Читать книгу The Female Physician - John Maubray - Страница 22

CHAP. II. Of VIRGINITY.

Table of Contents

VIRGINITY is an entire State of Nature in this Point; and nothing else, than the Integrity of the Muliebrian Parts from the Violence of Virile Congress.

TOUCHING the real Signs of VIRGINITY, many learned Controversies have risen; particularly as to the Membrane, call’d Hymen: Some great Anatomists and Physicians^[25] strenuously denying its Existence, and representing it as some preternatural Production; and Others^[26] as vigorously maintaining the contrary Opinion. Upon which Contention, if I may humbly offer my Sentiment; the later Authorities are so commonly receiv’d, that (I think) this Dispute sufficiently decided.

WE find the Reality of it has been abundantly confirm’d by the Greeks, as it was discover’d by the Arabians of old: And the Gentiles, for that very Reason, call’d their Nuptial God, Hymeneus. But, moreover, being since so positively asserted, by so many famous and learned Men, who openly vouch and aver that they have found and seen it; I do not see why we should longer doubt of this Membrane’s being to be found in Most, if not in All, VIRGINS, to distinguish them from the rest of their Sex: Especially since ’tis certain, that something extraordinary happens in the first Coition, which made Terentius call it, Coitio Acerrima. Upon which Notion, Catullus’s Verses are very elegant and à propos: viz.

“Ut flos in Septis secretus nascitur hortis,

“Ignotus pecori, nullo contusus Aratro;

“Quem mulcent Auræ, firmat Sol, educat Imber,

“Multi illum Pueri, multæ optavêre Puellæ:

“Idem cùm tenui carptus defloruit ungui,

“Nulli illum Pueri, nullæ optavêre Puellæ.

“Sic Virgo dum intacta manet, tum chara suis; sed

“Cùm Castum amisit polluto Corpore florem,

“Nec Pueris jucunda manet, nec grata Puellis.

This I take to be a notable Emblem both of the HYMEN and of VIRGINITY itself.

OTHERS again affirm, that the Effusion of Blood, in the first Act, is common to all VIRGINS; founded upon the Authority of the 22d Chap. of Deut. &c: By which ’tis plain, that this Criterion or Mark, has been of the nicest Consequence among the Jews; as also in several other Nations: according to Claudianus in the Epithalamium of Honorius, viz.—

“Et vestes Tyrio Sanguine fulgidas

“Alter Virgineus nobilitet Cruor:

“Tum Victor madido prosiliat Thoro,

“Nocturni referens vulnera prælii.

In short, many Philosophers, as well as Poets, hold This for an infallible Symptom.

HOWEVER, tho’ I must confess This to be a certain Sign of VIRGINITY, when it does appear; yet, if it don’t, the VIRGIN is not therefore to be suspected: especially if she be more adult, in which Case the Parts grow both larger and firmer, by the long Flux of the Menstrua; and consequently this Effusion cannot well be expected; neither can it be supposed in case of any violent Procatarctick or Primary Cause (and from That she can be no more secure, than another Person) which may break the Hymen, and dilate the Parts before Coition. But besides,

NEITHER can the Mosaical Law, nor the Customs of other Countries, imply any thing farther; than, that This is the indubitable Mark of VIRGINITY when it appears, without drawing any suspicious Consequences from its accidental Non-appearance: especially considering, that their VIRGINS married always very young, and commonly about the 12th or 13th Year of their Age; when they could scarce possibly be without some evident Effusion.

OTHERS will have the Astriction of the Vagina, to be a certain Sign of VIRGINITY; which, (tho’ I confess, is more astrict in VIRGINS, than in such as have copulated) I deny, to be any certain Sign: Since all know, That Part to differ (in this Point) according to Age, Habit, and other Circumstances of Body and Health: But besides, some astringent Medicines would also easily answer this End.

OTHERS again have disputed the Possibility of a VIRGIN’s generating Milk; affirming Milk in the Breasts, to be a certain Sign of lost VIRGINITY: And (I think) there is some Reason for this Opinion; for my part, I would inform myself better, before I should credit Her, who would give herself out for a VIRGIN, having this Symptom; notwithstanding the contrary Opinion of others, founded upon the Authority of Hippocrates^[27]: Since, according to the Judgment of the most learned Mauritius Cordæus^[28], it very seldom happens. But if after All, a VIRGIN chances to have Milk in her Breasts, it differs in Quantity as well as Quality, from That of a Woman who has conceiv’d: For which Reason, he distinguishes and describes Two Sorts of Milk: viz.

THE One, which belongs to this Case, he says, is generated of Blood flowing to the Breasts, when deny’d an Exit by the Womb; and is nothing but the superfluous Aliment of the Breasts, by their peculiar Faculty, turn’d into Milk: Which may happen to VIRGINS irregular in their Menstrua; and according to this Interpretation, Hippocrates is to be rightly understood. The other Milk, he calls Puerperial; which does not generate without a Big-Belly, and That pretty far Gone: Which Milk is communicated from the Womb directly to the Breasts.

HE teaches us also, that this Difference of Milk, proceeds from the Diversity of Blood, of which both Sorts are generated; and likewise from the Variety of the Veins and Passages, by which they are convey’d and carry’d to the Breasts.

WHICH Veins are Two-fold; namely, Common and Proper. The Common are called External, and these are such as only carry the Blood from the Vena Cava, for the Nutrition of the Breasts; which, if superfluous, or more than is sufficient for that Use, is converted (by the Glands of the Breasts) into a kind of Milk: Which, altho’ white, is of a thinner Substance, not so sweet, nor so plentiful, as true Milk. Whereas the proper Mammary Veins carry that very Blood, of which Milk is generated for the Nourishment of the Infant, from the Womb directly^[29]; which happens, by what the Greeks call an Anastomosis, or Conjunction of the Mammary and Epigastrick Veins.

FROM hence we have the Difference of these two sorts of Blood and Milk: Wherefore it is to be concluded, that altho’ the One be found in the Breasts of VIRGINS, they are not therefore to be rashly suspected of Pollution; since, according to Aristotle^[30], the same may happen sometimes also to Men.

BUT, besides what is mention’d, there are many different external Methods propos’d by Authors^[31], to distinguish a Real, from a Supposititious VIRGIN: Which however I shall not enter upon, lest what I have intended for the Benefit of All in general, might tend to the Detriment of some in particular. And thus having briefly described the MAIDEN and MAIDEN-HEAD, I come now to treat of such Indispositions, as are either Peculiar, or more Familiar to her STATE. And, First, in order