The hymen : anatomically, medico-legally and historically considered / by E.S. M'Kee.

  • McKee, Edward S.
Date:
1908
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The hymen : anatomically, medico-legally and historically considered / by E.S. M'Kee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    *4 Reprinted from The Lancet-Cmnic, March 7, 190?'. THE HYMEN:*^ Anatomically, Medico-Legally and Historically Considered. BY E. S. m’kEE, M.D. , CINCINNATI. FORWORT. Twenty-three years ago it was the writ- er’s privilege to read a paper before the Academy of Medicine on the hymen. This was widely quoted by the medical journals, in Sajous’ Annual of the Universal Medical Sciences, and Prof. A. Martin, then of Berlin, later of Griefswald, quoted two pages from the paper in his Text-Book on Diseases of Women, second American edi- tion. Dr. David DeBeck, then of Cincin- nati, now of Seattle, was the artist who assisted me in my first paper, and Dr. R. W. 'Fhomas, of Cincinnati, made the beauti- ful water colors which are shown to-night. I am sorry to say that a number of those which are not shown were loaned to physi- cians and it was impossible to get them back. Their appreciation of art was in excess of their ideas of meum ct iuuni. Dr. ^V. W. Seely was presiding when I read twenty- three years ago, and Dr. W. H. Wenning was Secretary. lu “23” years one ought to skicloo, Ami wheu I have douc that’s just wliat I’ll do. Hymen is from the son of Apollo and Urania, the god of marriage. The Latins speak of it as rnembrana vir^in 'itatis-, the Ger- mans, scheide klappe, jun^fern haiiischen,jung;ferH sc/iloeslein, jun^fern schatz. The Italians speak of the camisca del onore, and the Germans of the ehrenhemde, referring to the blood-stained night-garment which shows the rupture of the hymen in priniis nuptiis. The French called the hymen capule or cypris^ which latter term we often find in the writings of Fon- taine. The word chaperone, which we hear everyday, first meant the head-dress worn in France by the doctors and bachelors of arts. Later it referred to an old woman who watched young girls, and then the signifi- cance of guardian of virginity. The hymen, though frail, is no doubt the strongest sipunu anatomicum de vtrgo Intacta. The scarcity of the hymen is often com- mented upon, many physicians having told me that they never saw one. There are probably many more hymens than we know of, yet they are often found wanting. Un- like Kentucky whisky, they do not improve with great age, for Shakespeare has said: “The longer kept the less worth.” The ancient Greeks termed their furies “eternal virgins.” Hieronymous said: DifficUis res virginitas idioque rara. ’ ’ Though the hymen as a sign of innocence and virtue may be laughed at by some, who never saw it, it is doubtless the best we have, by far, and should be honored with due consideration. Of the principal varieties of the hymen, their varied powers of resistance might be mentioned, weakest first, in the following order: Cribriform, semilunar, horseshoe, annular, bi-lobate, imperforate. The com- parative resistance of these forms is a matter of medico-legal importance. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HYMEN. The following theories have been ad- vanced: The hymen is the product of the sinus urino-genitalis; it is the product of the Muellerian ducts and the sinus urino-geni- talis; it is the product of the Muellerian ducts; it is the product of the Wolfianducts. We must consider the various forms of the hymen. The annular hymen is found in two forms. First, we have a membrane which has the same width or breadth in all directions, in the center of which there is a circular opening having smooth borders. In the second form of annular hymen the bor- ders are slightly indented on the upper part while the remainder of the border of the opening is smooth. There are also forms rather transitional, tending toward the cres- centic. There are found congenital slits of the hymen. They are important, because they completely change the general aspect. There is a hymen consisting of several lobes with rounded borders here and there * Read before the Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati, December 16, 1907,
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