Woman | Page 8

in the case of woman than in the case of man. I do not wish to be misunderstood as underestimating the need of sex instruction for the male--only I consider the need even greater in the case of the female.
CHAPTER TWO
THE FEMALE SEX ORGANS: THEIR ANATOMY
The Internal Sex Organs--The Ovaries--The Fallopian Tubes--The Uterus--The Divisions of the Uterus--Anteversion, Anteflexion, Retroversion, Retroflexion, of the Uterus--Endometritis--The Vagina--The Hymen--Imperforate Hymen--The External Genitals--The Vulva, Labia Majora, Labia Minora, the Mons Veneris, the Clitoris, the Urethra--The Breasts--The Pelvis--The Difference Between the Male and Female Pelvis.
The organs which primarily distinguish one sex from the other are the sex organs. It is by the aid of the sex organs that children are begotten and brought into the world, that the race is reproduced and perpetuated. It is for this reason that the sex organs are also called the Reproductive Organs.
The first thing we must do is to become familiar with the structure and location of the sex organs; in other words, we must get a fair idea of their Anatomy.
The female sex organs, also called the reproductive or generative organs, are divided into internal and external. The internal are the most important and consist of: the ovaries, Fallopian tubes, uterus or womb, and vagina. The external sex organs of the female are: the vulva, hymen, and clitoris. Among the external organs are also generally included the mons Veneris and the breasts or mammary glands.
SUBCHAPTER A
THE INTERNAL SEX ORGANS
[Illustration: OVARY.]
=The Ovaries.= The ovaries are the essential organs of reproduction. For it is they that generate the eggs, or ova, or ovules, which, after becoming fertilized or fecundated by the spermatozoa of the male, develop into children. Without the ovaries of the female, the same as without the testicles of the male (to which they correspond), no children could be begotten, and the entire human race would quickly disappear from our planet. The ovaries are two in number; they are embedded in the broad ligaments which support the womb in the pelvis, one on each side of the womb. They are of a grayish or whitish pink color, and are about an inch and a half long, three-quarters of an inch wide, and one-third of an inch thick. They weigh from one-eighth to one-quarter of an ounce. Their surface is either smooth or rough and puckered. Think of a large blanched almond and you will have a pretty fair idea of the size and shape of an ovary.
=The Fallopian Tubes.= The Fallopian tubes (so called from Fallopius, a great anatomist, who discovered them; also called oviducts: egg conductors, because they conduct the eggs from the ovary into the uterus) are two very thin tubes, extending one from each upper angle of the womb to the ovaries; but at their ovarian end they expand into a fringed and trumpet-shaped extremity. The fringes are referred to as fimbria. They are about five inches long and only about one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter; the function of the tubes is to catch the ova as they burst forth from the ovaries and to convey them to the uterus. Taking into consideration the very narrow lumen, or caliber, of the Fallopian tubes, it is easy to understand why even a very slight inflammation is apt to clog them up, to seal their mouths or openings, thus rendering the woman sterile, or incapable of having children. For, if the Fallopian tubes are "clogged" up, the eggs, or ova, have no way of reaching the uterus.
The Greek name for the Fallopian tube is salpinx (salpinx in Greek means tube). An inflammation of the Fallopian tube is therefore called salpingitis. (A salpingitis has the same effect in causing sterility in the female as has an epididymitis in the male.) Salpingectomy is the cutting away of the whole or of a piece of the Fallopian tube (corresponds to vasectomy in the male).
=The Uterus.= The uterus or womb is the organ in which the fertilized ovum, or egg, grows and develops into a child. It is a hollow muscular organ, about the size of a pear, with thick walls, capable under the influence of pregnancy of great expansion and growth. The broad part of the pear is called the body of the uterus; the lower narrow part is called the neck of the uterus, or cervix. The uterus in the adult girl or woman is about three inches long, two inches broad in its upper part and nearly an inch thick. It weighs from an ounce to an ounce and a half. When the uterus is in a pregnant condition, it increases enormously, both in size and in weight, as we will see in a future chapter. The cavity of the uterus is somewhat triangular in shape; at each upper angle is the small opening communicating with the Fallopian