder.

The intra-embryonic allantois has thus furnished the fol- lowing 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.

24 LOVE

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 net-work 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 re- tained complete. The portion nearest the testis is thrown into coils and forms a part of the epididymis, the remainder is con- verted into the vas deferens and the ductus ejaculatorius and the lateral outpouching of the wall, the vesicula seminalis.

The Miillerian 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 fol- lowing 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 repre- sent the primitive ova.

At the caudal end, the Miillerian 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

EVOLUTION OF SEX

25

26 LOVE

vagina and uterus, the two organs form a single sac-like struc- ture. 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 Mtillerian 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 Avhich has always played such an important role in the fancy of all nations.

The upper blind ends of the Mtillerian 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 in- testine still open into the sac-like tube, the so-called cloaca, there is distinguishable on the exterior surface of the body, correspond- ing 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 depres- sions. 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.

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 geni- tal 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

EVOLUTION OF SEX CUT V.

27

Fig. 1

Fig. m

Fig. M

Fig. 2

Fig. t

Fig. F

Six staoes of the development of the external gemtals. Fig. 1 and 2, two i-n differeut stages; m and M, two male stages, f and F, two female stages

after O. Hertwiy.

pi, 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 ; el, clitoris ; su, entrance to sinus

urogenitalis ; Im, labia majora ; ny, nymphae ; w, vestibule of vagina.

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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 uro- genitalis. 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 be- comes 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

CHAPTEE 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 com- prehension 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 par- ticular 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, out- • side of the abdominal cavity. This bag or pouch, hanging be- tween the thighs, below the symphysis, consists of two compart- ments 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, indicat- ing 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 epi-

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dermis 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 in- creased, 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 centi- meters 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 contain- ing 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

ANATOMY

31

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 cor2:)us Highmori.

The parenchymatous tissue of the testicles consists of nu- merous fine tubules, the canaliculi seminiferi. Each lobule con- tains 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. AAlien they reach the corpus Highmori, the thickened, enlarged

CUT VI.

2 • t

Schema of the seminiferi tuhulcs. After Brdsike.

1, tubuli contorti ; 2, tubuli recti ; 3, rete vasculosiim ; 4, vasa efferen- tia; 5, coni vasculosi; 6, epididymis; 7, vas deferens.

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 epidid3^mis. The corpus Highmori serves as a point of entrance for the arteries and nerves and as an exit for the veins of the testicles.

Epididymis. — The epididymis is the excretory duct of the testicle. It is situated at the posterior margin of the same, cov- ering this margin and the upper pole of the testicle. The upper

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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 back- wards, 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 de- ferens 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 substra- tum 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 mus- cular coat is surrounded by a layer of connective tissue, the so- called adventitia.

Spermatic cord. — In its course from the testicle to the in- ternal 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 in- timately 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 pampini- formis. In pathological conditions the plexus forms the vari- cocele.

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 oblique-

ANATOMY

33

ly -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 deriv- ative from the vas deferens, the wall of the tubes consists of the same strata as the vas deferens, i. e., of an adventitia fol- lowed by the muscular coat, then by the fibrous substratum, and

CUT VII.

Male genital apparatus, side view. After Zuckerkandel and Testut.

h, bladder; p, al, ml, the three lobes of the prostatic gland; ii, ureter; sv, seminal vesicle; vd, vas deferens; ed, ejaculatory duct.

finally by a layer of cylindrical epithelia. The mucous mem- brane 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 ejacu- latory ducts are formed.

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 sub- stituted in the ducts by cavernous tissue. The mucous mem- brane differs little from that of the vas deferens and of the seminal vesicles.

Urethra. — ^The urethra is divided into three parts, the pros-

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tatic, the membranous and the cavernous parts. The prostatic part is the widest portion of the entire urethra. It is surrounded by an unstriped muscuhir layer and the muscles of the prostate.

CUT VIII.

Male urethra

1, bladder; 2, prostate; 3, collicnlus; 4, orifice of the sinus poeularis;

5, orifices of tlie prostatic ducts ; 6, orifices of Cowper's glands ; 7,

corpus cavernosum urethrae; 8, corpora cavernosa, penis; 9, praputium;

10, glans; 11, fossa navicularis.

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

ANATOMY

35

on the border-line of the abdominal cavity and the exterior, within the abdominal wall. The cavernous portion of the ure- thra is surrounded by the corpus cavernosum urethrae. This portion shows two dilatations, one in the bulbous part, just an- terior 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 Littre 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.

Prostate. — The prostate is a gland, chestnut-like in shape. Its greatest diameter is in average about 4 centimeters. The

CUT IX.

Schema of sagittal cut through penis. After Testiis.

1, bladder; 2, vas deferens; 3, colliculus; 4, prostate; 5, urethra; G, bulbus urethrae; 7, symphysis.

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

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adjacent to the bladder, the lower, narrower end, or the apex, rests on the diaphragma urogenitale. It thus lies completely Avithin the abdominal cavity. The anterior surface is connected with the lower end of the symphysis pubis by the ligamenta pubo- prostatica, 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 sub- stance 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.

Collicuhis. — The colliculus is a massive button, 3 milli- meters in height and in breadth, and lies anteriorly to the fossa

CUT X.

Colliculus 1, orifice of the sinus poeularis; 2, orifices of the prostatic ducts.

prostatica. On the summit of the colliculus there is an opening which leads to a pear-shaped pouch, the so-called sinus poeularis, a remnant of the Mlillerian ducts. The two orifices of the

ANATOMY 37

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.

Cowpers glands. — CoAvper'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.

Penis. — The penis is chiefly made up of three erectile bodies, the corpus cavernosum urethrae and the two porpora

CUT XI.

Crosscut through the penis.

1, vena dorsalis; 2, arterite dorsales; 3, septum; 4, corpora caver- nosa; 5, tunica albu^inea; 6, vena profunda; 7, urethra; 8, corpus

cavernosum urethrae.

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 round- ed. 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

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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 cor- pora cavernosa are made up of a dense fibrous elastic membrane, the tunica albuginea. From this tunica arise numerous trabe- culae, 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 heli- cinae, short arterial branches, anastomosing in the cavernous spaces. The arteries, capillaries, and veins pass along the tra- beculae of the spongy tissue and open into the caverns. The caverns may thus be considered a^ 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 im- mediately fllled 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 com- pressed, 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 peuis which enters the abdomen through connective

ANATOMY 39

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 some- what 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 Idnds. There are first the efferent nerves, or centripetal nerves, 'i'hey are the sensitive terminal branches of the nervus pudendus ;mk1 end, or rather arise, in the genital nerve bulbs. They are richly distributed throughout the prostatic part of the urethra. 'I'hese centripetal nerves are connected with the Pacinian cor- puscles, 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' com-

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munis. They innervate the ejaculatory ducts, the seminal vesi- cles, 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.

ANATOMY

41

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.

Mons veneris. — The mons veneris is the name of the fatty

CUT XII.

Vulva, the nymphae separated.

1, mons veneris; 2, labium majus; 3, prepuce of clitoris; 4, gjlans of clitoris; 5, urethral orifice; 6, nympha; 7, orifice of the Bartholinian gland; 8, vaginal orifice; 9, hymen; 10, frenulum; 11, perineum;

12, anus.

cirshion 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

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base corresponding with the upper margin of the symphysis. This sign is sometimes of value for the determination of the real sex of an apjoarent hermaphrodite.

Labia majora. — ^The labia majora are a pair of integumen- tary 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

CUT XIII.

,5.C.

'-"^c^'-cf- ^L-V'^-^^<^~^-\-~_ ^'3:r'';'. v^''' -_"^- \^ \fflv>) I '////! '!,"//: V

Lahium majus and sebaceous gland.

g, gland; sc, stratum corneum; e, layers of pavement epithelium; f, fibrous tissue; Vj blood vessel.

between the two labia is termed rima pudendi. The inner sur- faces 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.

Nymphae. — The nymphae or the labia minora, are two triangular structures which run parallel to the labia majora.

ANATOMY

43

from the clitoris to either side of the vaginal aperture. Their free borders are crenulated or lobed. The nymphae consist of

CUT XIV.

/

r ^ ^,> S — — - ^^\^

' '' ' / / -" / I n'U^^

O^ \ '/', /J - / '/ 'l /

XijnipJia and t;a<jiua.

pe, pavement, opitlielium ; v, vagina; sc, stratum corneum ; n, nymplia;

p, papilla.

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

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follicles. Their interior contains connective tissue, some mus- cular 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 clito- ridis. The posterior lamellae fuse at the back of the clitoris and form the frenelum. The nymphae diverge backwards and ter- minate in the middle of the rima.

Vestihulum. — 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 cov- ered 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 aj^erture.

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 mem-

ANATOMY

45

brane. 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 there- fore extremely sensitive.

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.

BartJiolinian 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.

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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 h3^men closes only incompletely the vaginal entrance, leaving an opening which varies in size from the head of a pin to a calibre wliich will admit the tip of one or two fingers. The open-

CUT XVI.

Genitals of a girl at puberty. 1, right labium ma jus; 2, duct of Bartholinian gland; 3, Bartholinian

gland ; 4, rima pudendi.

ing of the hymen is, as a rule, semilunar and reaches the anterior vaginal Avail. 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.

Vagina. — The vagina is a musculo-membranous tube, extend- ins: from the vulva to the uterus. The lumen is only virtual,

e.

at rest the vaginal walls are in contact with each other?

ANATOMY

47

and the passage appears as a fissure, the latter assuming on a crosscut the form of tlic letter "H." 'Jlie walls of the vagina are composed of three coats, an exterior connective tissue coat, a thick muscular coat and a mucous membrane. The muscular

CUT XVII.

Diagram of the pelvic organs.

1, labia majora; 2, nympha; 3, clitoris; 4, symphysis; 5, urethra;

G, bladder; 7, vajjina with columna rugarum ; 8, orifieium utero-

vaginale; 9, internal os; 10, body of uterus; 11, perineum; 12, anus;

13, rectum; 14, peritoneum; 15, vertebra.

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

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of the sphincter vaginae. The mucous membrane is covered with a pavement epithelium and is equipped with a great num- ber of papillae, but is devoid of glands. The entire vagina is surrounded by a strong net of venous blood-vessels. The an- terior 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

CUT XVIII.

Diagram of the uterus.

1, fundus; 2, cavum uteri; 3, body; 4, internal os; 5, cervix;

6, external os.

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.

"Inter faeces et urinas nascimur" laments the pious father of the Church. A part of the musculus

ANATOMY

49

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 al- most 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 shal- low and a posterior deep vault.

Uterus. — The uterus is a hollow, pyriform, flattened, thick

CUT XIX.

AC*

fn.r.

Uterus of a four-year-old child. ce, cylindrical epithelium; mt, muscular tissue; g, uterine gland.

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

50

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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.

CUT XX.

Cervix itieri from a day-old infant.

pe, pavement epithelium of the vaginal portion of the cervix; c,

borderline 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.

ANATOMY

51

The entire uterus, as far as it is not situated between other organs, is covered with peritoneum. The anterior surface of the uterus is ahnost flat and is covered with a layer of peritoneum which is inflected upon the bladder at the level of the os inter- num. The posterior surface is convex and covered, in its whole extent, with a layer of peritoneum which is prolonged down- ward 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

CUT XXI.

Schema of the internal female genital apparatus. a, Fallopian tube; b, ovary; c, cervix; d, round ligament; e, vagina;

f, uterus.

run between the folds of the broad ligaments and through the inguinal canals and terminate within the tissue of the labia majora.

The uterus is normally anteflected, the fundus lying for- ward near the S3^mphysisj 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

52

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the basic uterine angle; tlie distal lialf 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.

The tube is composed of three coats, the outer peritoneal

CUT XXII.

Crosscut of a Fallopian tube of a child four years old. E, epithelium; mc, miieosa; ml, muscular layer; p, peritoneum;

V, blood-vessel.

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 plica- tions in the adult.

Ovaries. — The ovaries are two flattened almond-shaped or- gans 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 con- nected by the ligamenta ovarii. The ligament running between the two lamellae of the ligamentum latum, leaves the latter

AN'ATOMY

53

through a fissure in tlie 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.

The ovary is covered with a cubical genital epithelium. The epithelia put forth solid nests of epithelial cells into the fibrous

CUT XXIII.

Ovary from a girl one year old. E, germinal epithelium; PO, primitive ova; G, Graafian follicles;

S, stroma ovarii.

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.

54

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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

XXIV.

Graafian follicle, found by the author in a ivoman of forty, operated

for cancer of the uterus.

vg, vesicula germinativa; mg, macula germinativa; o, ovum; zp, zona

pellucida; cr, corona radiata; 1, liquor in a coagulated state; a,

antrum folliculi; t, tlieca folliculi.

a disc of cells, the discus oophorus, which includes in its midst the ovum.

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.

ANATOMY 65

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 cer- tain circumstances, as in fear, disgust, grief, etc., prevents the erection of clitoris, bulbs, and cervix. The inhibitory centre, however, plays a secondary role in the female. The two spinal centres are the centres of erection and of ejaculation.

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-in-

CUT XXV.

a c

Schema of a cell. a, cell membrane ; b, cell-body or cytoplasm ; c, nucleus.

guinalis, 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 dis- tributed 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 hypo- gastric, 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 hypo- gastric plexus.

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CHAPTER V

THE SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERISTICS

In the preceding two chapters there were described the primary sexual characteristics of man and woman which are al- ready found in early foetal life. The secondary sexual charac- teristics, by which we are able to distinguish the male from the female, quite irrespective of the essential organs of reproduc- tion 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 di- rected 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 ani- mal 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

ANATOMY CUT XXVI.

57

Showing proportions of man and looman.

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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 flat- tened surfaces. The laryngeal projection is highly pronounced.

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 ap- pear atrophic, the mammillae insignificant. The trunk is rela- tively 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 lono;er. The forearm is more in a straicrht 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 col- umnar and does not taper so rapidly as in woman. The obliquity is less emphasixed. The feet are larger and more sinewy. The skin is of coarser texture, darker, lacking of smoothness and soft- ness, and is more hair}''. 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 slop- ing. The hemispheric form of the breasts with the well-pro- nounced mammilae render the bosom highly attractive. The abdomen is longer, hence the distance between the navel and the pubcs is greater than in men. The pelvis is lower and

ANATOMY 59

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. Tt 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

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.

Fissiparous reproduction of the amoeba. The single-celled animal "a" is divided after different steps into two

animals, "f" and "g."

60

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 61

The division may be direct as found in the fissiparous repro- duction 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 com- plicated process. Simultaneously the cytoplasm and the mem- brane 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 chro- matin 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 seg- ments called "chromosomes" (Fig. C). The number of chro- mosomes 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 daugh- ter 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

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PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 63

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."

At this point the centrosomes or the asters and the chromo- somes begin to work together. A system of fibrils grows out from each aster which attach themselves to the individual chro- mosomes. The latter bent into U-shaped loops arrange them- selves 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 elon- gated 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 spermatozoon 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 Qgg cell and are extruded later on. The same phenomenon is observed in the spermatocytes. The immature germ cell can neither impregnate nor become im- pregnated 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 yajjila), I marry), i. e., a cell capable to impregnate or being impregnated.

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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? Nowa- days it has been accepted by most of the biologists that maturi- tion 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 domi- nant 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 j^henomenon Mendel discovered is that of seg- regation. By segregation is understood the separation of op- posite determiners. Every unripe ovum or spermatocyte in the hybrid plant or animal, contains, for example, white and black determiners, but the ripe ovum or spermatozoon con- tains only one kind of determiners, 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 spermatozoon are always pure, even in the hybrid plants or animals. Accordingly, when a spermato- zoon, with a white determiner impregnates an ovum mth 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 spermatozoon, the zygote will be a pure black. If the ovum is black and the

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 65

spermatozoon is white or the ovum is white and the spermato- zoon 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 gamote 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 h3^bridism, 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 bru- nette, 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 domi- nant, may be either j^ure or hybrid.

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 char- acter. 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, di- gestion and the psychic traits, such as determination, cheerful- ness, alertness, resistance to fatigue. Some anomalies also de- pend upon the determiners and Mendelize, such as colorblind-

CUT XXIX.

Diagram illustrating the fertilization of the egg after Bovert. A eff^ surrounded by sperinata/.oa. mo penetrating the membranes, the cytopl'^s'" sending at "p" a hilMike i.rocessus to meet the spermatozoon;

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 67

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 spermatozoon enters the egg-cytoplasm, a new membrane is formed around the ovum which effectually prevents the en- trance 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 spermatozoon has entered the eggf 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

B, the tail of the spermatozoon is vanished, the sperm nucleus preceded by its centrosome is moving towards the egg nuclejis 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 tJie 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, spermatozoon- nucleus; sc, spermatozoon centrosome; en, chromatin-net; af, aster fibrils; cho, chromosome of the ovum; chs, chromosome of the sperma- tozoon; do, divided centrosome; spc, splitted chromosomes, the lighter that of the spermatozoon and the darker those of the ovum; nn, new nuclei, each containing four chromosomes, two from the ovum and two from the spermatozoon.

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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 chromo- somes 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 cy- toplasm 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.

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX

69

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.

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

CUT XXX.

Spermatogenesis. 1, basement membrane; 2, Sertoli's or sustentacular cell; 3, sperma- togone; 4, spermatocytes; 5, spermatids; 6, heads of spermatozoa.

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.

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When in activity, the glandular cells show three different strata, which represent the three different stages of spermato- genesis. The first stratum, the spermatogones, lie against the basement membrane. They soon begin to increase by cell di- vision 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 spermato- cytes and form the second stratum. The cells produced by the imitosis of the spermatocytes constitute the third stratum and are called spermatids.

During the transformation of the spermatocyte into a sper- matid 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 tbe 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 develop- ing spermatozoa attached to its central end, is called spermato- blast.

The epithelium of the tubuli coniorti thus consists of three strata, first of the stratum of the spermatogones, lying against the basement membrane, secondly of the stratum of spermato- cytes which are spermatogones in the state of mitosis, and tliirdly of the stratum of spermatids which are transformed spermatocytes. The spermatozoa are spermatids which have assumed their permanent shape.

The spermatozoon 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.

The spermatozoa soon detach themselves from the sperma- toblasts and wander into the seminiferous tubules toward the rete vasculosum and epididymis. The spermatozoa possess their

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX

71

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, albu- men and urea may revive the spermatozoa to former activity. Metal salts and acids arrest the movements, while caustic pot-

CUT XXXT.

^Spen)intozo<Jn. a, head; b, intermediate segment; c, tail.

ash and soda invigorate them. Even thin and weak acid solu- tions, as urine and the vaginal contents,* are harmful, while

* This quality may explain the Talmud's (Berachoth 60a, Nidah 31) assertion that if the female orgasm occurs first, the child is of the masculine sex, while when the male orgasm precedes that of the female, a girl is born. When the male orgasm occurs first, the semen is dis- charged within the acid vaginal contents. The spermatozoa are, there- fore, weakened, and a girl is born. When the woman's orgasm occurs first, the semen is then ejaculated into the alkaline cervical secretion which was expelled with Kristeller's plug. Hence, the spermatozoa

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alkaline solutions are favorable to the sjiermatozoa. In sper- matozoa, 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 func- tions. 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 reab- sorption of the unejaculated sperma. The third function is to furnish a fluid for the dilution of the very thick testicular secre- tion 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 consti- tutes 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 coUiculus, 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

remain strong and vigorous and a boy is born. The modern theory of sex is that it is determined by the germ-cells as every other unit char- acter. Every spermatozoon and ovum possess originally male and female determiners. But during the maturition the determiners of one sex are cast off, and the gametes are either male or female. Hence, when the ovum is male, only a male spermatozoon will be admitted within its interior, and a boy will be the result. If the ovum is female, only a female spermatozoon will be able to penetrate it, and a girl will be born.

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX

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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 albuminus 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.

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

CUT XXXII.

'Normal sperma.

1, Boettcher's crystals; 2, amyloid bodies; 3, hyaline bodies; 4, tes- ticular cells; 5, urethral epithelia; 6, lecithin bodies; 7, spermatozoa.

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,

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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 ant- hill 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 essen- tial 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, Avhich 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 betweeai 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.

AYhen the tonus relaxes, the blood precipitates into the enlarged vessels and the cavernous spaces, and an active in-

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 75

crease 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 pres- sure 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 trans- versus perinei profundus. Now, this muscle contracts synchron- ously 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 com- plete 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 al- ready 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 ejacula- tory ducts to take the direction forwards toward the pars mem- branacea.

Urethra. — At this stage the urethra obtains an actual lumen. Through the net of . veins which surround the mucous mem- brane of the urethra and through the turgescence of the corpus

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cavernosum urethrae^ the canal of the urethra opens and re- mains 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 secre- tion of the Cowper's glands, provide a lubricating and protect- ing 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 libid- inous dreams.

Coincident with erection the entire situation changes. Be- fore 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 mus- cular 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.

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 77

At this stage the muscular substance of the prostate con- tracts 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 por- tion 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 resistence. 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 ac- celerator urinae. The contractions of these two muscles over- come 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 vvhich the mind exerts a more powerful influ- ence than over that of sex. The imagination, says Hammond, is alwavs a more potent stimulant of sexual desires than the physiological incentive supplied by nature. Besides by imagi- nation, the cerebral centre may be excited by impressions con- veyed (hrough 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 influ- ence over the generative function that it is considered the inseparable companion of sexual activity.

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Erection may further be stimulated by excitation of the centre in the spinal cord. The direct electrical excitation of

CUT XXXIII.

Diagi^am of nerves and centres.*

1, brain; 2, centre of inliibition; 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.

* Explanatory remarks: When a voluptuary thought originates in the centre of voluptas 11, it is transmitted by fibre 12 to the vaso- dilatory centre 4 in the medulla oblongata, hence by fibre 14 in the spinal cord to the centre of erection 16 in the lumbar part of the cord; hence through the nervi erigentes 17 to the genitals at the periphery 10, where it responds by an erection. The excitation of the erection is then, if stjong enough, transmitted through the centripetal

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 79

the spinal cord in dogs evokes vigorous erections. The irrita- tion of the spinal cord in some spinal diseases often produces erections. Sleep, while lying on the back, is known to produce vigorous erections, by increasing the flow of blood to the spinal cord and by allowing the blood to settle in the medulla oblongata and in the cord, so as to produce a passive congestion.

Erections may finally be evoked by the stimulation of the peripheral nerves at the genitals as on the glans and on the skin of the penis. Especially the prostatic urethra and the colliculus are recognized as the most sensitive area, the focal point of the nervous impressions on the genital system. Pres- sure of the metal sound on the prostate or its cauterization, tumors, calculi and inflammations, e. c, gonorrhoea, may often excite erections. The prostatic mucous membrane is supposed to be the seat of the pleasurable sensations. During any kind of sexual activity, the prostatic area is intensely congested, and its nerves are in a high state of tension. Excitations at the neigh- boring parts of the genital organs, as evoked by hemorrhoids, stone in the bladder, full bladder, worms or full rectum, may also produce erections.

The peripheral excitations of the genitals are transmitted to the central nervous system, i. e., the centres in the pons and in the medulla, by reflex action. From these centres the

or sensory nerve 9 to the centre of ejaculation 7; hence again through the centrifugal ejaculatory nerve 8 to the periphery, where ejaculation takes place.

When an excitation originates at. the periphery 10, as in sleep, it is transmitted through the sensory nerve 18 to the centre of erection 16, and through nerve 15 to the vasodilatory centre 4; hence back to the periphery by the nerves 14 and 17, after the inhibitory nerve 13 has been paralyzed. The excitation of the erection is then transmitted, as previously described, tlirough nerve 9 to centre 7 and nerve 8 to the periphery where ejaculation takes place. In either case the ex- citation of the ejaculation is then carried through the sensory nerve 5 to the centre of libido 3 and is there experienced as a pleasurable feeling. When the centre of erection 16 is directly irritated, for example, by electricity, after the spinal cord has been severed, the stimulus is directly transmitted through nerve 17 to the periphery 10 to respond with erec- tion. The same road is taken by the excitation of the centre of erection 16 during sleep.

In spermatorrhoea the stimulus at the centre of voluptas 11 is directly transmitted through nerve 6 to the centre of ejaculation 7, hence through nerve 8 to the periphery 10, and ejaculation takes place without erection.

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stimulus is conveyed to the centres of erection in the lumbar region. If the individual is in a state of unconsciousness as in sleep, the stimulus at the periphery takes the direct road to the centre of erection. The excitation of this centre is then carried by the way of the nervi erigentes to the corpora cavernosa.

Centre of inhibition. — All the nervous elements, the cere- bral centre of voluptas or sex-desire, the spinal centre of erection, and the nerves at the periphery, not only at the geni- tals^ but the nerve endings of the skin through the entire body, work in perfect harmony. Hence a man in full vigor of virility would have vigorous erections at the slightest touch or even sight of a comely woman. Given our present mode of life, with the ubiquitous opportunities for such sights at all times, normal healthy men would have to walk around on the streets in a state of permanent priapism, but for the cerebral centre of inhibition. The influence emanating from this inhibitory centre works upon the spinal centre to prevent erection. When the influence of this centre is removed, erection is facilitated. When the spinal cord of a dog is severed in the lumbar region, the irritation of the genitals more readily provokes erection. With the removal of the inhibitory influence during sleep, the least excitation of the genitals causes vigorous erections. When the stimulation of the inhibitory centre is unusually increased, as in neurasthenics and other nervous disorders, erections fail to appear, when they are most desired.

Thus, by the inhibitory action of the brain, the tonus of the centre of erection preserves the equilibrium, and it requires longer preparations and more intense excitations than is ordi- narily furnished in social intercourse to evoke erections, neces- sary for the performance of the sexual act. When cerebral inhi- bition is removed, as in sleep, erections are facilitated. On the other hand, when the inhibitory influences are increased, as in a state of intense mental occupation or of depressing emotion, as fear of inability to consummate the act, or fear of detection, or at the loss of the object of one's affections, or in cases of extreme modesty or disgust, etc., erections may be prevented or entirely arrested. Hence the normal accomplish- ment of the sex-act requires complete absence of doubts, appre-

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 81

hensions, of any anxiety whatever, and want of confidence in one's own power. Otherwise the inhibitory influences will pre- vent a perfect erection.

Centre of ejaculation. — The centre of ejaculation has its seat in the level of the fourth lumbar vertebra. In a state of perfect health, the excitability of this centre is much lower than that of erection. Hence it requires more intense stimuli and longer preparation to produce an ejaculation than an erection. The best stimulus for this centre is the tender, soft, warm va- ginal mucosa, when rubbing against the glans and the skin of the penis.

Orgasmus. — The complicated reflex nerve phenomena tak- ing place in a complete and perfect male sexual act may be described as follows:

At the first voluptuous thrill of a physical pleasurable sen- sation, and at the first tactile excitation of the sensual organs, the cerebral centre of inhibition is at once paralyzed and its influence is removed. The centre of erection has now oppor- tunity for the full display of its vasodilatory influences. The tonus of the genital vessels is removed, and an increased amount of blood flows into the arteries and caverns so as to render the penis stone hard. Through the increased blood supply and under the greatly increased nervous tension, the genital glands, the testicles, seminal vesicles, and prostate secrete an increased amount of their respective fluids. These secretions pour into the urethral bulb and distend the same. The excitations, radi- ating from this distension, serve to stimulate the centre of ejaculation, and the contractions of the muscles bulbo-cavernosus and accelerator urinae take place. The result of these con- tractions is the phenomenon of ejaculation.

Simultaneously with the ejaculation, the nervous tension, which was increased to the highest degree through the excita- tions of the different organs, is also removed. This explosion of the nervous tension during the crisis produces the pleasurable sensations which are known under the name orgasm* (from the Greek word ^pyav, to swell with lust).

* Many authorities (among others Rohleder, Berliner Klinik, 1909, Heft 257) claim that the libido, or the pleasurable sensations, originate

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After ejaculation and tlie removal of the genital congestion, the paralysis of the inhibitory centre ceases, and the normal nerve tonus of the blood vessels gradually reappears. The influx of blood into the genital vessels is thus cut off, and the erection of the corpora cavernosa ceases. Only the colliculus remains yet swelled, for some time. For this reason micturition is im- possible immediately after ejaculation. After the act follows a state of exhaustion, weariness, weakness and inclination to sleep. Although the frantic condition and the semi-delirium generally lasts a short time only, still it is sufficiently long to exhaust completely the strength of the ordinary organism. After a certain time of rest, sex connection in a healthy person is fol- lowed by a joyous feeling and fresh vigor. The head feels more free and easy, the body more elastic, and a greater disposition to physical and intellectual labor results.

at the orifices of the ejaculatory ducts during the passage of the thick semen through these narrow openings. This hypothesis will not stand a critical analysis. People who began to masturbate in early childhood relate that for years they experienced orgasm without noticing the least trace of an ejaculation. One day, usually between the fourteenth and sixteenth year, they were surprised by the first ejaculation. Still there was no material change in the quality of the libido during the orgasm accompanied by ejaculation from that experienced during the previous orgasms without ejaculations. This tends to show that the libido ex- perienced at the sexual paroxysm has its cause not in the removal of the material congestion but in the relief from the nervous tension. The orgastic paroxysm has its analogy in the epileptic crisis. The nervous tension in the epileptic patient is gradually increased until one day an explosion ensues, and the epileptic attack removes, so to say, the accumulated nervous energy. The patient is then relieved for a certain time. An analogous relief from the nervous tension is effected during the orgastic crisis, and the cause of the libido in men and in women is this discharge of nervous energy. The ejaculation of the few drops of semen or of Kristeller's plug is only an accidental incident, which may contribute to the well-being of the individual, just as the discharge from bladder and rectUCi, but which is not the cause of orgastic libido.

THYSIOLOGY OF SEX 83

CHAPTER VIII

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE FEMALE GENITAL ORGANS

Functions of the ovary. — The ovary is lined by a layer of genital epithelia ("Keimepithel"), which undergo certain changes during the entire sexual life of the woman. The epi- thelia are continually transformed into ova. When a single genital epithelium leaves the ovarian lining to be transformed into an ovum it moves from the periphery toward the centre. It then surrounds itself with follicular epithelia and forms the Graafian follicle. Through its growth the Graafian follicle ap- proaches again the periphery. All ripe Graafian follicles are, therefore, situated near the periphery of the ovary.

Ovulation. — About once a month a general congestion of the entire genital system takes place.* This congestion causes an effusion of serum and blood into the Graafian follicle and the rupture of the same. In this way the ovum is set free and is seized by the fimbriae of the Fallopian tube. The ovum begins now its journey towards tKe uterus. During its progress through the oviduct the maturition of the ovum, or the reduction of its chromosomes to half the number peculiar to its species, takes place by a double segmentation. The ovum is divided, twice in succession, each time into two quite unequal parts. The smaller segments, called polar bodies, remain near the periphery of the ovum and are extruded later on. The ovum is now ripe for fertilization.

According to Bischoff and Hiss, the impregnation takes place in the distal end of the tube. After impregnation the zygote continues its wandering by the current of the ciliated

* This monthly periodicity is attributed by some authorities to cosmic influences (the new moon and full moon). But since other vital processes also show a certain undulatory increase and decrease in strength (e. c. the systole and diastole of the heart), it is more probablie that the periodicity of ovulation is due to an undulatory motion, where the length of the wave is about four weeks.

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epithelia of the tube, towards the uterus. The ovum needs, ac- cording to Hensen^ from three to five days, according to Bischoff eight days, to transverse this way, in the woman. It could not last any longer, says Von Winckel, because the uterine end of the tube, in the human female, has a diameter of only two to three millimeters, while the diameter of the ovum, in the second week of pregnancy, is three to six millimeters already. Hence, when a retardation, for one cause or another, takes place, a tubal pregnancy will be the result.

When the impregnated ovum has reached the cavity of the uterus it penetrates through the epithelium into the submucous fibrous tissues of the uterus, where it completes its development.

Internal ovarian secretion. — Besides the function of pre- paring the ova, the ovary has an internal secretion which is the cause of the female secondary characteristics. When both ovaries are removed before puberty, the time when the stamp of sex is becoming impressed on every part of the body, the essential feminine features fail to develop. The absence of the ovaries leads to the development of a colorless, neuter creature of angular form, strident voice, striding gait, and even of bearded chin.

Function of the Fallopian tubes. — The function of the ducts is to furnish a path for the ovum in its passage towards the uterus and for the spermatozoa on their way to meet the ovum. The current of the tubal ciliated epithelia is directed towards the uterus. In this way the ovum which does not possess self- motion, as do the spermatozoa, is carried towards its destination, while the spermatozoa have to swim against the current.

Menstruation. — The main function of the uterus is to serve as a couch or resting place for the fertilized ovum during its development. For this end a wound has to be set in the lining of the uterus to facilitate the grafting of the fertilized ovum, just as the gardner makes a slit for ingrafting the young shoot. The preparation of the ingrafting of the young animal is ac- complished by the monthly changes in the uterus preceding menstruation. The monthly general congestion of the genital organs, necessary for the ovum to leave the Graafian follicle, also causes the uterine mucous membrane to swell from one

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 85

to three millimeters in the thickness.* The mucosa becomes thus turgid and velvety. The epithelial cells of the endome- trium swell and multiply. The openings of the uterine glands are enlarged, and a whitish, opaque mucus is poured out. The glandular cells are enlarged, and there is a multiplication of the round cells of the stroma. The cells are cloudy and filled with fat granules. This fatty degeneration involves the glandular cells, the cells of the inter-glandular tissue, and the cells of the blood vessels which are distended with blood. The endometrium or lining is thus prepared for the reception of the impregnated ovum. These alterations develop independently of the haemor- rhage. The swelling begins a long time before the period and reaches its maximum only at this time.

If the ovum has become impregnated it is ready to respond to these preparations. If, however, nature's attempt to repro-

* According to Pfliiger (Veit's Handb. der Gyn. 1908, Vol, 3, p. 25) the pressure of the periodically growing Graafian follicle causes a con- tinual irritation of the ovarian nerves, which, by reflex action, is the cause of the great congestion of the genitals. When the stimulus has reached a certain height, the congestion leads, on the one side, to the rupture of the follicle, on the other hand, to the menstrual change of the uterine mucosa. This theory has been abandoned, and the modern trend of opinion is to attribute the general congestion to chemical substances, thus returning to Brown-Sequard teachings that the period- ical congestion is caused by a chemical substance which, produced within the ovary, enters the blood circulation.

According to L, Meyer, under the influence pf ovulation, a con- tinual production of substances, oophorines, necessary for the growth of the foetus, takes place. These substances circulate in the blood, and, when they are present in large amounts, cause a stimulation of the entire nervous system. This explains the nervous irritation and other phenomena of this period. During menstruation these substances are excreted.

G, Klein (Miinch, med. Wochenschr, 1911, p. 997) thinks that the oophorines cause a chemical change of the uterine mucosa and of the blood circulating in the latter, and are themselves chemically changed. They then leave the body simult,aneously with the menstrual blood. Hence menstruation is a real catharsis, in the sense of Hypo- krates, a freeing of the body from the toxic effects of the oophorines. The presence of the oophorines during this period accounts for the different smell of menstrual blood from ordinary blood. The peculiar smell from the mouths of some menstruating women may also be attri- buted to the presence of the oophorines in the body.

When pregnancy has once been established, menstruation ceases for the entire period the mother is nursing her offspring, be the nursing within the uterus during gestation or later on during lactation, with the breast. Both periods comprise the time when the mother has to give her vital fluids for the nutrition of her offspring.

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(luce an individual of the species has been frustrated, and the ovum has not been impregnated, the latter has to be cast out, and all the preparations are eliminated. The exuberant epi- thelial cells are exfoliated. The delicate capillaries, engorged with blood, sweat drops of blood by diapedesis or burst and dis- charge their contents. The congested and engorged glands se- crete and excrete profusely.

This mingled mass of epithelial cells, blood and mucus leaves the body in form of menstrual discharges. Menstruation, therefore, is a retrograde process, in consequence of the failure of the impregnation of the ovum. The monthly flow is like the shedding of the leaves by the tree, the getting rid of some material the function of which has been frustrated and for which the economy has no more use.

Menstruation is thus the manifest phenomenon of the re- trograde metamorphosis which ensues at the failure of the ovum to become fertilized. Where there is fertilization there is no menstruation. Hence, those women who marry immediately after menstruation sets in, at puberty,* and are impregnated and those women who are impregnated immediately after they finished nursing their babies, will seldom show the phenomenon of menstruation. This is the reason why menstruation is so rarely observed among animals.f

* The Hindus recommend the marriage of the girl before the first menstruation has set in. Among many savages the first menstruation is the signal for marrying off the girl. Such women become impreg- nated with each succeeding child immediately after they have finished nursing the preceding one. By the time propagation ceases, the clima- cerium sets in. In this way tJiese women only menstruate a few times during their lives.

f Another reason why menstruation is so rarely observed among animals is their posture. If the preparations preceding menstruation are for the purpose of ingrafting the fertilized ovum, it follows that menstruation must occur in all those animals in which the fertilized egg is fully developed to complete maturity within the interior of the mother. This is indeed what happens. All animals with so intimate an attachment of the foetal and maternal organisms tliat the foetal placenta cannot be detached from the mother without a haemorrhage, show the phenomenon of menstruation.

Menstruation was formerly regarded as the exclusive prerogative of woman, but we know now that woman shares the privilege with many animals. All warm-blooded animals that stand or walk erect, without exception, menstruate. The appearance of the discharge is simply due to posture. The process is going on in all quadrupeds, as the sheep.

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Tlie concubitalis function of the uterus. — Another highly im- portant function of the uterus is to serve as an organ of copu- lation. During the orgasm, at the moment of the highest ex- citement, the uterus descends deeper into the small pelvis.* It is assisted in the descent by the pressure of the abdominal

the cow, the dog, the cat, etc., but on account of the position of the uterus (in quadrupeds the fundus of the uterus is situated lower than the neck) the blood is usually retained in that organ, reabsorbed through the lymphatics into the blood, and consumed in the vital process or eliminated through excretory glands.

In some animals the discharge consists of mucus. In dogs the writer saw real blood. It is only a play of nature, that in one species the congestion of the genitals manifests itself by a sweating of viscous mucus, in the other by a flow of blood.

Even the lower animals shed the same degenerated material. They menstruate through the lymphatics, if for one cause or another im- pregnation has been prevented. But as a rule, in animals, living in freedom, impregnation always follows the preparation of the uterus, and the phenomenon of menstruation fails to appear. It is only among domesticated animals that the discharge from the genitals is some- times observed.

* According to Bischoff, at the moment of the highest excitement tlie uterus is pressed down into the small pelvis, and the uterine orifice opens and receives the sperma by a kind of suction.

Eichstedt claims that the uterus, which is usually flattened in the sagittal direction, assumes a round, pear-shaped form during the excitement and for some time afterwards. In this way a real cavum uteri is produced, where previously only a virtual cavity existed. The vacuity then sucks in the sperma by means of aspiration like a pump.

Kisch says: During the orgasm tlie uterus descends deeper into the pelvis. It is assisted in its descent by the pressure of the ab- dominal muscles. The muscles of the uterus open then the uterine orifice, and the formerly flat opening becomes round. At tlie same time tlie uterine orifices of the tubes also open. Simultaneouslj'^ the secretion of the cervical glands is expressed, and a suction of a small amount of sperma into the cervix ensues.

Rohleder says: The plicae palmatae of the cervix form an obstacle to the penetration of any fluid into the uteru»s. But during the excite- ment, this obstacle is overcome b}^ tlie increased secretion of the cer- vical glands. At the same time the uterine orifices of the tubes, which are generally closrcd, open widely through the excitement and almost challenge the entrance of the spermatozoa.

Kristeller describes the secretion of a clear transparent mucus in the form of a cord about one to four millimeters thick and one to six centimeters long in the ut.erus of every mature woman, who never was pregnant. This cord is hanging out of the orificium externum uteri.

According to Wernich, a preparatory erection of the vaginal portion and of the neck of the uterus takes place in the beginning of the act. Then in the moment of the highest orgastic excitempnt, and almost simultaneously with tlie mutual ejaculation, the cervix becomes flabby and soft again. This sudden relaxation of the erected cervix is made possible by a particular arrangement of the nerves and causes the aspiration of the sperma. The erection of the lower part of the

88 LOVE

muscles. The uterus, usually flattened in the sagittal direction, assumes a round, pear-shaped form during the orgasm and for some time afterwards. In this way a real cavum uteri is pro- duced, and through the vacuum thus produced, the uterus is able to suck in the semen by means of aspiration. Furthermore,

uterus during the sexual excitement has, therefore, almost the same importance for propagation as the erection of the penis for copulation. It serves the purpose of expelling Kristeller's slimy plug from the cervix, in the moment of the highest orgasm.

Munde has seen the gushing, almost in jets, of clear viscid mucus from the external os during evident sexual excitement, produced by the rather prolonged digital and specular examination, in an erotic woman. The lips of the external os alternately opened and closed, with each gasping emitting clear mucus, until the excitement, which was in- tentionally prolonged by gently titillating the cervix with a sound through a Sims speculum, reached such a height as to cause the woman to sit up on the table and thus end the experiment.

Beck (St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal, Sep. 1872, p. 449) observed an orgasm while examining a woman with prolapsus uteri. The orifice of the uterus was just inside of the vulva and could be observed without a speculum. The woman was very prone, by reason of her passionate nature, to have an orgasm produced at the slightest contact with the fingers. The action of the uterus during the two observations was almost identical. The cervix of the uterus had been firm, hard, and generally in a normal condition, with the os closed so as not to admit the uterine probe without difficulty. But immediately when the orgasm began, the os opened to the extent of fully an inch, made five to six successive gasps, drawing the external OS into the cervix, each time, powerfully and at the same time be- coming quite soft to the touch. After about twelve seconds all was over. The os had closed again, and the cervix hardened. During the crisis an intense congestion of the parts could be noticed. The sen- sations experienced were described as being of the same quality as they ever were during coition. But they were not the same in quantity, the normal orgasm lasting longer.

Talmey (New York Medical Journal, June, 23, 1917) observed an orgasm Mobile examining a case where the cnrvix was found to be of normal consistency, and the external os was just passable for a uterine sound. Suddenly the cervix became red, congested, and soft, and the sound within the uterine cavity began to execute certain movements, resembling pendulum swings. The os opened so wide as to admit the index finger besides the sound, and the cervical lips made three gasps, each time drawing tne lips within the canal. After a few seconds the paroxysm was over.

These direct observations on the uterus by the last named Amer- ican authors place the uterine action during the orgasm into the realm of scientific facts and entirely remove it from the province of theoretical speculation. The fact has been established beyond the shadow of a doubt that propagation is greatly facilitated by the suction-movements of the uterus during the orgasm.

This suction is also the cause why douches which are often recom- mended as anticonceptional remedies must fail, even if they are made

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 89

through the excitation, the circular fibres of the cervix contract at the same time as the longitudinal fibres. The result is a dilata- tion of the cervical orifice. The formerly flat opening becomes round. At the same time the uterine orifices of the tubes, which are generally closed, open widely and challenge the entrance of the spermatozoa.

Female ejaculation. — The contraction of the cervical fibres also causes the erection of the vaginal portion and. of the neck of the uterus. This erection, at the moment of the highest or- gasm, serves to expel Kristeller's slimy plug from the cervix. This expulsion represents female ejaculation. After the expul- sion the cervix becomes soft and flabby. The erection and sud- den relaxation of the cervix cause the external os to open, sometimes to the extent of fully three centimeters, and to make several successive gasps. Each time the gasp draws powerfully the external os into the cervix and causes the aspiration of the semen.

Function of the vagina. — The function of the vagina is to serve as a receptacle of penis and semen. The erectile tissue which runs along the entire length between the different mem- branes, forming the vaginal wall, helps the vagina to adjust itself to the volume of the penis and to augment its turgescence. The muscular fibres, situated within the tunica meciia of the' vaginal mucous membrane, contract during the ejaculation of the semen. The contraction is of a peristaltic nature, starting from the vaginal aperture. In this way the semen is stowed toward the uterine orifice under a certain pressure and is pre- vented from flowing off.

Previous to this contraction the sphincter cunni, the ana- logus muscle to the musculus bulbo-cavernosus in the male, also contracts and clinches the penis, pressing, at the same time,

immediately after congress. By the uterine suction the spermatozoa are drawn within the uterine cavity and immediately removed from any action the douches could have on them. Hence when the female orgasm follows the male, as it usually does in- the normal woman, anti- conceptional douches will always be a failure. Only when the female orgasm precedes that of the male, and the spermatozoa are left upon their own resources to reach the uterine cavity, then there is a chance to kill the spermatozoa by an immediate antiseptic, acid or bacteriocide douch.

90 LOVE

upon tlie two ])iilbs of the vestibule. Tn this way the vaginal orifice is more firmly compressed.

Function of the Bartlwlinian (jlands. — Through the activ- ity of the constrictor cuniii, the Bartholinian glands are also compressed. Normally these glands are inactive. They only secrete on irritation.* At the first voluptuary thrills, the lubri- cating fluid gushes forth from tlie Bartliolinian glands, moistens the sexual organs^, prepares the way for tlie ])ainless entrance of the male organ and furnishes the ant-orgastic libido which is second only to the orgasm itself, and is tlie only lil)ido experi- enced by many women throughout tlieir lives.

The alkaline lubricating fluid from the Bartliolinian glands serves the further jnirpose of neutralizing the vaginal contents which are of an acid reaction. But for the alkaline secretions, before the male ejaculation, the spermatozoa would l)e killed by the acids, or, at least, checked in their movements. The secretion of the Bartholinian glands has, therefore, a three- fold puii)ose : it facilitates the frictions, neutralizes somewhat the vao-inal contents, and increases or furnishes the ant-oriiastic libido.

Function of tlie clitoris. — ^The most sensitive organ of the female genital apparatus is the clitoris. In the female child the clitoris, analogous to the penis in the male, represents the main erogenous zone, and its activity manifests itself by frequent twitchings and erections. After puberty the main functio.n of the clitoris is, according to Freud, to 1?iansmit the stimuli to the other genital organs.

The erection of the clitoris is ])roduced in the same way as the erection of tlie penis, by the relaxation of the arteries of the corpora cavernosa of the clitoris, whicli are thus filled with blood. The erection is furtlier lieljied by the contraction of the muscles ischio-cavernosus and constrictor cunni. The clitoris has a direction, inverse to that of the erected ])enis, namely, downward. By virtue of its direction and its angle, the erected

* The Bartliolinian gland, not being under muscular control, an ejaculatory discharge of its contents would seem to be impossible. Still in a patient, a married lady of 35 years, after a protracted contact stimu- lation of the external genitals the author observed an ejaculation-like discharge from the left gland, resembling the (low from an liypodermic syringe under pressure. In four other cases, the only ones in which the author had the opportunity to observe the Bartholinian glands in action, the secretion appeared in small drops, slowly oozing out from the pin- hcad-like orifices.

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 91

clitoris is able to yield and descend to meet the dorsal face of the glans and body of the penis, without being in a position to rise again during its action. The contraction of the two last named .muscles will, therefore, help to press the right-angled clitoris on tlie dorsal side of the penis. The erection and the bending of the clitoris are further helped by the action of the bulbs of the vestibule Avhicli, tlirough the pressure of the penis, send their fluid to the corpora cavernosa and the glans of the clitoris and thus increase tlie sensitiveness.

Ordo rei. — According to the functions of the different organs, the initus muliebris takes the following course. As soon as the mentula reaches the vestibule, the glans of the clitoris is pressed down to the vaginal edge of the orifice of the vagina to meet the glans fascini. Under the influence of the erotic irritation, the tonus of the blood vessels of the corpora cavernosa clitoridis and of the bulbs is removed, and the organs fill with blood. The erected clitoris, bent down and pressing upon the dorsal surface fascini, is thus unable to rise again.

At the first touch of these sensitive organs, the lubricating fluid gushes forth from tlie Bartholinian glands, moistens the vaginal orifice, and prepares the way for the painless entrance fascini. The glans fascini passes now the two edges of the vaginal bulbs, et collum corpusque fascini are seized by the protruding parts of these bulbs. The constrictor cunni now clinches the vaginal orifice, and the vagina, by means of its erectile tissue, adjusts itself to the volume mentulae. At the moment of the male ejaculation a peristaltic contraction of the vagina takes place, by which the sperma is stowed toward the uterus and is prevented from flowing off until the fomale ejacula- tion has taken place.

In the meantime the uterus descends deeper into the small pelvis, and its muscles o])en the three uterine orifices. The secre- tions of the cervical glands, or Kristeller's plug, are now ex- ]u-essed through the open external os, and a suction of small amounts of sperma into the cervical canal ensues. The expres- sion of the cervical secretions represents the female ejaculation and takes place at the moment of the highest orgasm.

LOVE

CHAPTEK IX

LIBIDO SEXUALIS

During the entire sexual spasm, especially at the height of the venereal crisis, certain pleasurable or lustful sensations, or libido, are experienced by both mates. The quality of the libido is different in different individuals. In some people the pleasure may be excessive, furious, overpowering. Some people are thrown by the violence of their emotional manifestations in a state of syncope or convulsions.* Hence the speculation whether the quality of sexual libido is higher in the male or in the female is entirely futile. Libido being a subjective feeling, no one will ever be able to measure the same in another individual, just as he is unable to measure the amount of pleasure his fellowman has gained at any other occasion of enjoyment (e. e. banquet, dance, theatre, etc.). Hence, we will never be able to decide about the quality of libido in the two sexes. But the symptoms of libido being in both sexes almost identical, the in- ference may be drawn that the quality will also be similar.

Sympioms of libido. — The normal libido and orgasm show certain defined symptoms by which the presence of the larger lust may be easily diagnosed. While in libido corpora conjugum are in a state of excitement, caused by the irritation of the fibres of the sympathetic nerves. The irritation spreads over the entire extent of the vasomotor system and causes a paralysis of the vasomotor nerves. The result is the widening of the coronary arteries, hyperaemia of the heart muscles, and hence an increased excitation of the heart ganglia and palpi- tation of the heart. The circulation is accelerated, the arteries beat strongly, and the venous blood, arrested in the vessels, augments the animal heat. The stagnation of the blood, more

* One of the author's patients, a young lady 22 years of age, mother of one child, lost consciousness for half an hour every time after the production of the summa libido.

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 93

pronounced in the brain by contraction of the muscles of the neck and the retraction of the head, causes a momentary cerebral congestion. During its continuance the intellectual facultie> are held in abeyance. The eyes are markedly injected, ibe bulbi of the eyes protuberate, and the pupils are enlarged almost twice their normal size. The eyes become haggard, and the si -i lit is dimmed, or the eyes are spasmodically closed in order to shut out light. The respiration is rapid and panting, coming in short and quick intervals, the air being expelled spasmodically. Some times the respiration is entirely suspended by a convulsive contraction of the larynx, and the breath is ejected in the shape of babbling, incoherent words. The congested nerve-centres com- municate only vague and confused outside sensations. Mobility and sensibility are held in suspension. The limbs are convuls- ively agitated or are subject to clonic contractions. The nostrils are dilated, the jaws are firmly set, and the teeth are ground one against the other.

These different expressions of the summa libido are accom- panied by caressing words. Ovid, the master in matters of sen- suality, sings in his "Ars Amandi":

"Nee blandae voces jucundaque murmura cessent "Nee taceant mediis improba verba jocis "Adspicies oculos tremulos fulgore micantes "Ut sol a liquida saepe refulget aqua "Accedent quertus, accedet amabile murmur "Et dulces gemitus aptaque verba loco." Where these svmptoms are wanting, the absence of the potency of experiencing libido may be assumed.

Tlie orgasm. — Simultaneously with the objective phenom- ena of erection and ejaculation, runs the course of the sub- jective pleasurable feelings. The libido may be divided into three phases : the ant-orgastic, orgastic and post-orgastic phases. During the ant-orgastic stage, the lustful sensation grows by degrees in intensity up to the moment of commencing ejacu- lation. The libido remains then relatively constant for some time. The largest lust swells then suddenly to the maximum and reaches its acme, the orgasm, at the instant of emission. After the ejaculation the libido disappears rapidly. It falls to

94

LOVE

zero and is followed by a phase of indifference and in some individuals even of depression. In the female the ])leasurable feelings occur later than in the male, come on more slowly, and generally outlast the act of ejaculation. The female post- orgastic libido does not rapidly disappear, as in the male, but dies away as the tune of llie tuning-fork.'''

( UT XXXTV

Curve illusirafinf/ Ihe course of the orqasm. 1, ant-orgastic ; 2. orgastic; 3, post-o)gastio pliases.

After the orgasm the sexual excitement gives place in the male to a state of exhaustion and to an inclination to sleep, and to a comfortable feeling of lassitude in the normal womwn. "Omne animal post coitum triste est praeter mulierem gal- lumque," says Galen. After a few moments' rest a comfortable lassitude takes possession of the whole body in both mates.

"Cum pariter victi faemina virque jocent." At this period, even if the man woukl be in a position ad pergendam commixtionem (e. c. enniiches and in priapism), further permulsiones are not wanted and their discontiniian^H} is demanded by the normal woman,

"Aspiciem dominae victos amantis ocellos "Lancrueat et tan si <:c votct ilia din."

* According to Moll, the highest orgasm may bo iiultu-od and com- plete satisfaction enjoyed by the female without ojacuhitioti. The satis- faction may be experienced when the corpora cavernosa of the clitoris, after tlieir erection, relax again.

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 95

A woman desiring the continuance of uninterrupted penetra- tions, or who even allows them, plainly shows that, while she may have felt ant-orgastic lihido, she has surely not experienced the supreme gratification which is found in the state of orgasm. Except in early youth, and then only after a protracted conti- nence, it is impossible even for a woman to experience further libido immediately after the orgasm. The general notions about tlie great feminine potency are erroneous. They are based upon the confusion of the potency of cohabitation with the potency of experiencing the orgasm, which is not one and the same even in the male. So far as cohabitation is concerned it is true that the weakest, most delicate woman, is able to tire out the strongest man. Playing the passive part, she could stand con- carnatio continua for a long time, in fact, as long as the mucous membrane of the vagina will last, and the vaginal pave- ment epithelia are by nature very strong. Even Ovid know this fact. He says in his "Ars Amoris" :

"Conteritur ferrum, silices teneantur al) usu

"Sufficit et damni pars caret ilia metu." But in regard to the potency of experiencing libido the woman is generally inferior to the man. After three complete orgasms in one night even a young, strong woman will be completely enervated during the following day, and the woman who regu- larly experiences a daily orgasm, for a protracted period, will, no less than her active partner, fall a victim to neurasthenia after some time.

Intensity of libido. — The intensity of the pleasure varies in different individuals. With some the intensity reaches a very high degree. There are those who cry and bite at the height of orgasm.* On the other hand, there are individuals who scarcely have any lustful feelings, or, if capable of experi- encing ant-orgastic libido, are lacking in the feeling of orgasm. Normally the intensity of libido and orgasm increases with the number and dignity of the points which produce the pleasure.

* One of the author's patients bit his wife in the breast that she had to be treated for some time afterwards. Another patient bawled every time she reached the state of ororasm. Another young woman lost consciousness every time at the moment of the ororasm.

96 LOVE

The source of any kind of pleasure lies in the five senses. Of these the sense of touch is best adapted to provoke sexual pleasure. The tactile sense is the fundamental and generic sense from which all others take their rise, and by which they are verified. All the perceptions of our senses have to be supple- mented by our tactile sense. The foetus, within the uterus, receives the first knowledge of its own individuality, of its own "ego," by the tactile sense. In touching with its body the wall of the womb, it receives one impression, while in touching one part of its body with another part, it receives two impressions, at both points of contact. In this way it learns by repeated experience of the existence of bodies outside of his own. Thus it differentiates its own ego from the outside world by the sense of touch, at a time when the other senses could not as yet functionate. Touch is, therefore, the primary sense. The other senses are only modified tactile senses. Waves of sound touch the tympanic membrane of the ear : rays of light touch the retina in the eye; odors touch the nerve-endings of the olfactory nerve, and food the taste-papillae.

The sense of touch is, therefore, the sense above all others to evoke pleasurable sensations. The touch of a soft and smooth surface pleases; that of a rough object displeases. Many people like to feel smooth objects, such as velvet. Others prefer smooth plants; yet others are fond of caressing animate beings, such as cats or dogs with a smooth fur. There are those who delight to touch the soft, smooth skin of babies. Now the softest and smoothest skin in the human body is found on the parts cov- ered with a mucous membrane. The pleasurable sensations, therefore, increase when two individuals touch each other at parts covered with such a membrane. Hence, kissing on the lips, by reason of their covering, is accompanied by pleasure. This undoubtedly accounts for the origin of kissing.

The same reason is responsible for the universal tendency among lovers to approach and touch one another's lips. For, affection fed by sight, sound, taste and odor, reaches its climax in touch. The combined power of contact with softness and warmth amounts to a considerable pitch of material pleasure, and a predisposed affection, as among lovers, renders the contact

rilYSlOLOGY OF SEX 97

thrilling. Love pleasure, therefore, begins and ends in sensual contact. The intensity of the sensual pleasure will be pro- portional with the area of contact and with the dignity of the organs touched. Nudity with the greater area of direct contact will increase the pleasure.

The values of the organs producing sexual libido are suc- cessively: in the male, glans et corpus penis, scrotum, labia oris, lingua, palma manus, and the gluteal region ; in the female, clitoris, vulva, labia majora, nymphae, vestibule, vagina, vaginal portion of cervix, mamillae, labiae oris, lingua, palma manus and the gluteal region.* The more points of the highly sensible organs are touched, the larger the extent of the skin-surface that enters into the realm of touch, the more the frictions are conducive to excitation, the better the function of the sphinc- ter cunni,t the greater will be the intensity of the sensual libido in both mates. If more special senses are excited, such as sight by beauty, the smell by sweet odors, the touch by soft, smooth skin, if imagination cooperates, and if inhibitory effects are absent, then the intensity is much greater.

Inhibition of libido. — The inhibitory effects upon the libido have various causes, and are mostly brought on by the differ- ent senses. The most inhibiting effects emanate from the sense of smell. The sense of smell plays an important role in pro- voking or inhibiting sexual desire. For that reason women are

* Thus woman commands over a greater number of erogenous zones than the man. Hence the intensity of her libido ought naturally to be higher than that of the man.

According to Hammond the neck and mouth of the uterus are supplied with sensibility in its character, like that possessed by the clitoris. On the other hand, Roubaud says that many women have con- fessed to him that they are perfectly insensible to the titillations of the clitioris, and experience libido only by the touch of the walls of the vaginal entrance. One of the author's patients experiences a painful sensation by the titillation of the clitoris, while the touch of the vaginal wall induces magnam libidinem.

•f Some women know how to train the sphincter cunni that it becomes as strong as the sphincter ani. This art is especially studied by the Parisian demi-mondaine, and it is said that therein lies a great deal of her much vaunted piquancy. The author had occasion to observe the regular voluntary contractions of the sphincter cunni during the vaginal examination of a young erotic woman of tJiirty years of age.

])ossessed of certain odors to attract tlieir mates.* The vaginal mucus, or rather contents, have a stale, characteristic odor. This odor belongs to the class of the capryl-odors, which may be designated as the specifically erotic odors. The natural vaginal odor becomes stronger during the menstrual period. Some women transpire at the time of menstruation the dis- agreeable odor of trimethyl-amin.

In some country-districts in Europe, it is reported, the young peasants, when going to a dance, place their handker- chiefs into their arm-pits to imbibe the peculiar odor of the man, and, unaware to the girls, hand over the same to tiio women they are in love with to smell. The peculiar odor is siip])osed to excite the girls to love.

All this serves to sliow that the quality of the odor is not a matter of indifference to the excitation of sexual voluptas. The disagreeable smell from any part of the body of one mate will act as an inhibition upon the libido of the other. The sense of sight, if oifended, works much the same way. Ugliness will, therefore, act as a check not only upon the voluptas, but also upon the libido. Pain or cold have also inhibitory effects. Hence defloration, accompanied by more or less pain, checks the libido of the M^oman.

Hatred has a great inhibitory influence upon voluptas and libido. In men, it is self-evident that where there is no voluptas

* Women, says Ha^en, in his "Sexuelle Osphresiologie," are like tlie flowers who spread their intoxicating fragrance during dawn and dusk — at the first rays of the rising and the last rays of the setting sun. With some the sweetest odors emanate during night-time. Before a tliunder storm, when the air is close, the "parfum de la femme" is particularly pronounced. The transpiration of lean women is less pro- nounced tlian in tlie stout, who possess usually large sudoriparous poies and sebaceous glands. Brunettes have a stronger odor feminae tlian blondes, and both are surpassed by the red-haired.

According to Jaeger, the balmy fragrance of the pure, innocent virgin is of an extraordinary purity. As soon as the girl falls in love, the fragrance at once changes.

Long sexual continence is claimed by Galopin to increase the trans- piratory odor feminae.

According to Monin, the woman's rer.pirat.ion at the time of menstruation has the odor of onions.

Before and after conjugation the natural odor corporis of the woman is more intense. Two of tlie author's patients were reported to exhale an odor somewhat resembling that of onions, immediately after the orgasm.

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 99

there is no erection and consequently no congress or libido. But even in women where sexual conjugation is possible against her will, libido can seldom be compelled. She may be debauched, physically, and even ejaculation may take place, for when fully excited, the muscular contractions become independent of the will, but the excitation can not induce full libido.* Virtually, a woman can rarely be violated. If in a case of rape the woman experiences complete orgasm, then she consented physiologically, though she may have morally struggled against the impropriety of the act.

Spatium concarnationis. — Spatium temporis concubitiis, to a certain extent, depends upon the will. The man and the woman are able to delay the orgasm for a certain time. It is in the individual's power, if it be not neurasthenic or tabetic, to induce the orgasm earlier or later. But this power is limited. It is not altogether voluntary to induce orgasm or l)revent it.

The duration varies in different animals as well as in dif- ferent individuals. In some animals a single stimulant' suffices to induce orgasm; other animals remain in conjugio for hours or even days. If the duration of the ant-orgastic stage is too short in the female, analogous to the ejaculation ante portas in the male, the deficiency must be corrected. Though the precipitate orgasm in the female has not the same importance as in the male, because her orgasm does not of necessity termi- nate congressum as in the male. Yet it may, sometimes, have a damaging effect upon the potency of procreation. For the ideal intercourse, in the interest of procreation, is the one in which the female ejaculation occurs immediately after the male emission or simultaneously with the same. Besides, the longer duration creates greater intensity of libido, which is de- sirable for the well-being of both mates. For this reason Ovid advises in his "Ars Amandi":

* Roubaud says : Whatsoever the degree of coldness and aversion may be that the woman brings to ad concubitum, the mere presence of the mentula within tlie vagina will produce in her organs a cer- tain notion, wliich although in tlie beginning only local, will, if pro- longed, change into a libidinous excitation.

100 LOVE

"Crede mihi, non est veneris propaganda voluptas, ^'Sed sensim tarda prolicienda mora."

The post-orgastic stage. — Soon after the orgasm the libido ceases, and a state of languor ensues.

"Cum pariter victi faemina virque jacent.''

In normal individuals and in affectionate lovers the lassi- tude is of an agreeable nature. The serenity of the mind de- pends largely upon the intensity of the experienced libido. If the act is executed with great pleasure, it will give the nervous system a pleasurable excitement and will act as a helpful tonic upon the nerves. The blood under its animating influence flows more freely through the capillary vessels of the skin. The coun- tenance becomes expanded, its expression brightens and its whole surface acquires the ruddy tint and genial glow of health. Every function seems to be gladdened by the tonic. It causes a uni- versal expansion of vital action. The body feels buoyant and lively, and there is a consequent disposition to quick and cheer- ful muscular motions, as running, jumping, dancing, laughing, and singing. Furthermore, the act executed with a great in- tensity of pleasure serves to appease the sexual desire for a time and naturally leads to moderation. The serenity and well-being, following such an act, have a great influence upon the con- tinuance of the lovers' affections. An agreeable calmness will increase and even create attachment. Some conventional mar- riages turn for that reason into affectionate love-affairs.

If the intensity of the libido is insignificant, a depression of the mind post concarnationem will result. Where coition is performed with aversion, without affection for the mate or with fear of infection or conception, it will act as a nerve-depressor, and a state of dejection will be the result. Such an act does not satisfy and appease the sexual desire. Like a distasteful meal that does not satiate, concubitus without pleasure or great affection creates desires for more sexual indulgences, keeps the nerves in a state of sexual excitement, and leads to many kinds of debauchery. Even if originally a good deal of affection existed, a sexually unsuitable match may reduce the intensity of the libido to a minimum. If then the languor is disagreeably felt, if the individual remains excited and is unable to sleep.

PHYSIOLOGY OF SEX 101

and the following morning feels enervated, the former affection will gradually disappear, and a romantic love-affair of long duration may turn out a complete failure after marriage.*

* For the same reasons stuprum cum fornicatricibus to ap- pease the passions is highly deleterious to the man's health, even if he escapes infection. No man has any real affection for his temporary chance acquaintance of the street. This lack of affection, together with the fear of infection, renders meretricious venery highly unhygienic in the long run.

PART V. PSYCHOLOGY OF SEX

CHAPTER X

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SEX ATTRACTION

A law regulating and governing phenomena is only possible on the assumption that the law is the expression of the modus operandi of the governing power which has established the. fixed rules for the performance of a certain action leading to a cer- tain end. The law governing the phenomena of sex has evi- dently been prescribed for the purpose of the preservation of the species. This preservation is at the basis of sexual desire, and because the ultimate aim is unknown to the agent, the desire is instinctive in nature. For every instinct is an inward impulse, an unconscious, involuntary prompting to action, without a dis- tinct apprehension of the end which nature has designed should be accomplished thereby. Hunger for love and hunger for food are both based upon the two instincts of preservation, the in- stinct of the preservation of the individual and the instinct of the preservation of the kind.

The hunger for food, manifested already by the new-born baby,* is based upon the instinct of the preservation of the indi-

*The complicated actions, executed by the new-born baby at. tlic first nursing, are the most marvelous the author can imagine. As soon as the mother presents her breast to her baby, its mouth closes air-tijrht around the nipple, bv the prompt action of the muscle orbi- cularis oris (innervated by the facialis). Thereupon the ton<iue i^ retracted like the piston of a syrinpfe. In this way a vacuum is created in the cavity of the mouth, and the milk is thus drawn out of the breast. This retraction of the ton^e is effected by the help of t1io muscles hyojxlossus and stylog^lossus.

The tonsfiip is now pressed toward the palate, pushing the fluid backward toward the pharynx. First the top of the tongue is pressed

102

PSYCHOLOGY OF SEX 103

vidual, the sex-urge, manifested by youths and maidens at the time of puberty, before they have ever experienced any copulative

to the palate by the M. longitudinalis linguae, then the middle tongue, by lifting the hyoides bone by means of the M. mylohyoideus (N. tri- geminus) and finally the root of the tongue by the muscles styloglossus and palatoglossus (N. facialis).

When the fluid has passed the two arcs, the arcus palatoglossus and the arcus palatopharyngeus, the latter contract and close the way back to the front, while the soft palate or uvula closes up the cavity of the nose by the action of the M. levator veli palatini (facialis) and the M. tensor veli palatini (trigeminus).

The fluid or the morsel is thus confined in the head of the pharynx. The larynx is now drawn upward and forward by the Mm. genio- hyoideus, digastricus and mylohyoideus. In this way the root of the tongue presses the epiglottis down upon the orifice of the larynx, and prevents the food from entering into the lungs.

The food enters now the oesophagus which by a peristaltic move- ment presses the same down into the stomach.

Arrived in the stomach, the epithelia of the latter begin to secrete hydrochloric acid and pepsin by which the albumen of the food is changed successively into syntonin, propeton, and pepton. By a peristaltic move- ment of the stomach, the solution is then forwarded into the duodenum.

At the arrival there the pancreas sends its ferments, trypsin, to dissolve tJie still unchanged albuminates, and the fat-ferment to break up the fatty substances (the diastatic ferment for changing the carbo- hydrates into sugar is not found yet in the infant). At the same time the liver sends in its secretion, the bile, which serves to effect an emulsion of the fatty substances. The other intestinal glands also contribute their secretions to effect all these necessary changes, so that the chyle can now be imbibed by the intestinal villi, by a kind of osmosis, and forwarded into tJie lymphatic current to serve as nourish- ment for the new-born Individual!

Now, all these organs, the nerves, muscles, and glands, must work in coordination and perfect harmony to accomplish the task of the preparation of the young animal's food. It would take a physicist and chemist years, of hard study to be able to accomplish all the different tasks, just described, which the new-born baby is able to effect, without any effort, in the first hours of its new existence.

This wonderful instinct of hunger for food and its satisfaction is really awe-inspiring. It is an inexplicable mystery as life itself. In fact, it is, as Bergson truly says, the prolongation of the life-principle. The author is unable to agree with the last named philosopher, who claims that intellect is the highest in men and instinct in the hymen- optera. It seems to the author that the instinct of taking in food and its preparation into chyle by man is no less wonderful than the knowledge of the digger-wasp to sting the caterpillar just in the right place to ensure paralysis without death.

The objection that all these actions are merely reflex-actions does not detract an iota from the marvel. Then the coordination of all these reflexes is miraculous. It only changes the name of instinct into reflex, just as the change of the name of the creative power from the old name of God into that of the atheist's "Nature," or of Plato's •'idea," or Nietzsche's "Wille zur Macht," or Bergson's ":61an vital," or Shaw's "Life force," etc., does not in the least change the nature of the creative power.

104 LOVE

libido, is based upon the instinct of the preservation of the species. The active principle of the mind, which is energetically devoted to the gratification of the sensual desire and the state of mind which is constantly yearning to satisfy the sensual want, are the promptings of this instinct. They exist at this early period independent of all experience. The absorbing feeling which seeks the consummation of its purpose, as well as the selection of the means to be employed, is not based upon previous experi- ence. They are internal, unconscious messages which give rise to the conscious impulses, without waiting for the external stimuli which, later on, cooperate with the impulse to affect the nervous centres.

The conscious impulses, composing the sexual instinct, are, according to Moll, the impulse of contrectation, or the desire to effect a real or a virtual contact with an individual of the op- posite sex, and the impulse of detumescence, or the desire to effect a certain material and nervous discharge. Any inclina- tion, to become an impulse, must possess two qualities : it must move the individual to commit an act in which logic and calcu- lation have no part ; and secondly, while committing the act, the individual must be conscious of its immediate aim. The two component impulses of the sex-instinct possess these two quali- ties. They are unreasoning promptings to actions, the end of which is present in the individual's consciousness.

Impulse of contrectation. — The impulse of contrectation is the conscious desire of the individual to obtain a contact with an individual of the opposite sex, if possible by the tactile sense proper; if not, at least, by the visual or aural senses, or by the imagery, by looking at a comely individual of the other sex, by listening to its voice, or by thinking of the person. This impulse is at the basis of the lovers' desire to caress and fondle each other. This impulse is entirely distinct from the desire for sensual conjugation. It is found in children who have as 5^et no knowledge of sex. An individual may have the wish to touch an individual of the opposite sex, as for instance, in a public conveyance or at a dance, without any thought of sex- congress, and where sensual conjugation is entirely out of the question.

PSYCHOLOGY OF SEX 105

During the gratification of this impulse of contrectation (from the Latin word contrectare, to touch with lust), a cer- tain tumescence (from the Latin word tumescere, to swell), or congestion of all the organs of the body, particularly of the genital organs, and an increased amount of nervous energy throughout the entire organism, takes place.

Impulse of detumescence. — At this stage the second com- ponent of the sexual instinct, the impulse of detumescence (from the Latin word detumescere, to diminish in swelling) comes into play. Tumescence causes a certain oppression, and the in- dividual is impelled to cause a discharge of the material con- gestion and , a spasmodic relief of the nervous tension. The procedure of this material and nervous discharge is specific. The man's impulse is "penem in vaginam intromittere et semen ejaculare,'' and the woman's impulse is "membrum viri atque semen in vaginam suscipere eodemque tempore detumescere.'^ If the opportunity for the specific discharge is lacking, other unnatural means for emission are employed, or the organism rids itself of the oppression during the state of unconscious- ness, as in sleep. Ejaculation, hence, gives pleasure because it relieves the mechanical as well as the nervous tension and causes a change both in the blood and the nerve supply. Hence, the impulse of detumescence is less a craving to gain a positive lust feeling as the impulse of contrectation.

Children s affection. — The impulse- of contrectation is al- ready met with in small children. The desire to effect a physical contact is often observed among very small children. There are some children who are even susceptible to sexual excitement, but these are the exceptions, their emotions are pathological. Normally there appears to be no erethism of the sexual organs in children during the process of love-making. They have no knowledge of the meaning of sex. With them the caressing contact is an end in itself.

In the love-making of children we can distinguish two dif- ferent modes, according to the age of the child. In the first period, between three and eight years of age, the child is per- fectly ignorant of the meaning of sex. Still it may indulge in the pleasure of bodily contact with an individual of the opposite

106 LOVE

sex. During the second period, between eight to twelve years of age, the children are aware of the difference and even mean- ing of sex, still the erethism in the organs is still absent.

The presence of the emotion of love in children of the first period is shown in many ways. Children of the opposite sex fall in love with one another. They seek each other^s com- pany. They sit close to each other and indulge in kissing, em- bracing, and lifting each other. They often present gifts to, and make sacrifices for each other. Even jealousy is not absent. The lover tries to monopolize the allegiance of the beloved one. This love in early childhood is characterized by the absence of shyness or of any sense of shame, which shows the complete sexual anaesthesia.

With the appearance of shyness and modesty in children of the second period, the love-making may be traced to the con- scious sex instinct. The instinct is manifested by the tendency to conceal the love affairs. Modesty is a characteristic trait of the young lovers. When in each other's presence they feel em- barrassed and ill at ease. They appear awkward when left alone to themselves. They try to avoid each other and may even appear to the casual observer to hate each other. Especially does the boy try to simulate resentment. The girl is, on the whole, more aggressive in these early love affairs. The woman's innate love of being wooed comes to surface later on when she has reached maturity. Yet even the boy's emotions are discerni- ble by the keen observer. The emotions of infatuated children may assume all the appearances of true love, with its joys and sorrows. Yet any thought of the reproductive organs is entirely absent.

Puberty. — Before puberty the sexual activity of the child consists thus in the desire and gratification of the impulse of contrectation. This contrectation does not cause yet a state of tumescence in the child, and without tumescence the impulse of detumescence is also absent. The first state of spontaneous tumescence is called into existence by internal messages.

At the time of puberty, the generative centre or the centre of voluptas begins rapidly to grow and comes into increased activity. The internal messages become then so frequent that

PSYCHOLOGY OF SEX 107

they charge the entire body with a considerable amount of nerve energy and cause in the generative organs a certain congestion, stimulation and irritation. This spontaneous tumescence, pro- duced with the growth of the centre of voluptas in the brain, is then the cause of calling to life the impulse of detumescence. The individual has the strong desire to free itself of the material congestion and of the nervous tension. In animals the impulse of detumescence is, with a very few exceptions, identical with the sex-instinct. Most animals have no desire for contrectation. In man the impulse of contrectation is the more important. If the individual practises total abstinence, i. e., if he abstains even from the gratification of the impulse of contrectation, then the state of spontaneous tumescence would return through the in- ternal messages, at certain periods, just as rut periodically appears in the animal. As a rule, however, total abstinence from the gratification of the impulse of contrectation, material or mental, is very rarely or never found in the civilized adult man oj" woman. Hence the state of tumescence in man is not given the chance to reach its periodicity, but is always produced by the gratification of the impulse of contrectation.

Mechanism of sex-activity. — The mechanism of sex-activity may thus be compared with the charging of a Leyden jar with electricity. The generative organs must first he charged, like the jar, with a certain material turgescence and with nervous energy, in order to evoke the impulse of detumescence. The comparison with the Leyden jar may be moved even a step farther. Just as the charge of the jar with electricity is of a longer duration, compared with the instantaneous discharge at its contact with the earth, so is the charge of the organism with nervous sex-tension usually of longer duration in comparison with the short duration of the discharge.

During the gratification of the impulse of contrectation, by imagination, look, word or actual contact, the organs are charged with nervous energy and vital fluids. This charging is connected with a certam kind of ^ore-pleasure and may last considerable time, from a few minutes to several hours or even days. The satisfaction of the impulse of detumescence when the vital fluids and nervous energy is discharged by coition,