A View of the external Parts of Generation in theAfricanWoman, that was brought lately fromAngola, exactly delineated from the Life, and well engraven.
A View of the external Parts of Generation in theAfricanWoman, that was brought lately fromAngola, exactly delineated from the Life, and well engraven.
A View of the external Parts of Generation in theAfricanWoman, that was brought lately fromAngola, exactly delineated from the Life, and well engraven.
FIG. I.
1. TheRegio Pubis, withPiliupon it.
2. A Tumour or Swelling between theInguen, and the upper Part of theLabium Vaginæ.
3.Nympha Luxurians, or as this Part is commonly called, tho’ very improperly,Clytoris, magnitudine aucta, that is, the trueNympha Muliebris, which is enlarged to an uncommon Length and Bigness, in which we may observe it’sCutis Rugosa, or wrinkly Skin, which terminates in aPræputium, here turned back to shew it’s largeGlans, in which there is not the smallest Perforation or Opening.
4, 5. The Labia opened and turned back, to shew the Entrance into the Vagina; the Labium on the left Side is of a natural Bigness for the Size of the Woman; but the other Labium is very large, in which is contained a hard Substance, surrounded with something soft to the touch, and which may be traced as coming down from theInguen.
This Tumour, in my Opinion, is the realOvariumor Testicle of that Side prolapsed,and fallen down from it’s natural Place within the Abdomen, thro’ the Fissure in the Muscles belonging to the last mentioned Part, into this Labium where it is lodged, covered with an Elongation in Form of a Bag or Sacculus from thePeritonæum, in which it lies enclosed together with theTuba Falloppii, theLigamentum uteri latum, and the Ligament that goes from the Testicle to theUterus, in the very same Manner that the commonHernia’s, whether of the Intestinum, the Omentum, or both, are produced in Women.
My Reasons for this Conjecture (which was long ago simply proposed by Professor[119]Diemerbroeck, but without anyManner of Proof to support it) shall be given in a general Treatise ofHernia’s, which I have very near finished, and, I hope, will be published in a short Time; the Ovaria, orTesticuli Mulierum, being in the Number of those Parts that fall down from their natural Situation, and constitute that Disorder we call a Hernia or Rupture.
In my Collection of the morbid uterine Parts, I have two Preparations where the Ovaria and Extremities of the Tubæ Falloppianæ lie exactly on that Part of the Peritonæum, under which theLigamenta uteri teretia seu rotundado pass out from within the Abdomen; and theFundus Uteri, instead of lying backwards on theIntestinum rectumandos Sacrum, is turned forwards, and lies on the Os Pubis and Vesica. This, I own, is only a conjectural Proof for the present, a real one cannot be offered till the Part itself, where the Tumour is, can be examined by ocular Inspection.
The Tumour marked 2, I take to be the Ovarium on the other Side, just clear of the abdominal Muscles, but not come low enough for the Labium, but will no doubt in Time, if not prevented by some outward Compression. I am informed, that the other Tumour came down gradually.
6, 7. The slenderAlæorPterygia vaginæ, improperly calledNymphæ. On the upper Part of these cuticular Foldings, theFrenulum6, is observed to be lost, that comes obliquely downwards from the under Side of theGlans.
8. The Orificium, or Entrance into the Vagina, with a smooth whitish Skin on the Inside of the Labia.
9. The Furcula Vaginæ.
10. The large and broad Perinæum, or Distance between the Furca and the Anus.
The second and third Figures represent the external Parts, as they appeared in a Girl shewed about Town for an Hermaphrodite, of which I gave an Account that was read at a Meeting of the Royal Society,Feb. 17, 1714.
FIG. II.
Shews these Parts in a natural Situation.
1. Nympha Luxurians seu Clitoris.
2. Labium dextrum.
3. Labium sinistrum.
FIG. III.
Shews the same, the Labia being deducted or turned back to each Side.
1. Nympha Luxurians, seu Clitoris.
2. Labium dextrum.
3. Labium sinistrum.
4. The Alæ, Pterygia vaginæ, or Nymphæ vulgares.
5. Orificium vaginæ.
6. Furcula vaginæ.
In this Account also I supposed the Tumours to be from the Ovaries fallen down.
N. B.At this Time I protest I neither had read nor heard ofDiemerbroeck’s Opinion.
Here, it is plain, is nothing but what is common to every Woman; and whatsoever Appearances may be in her, such as the Largeness of theClitoris, and that Tumour in theLabium, that are capable of raising other Opinions, they may be deemed a morbid State in the Accretion of the Parts; and as to thesaid Tumour in the Labium, several of the Learned are divided about it, and their different Opinions amount to three,viz.
1. That such are Testes like those in Men.
2. That they are Herniæ of the Ovaria.
3. That they are Glands of an indolent Nature, void of any Use, fallen from the Groins, and grown inordinately large and hard from the same Cause that enlarges any other neighbouring Parts that exceed their natural Size.
To the first of these MrCheselden, and, I am told, some others in Town, seem to assent.
The second is the Opinion of DrDouglas, for which see his Explanation.
And the last is the Conjecture of SirHans Sloane. However, as none of these Opinions can be ascertained without a fair Dissection of such a Subject, as this is, in all Respects, and that by the best Anatomists; and tho’ many Queries and Arguments might be exhibited both for and against these Notions, we chuse rather to omit controverting any one Point, as to this Particular, for the present, and refer the Matter to the first Experiment that shall happen upon such an Occasion.