Sex and its mysteries / by George Ryley Scott.

  • Scott, George Ryley, 1886-1955
Date:
1929
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Sex and its mysteries / by George Ryley Scott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    efforts of the cilia, it ultimately reaches the uterus, there either to be penetrated by a spermatozoon or, failing this, to perish by atrophy or be discharged from the uterus. The uterus, commonly called the womb, in which after impregnation the fertilised egg develops, is pear- shaped and consists of two parts, the neck opening into the vagina, and the triangular cavity or body. The entrance to the vagina, known as the external os uteri, is usually reached by the penis during coitus, and the spermatozoa floating in the semen are impelled through the passage into the uterus. It will readily be seen that, as the organ of gestation, the uterus must of necessity be capable of great expansion, enlarging as the foetus develops. Any abnormality of the uterus induces either difficulties in parturition or actual sterility. Thus uterus didelphys, while offering no real obstacle to pregnancy, renders abdominal incision essential; uterus bicornis, uterus septus, and uterus unicornis, where they do not cause sterility or abortion, make parturition a dreaded and dangerous occurrence. The vagina, where during coitus the penis is intro- mitted, is simply a constricted connective elastic-walled canal between what is commonly called the vulva and the lower extremity of the uterus. Comprising muscular tissue, thickly lined with mucous membrane, it has the additional importance of acting as a supporting agent for the uterus, and anv diseased or emasculated con- dition of the vagina is in turn the cause of uterine disease, notably prolapsus. Into the vulva, an embracive term for the mons veneris, the vaginal opening, the clitoris, the labia majora and labia minora, also discharges the urethra, a narrow canal through which are discharged the con- tents of the bladder, its terminating point, varying in shape and size, known as the meatus urinarius.