The generative system and its functions in health and disease / by James George Beaney.

  • James Beaney
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The generative system and its functions in health and disease / by James George Beaney. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    bodies by the blood; and the tension of the liquid struggles energetically against the muscular tonicity up to the mo- ment when, ejaculation being accomplished, spasm ceases, little by little, in the same situations where it began; the circulation then becoming free, muscular contraction gets the better of the tension of the blood, and partially drives in this liquid. The organ itself then gradually resumes its natural dimensions. In man the act of erection lasts only a short time, but the case is different with many animals. For instance, in the dog, when the penis is introduced into the vagina of the bitch its body becomes suddenly enlarged, and the animal is thus unable to withdraw from connection for a long time. This, according to Richerand, depends upon the absence of vesiculas seminales in the dog; and as the semen passes only drop by drop, impregnation would not occur had not nature ordained such prolonged copulation. This appears very probable.—Acton. The character of the penis differs widely in the animal kingdom, it generall}' being so organised as to give unal- ]o\ed pleasure; but in many animals there is so singular a formation that it produces absolute torture during the act of coition. The following extract will illustrate this statement:— In the guinea pig the penis is strengthened by a fiat bone that reaches forward as far as the extremity of the glans, beneath which is the termination of the urethra, but, behind and below the orifice of this canal, is the opening of the pouch, wherein are lodged two horny spikes. When the member is erect the pouch alluded to becomes everted, and the spikes are protruded externally to a considerable length. Both the everted pouch and the entire surface of the glans are, moreover, covered densely with sharp spines or hook- lets ; and, as though even all this were not sufficient to c2
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