of H. If there are two such unfortunates, offspring cannot reasonably be looked for until my remarks on remedies are read, and the difficulty mechanically removed. When one has such a deformity, it is enough to cause the absence of offspring. We will now turn to Fig. 128, and continue this investigation.

I, presents the top of the womb fallen forward, causing the mouth to rest against the back walls of the vagina. So imbedded is the neck of the uterus in the membrane lining the vaginal cavity in some cases of this kind, no other than mechanical means can possibly rescue a female from barrenness. When it simply rests against the back wall, without pressure, the penis passes above it and pregnancy may not result.

J, represents the opposite position, the mouth of the womb pressing against the front wall, dividing the vagina from the bladder, in which case the penis passes under the mouth of the womb, and to the side of it. When the womb occupies this position, or the one shown in I, its mouth is as completely covered as if the finger were placed over it. To these two positions may be attributed the most common causes of barrenness presented under the head of local inadaptation, although the inadaptations represented in A and B, occur nearly as frequently.

K, presents a position not very dissimilar to that given in J. The difference is, that the uterus has fallen downward as well as backward. There are also downward and forward displacements, as when the womb occupies the low position represented in K, with its top against the bladder, and its mouth against the rectum. In these displacements the penis presses against one side of the womb, and in most cases is not allowed to enter far into the vagina. When, however, the male organ is short, this position of the womb occasions no inconvenience in coition. If the male organ is long, it does.

L, represents the uterus in its right place, and the penis also; but the glans-penis is covered with the foreskin, which will not yield and press backward, but closely envelops the glans, and projects beyond it. This is technically called phimosis, and unless the orifice of the foreskin is on a direct line with the glans, the seminal fluids may be misdirected, and their ejaculatory force impeded.

M, gives something of an idea of the position of the womb wien it is doubled upon itself. In this diagram the engraver has not been entirely successful in presenting the doubled position of the neck, or

the obliterated condition of the cavity. It is often much more doubled upon itself than the diagram represents. In a case of this kind, the male organ has no difficulty in coming in contact with the mouth of the uterus; but the canal leading up through the neck to the cavity of the womb is nearly, or quite closed up by its cramped position. In this position the mouth usually has but little suction power, and sometimes none at all. When the suction power is sufficient, the compressed condition of the canal may obstruct the passage of the spermatozoa, and thus prevent the possibility of conception.

N, presents an irregular, contracted vagina, preventing the entrance of an ordinary sized penis to a sufficient depth to meet the mouth of the womb. The womb itself is in a good position, and in its right place; but it is practically blockaded. While many of these contractions are congenital and incurable, some are produced by disease, and may be remedied. When congenital, the skillful knife of the surgeon may sometimes obviate the difficulty.

O, represents a similar inadaptation arising, not from contraction of the vagina, but from the unusual size of the male organ. When the diameter of the penis much exceeds two inches, it is apt to prove a troublesome member. I was recently consulted in a case where the circumference was seven inches, and the length eight inches, and the vagina of the wife had not yet been able to admit it. If the mouth of the womb is very active, this inadaptation may not prevent pregnancy; but if it is sluggish, some means recommended in the remarks on remedies should be adopted.

P, presents the womb in its proper position, and the glans-penis near its mouth, but the natural outlet of the urethra of the male has been closed by disease, considerably scarifying the glans, and the orifice through which the seminal fluids are discharged is over, or in more cases, underneath the glans-penis, and a little below it. In such a case the glans may be so pressed against the mouth of the womb as to absolutely obstruct the orifice when the seminal fluids are discharged in an upward or downward direction. In such a case, the suction power of the uterus might be vigorous, and the end of the penis so block the passage into the uterus that pregnancy would not take place. If the mouth of the womb be inactive in such a case, conception would be almost, if not absolutely impossible. excepting with the adoption of some means recommended for overcoming local inadaptation, given in another place.

Considering how blindly people come together in marriage, it is not at all surprising that local inadaptation often takes place. In just what manner, consistent with the safety of our system of society, the liability to mistakes of this kind may be obviated is difficult even for the physiologist to suggest. Even when a person selects a companion with the strictest view to a union founded upon affection only, the choice may prove a partial failure. A man may enter a clothing store and select a garment which exactly suits his idea in quality and style, but when it is sent home, if he has not tried it, he may find that it pinches in the arms; draws too tight in the back; or is too long, or too short-waisted. A young woman may select at the shoe store a pair of gaiters which in her opinion will prove “just the thing," when, upon trying them on, they pinch the toes, or the instep, or in some other way fail to make the feet comfortable. So here is a question for physiologists and moralists to settle. How shall all liability to local inadaptation be avoided?

Let me strongly urge upon all who are childless to sufficiently acquaint themselves with their organs of reproduction, and the posi tion which they occupy in the act of copulation, to determine if possible for themselves, whether local inadaptation may not be the real cause of their barrenness. By carefully examining the names, locations, and descriptions of the organs as presented in Private Words for Women," and as will be presented in "Private Words for Men," it seems to me all may be able to do so without any direct aid from the physician.

Diseased Condition of the Wife.

Falling of the womb is a very frequent cause of barrenness. I have already explained in what I have said regarding local inadaptation, how this affection may prevent pregnancy; and I have here only to remark that while displacements very often exist without any signs of disease, the world is full of sufferers from painful displacements of the womb. When the painful symptoms are present, pregnancy is less liable to occur than when these symptoms are absent, because their presence shows that the womb is not only out of its natural position, but that it is congested, inflamed, and debilitated, and all of its appendages with it. The whole muscular structure of the procreative apparatus is relaxed, and every organ involved; intercourse

is more or less painful, the mouth of the womb is sluggish and often congested, and sometimes sensitive to pressure. Its orifice is nearly or quite closed up by inflammation; or is opened and so nearly paralyzed as to be unable to receive or retain the impregnating fluid. Impregnation may be effected in some cases by means which I shall advise where simply local inadaptation exists; but in a majority of them, the womb is too much diseased to perform its most important function successfully. Even if impregnation is effected, an early miscarriage may occur; for, if the womb is inflamed and swollen, it will not expand to make room for the growing foetus; if relaxed, it does not possess sufficient strength or contractile power at its mouth to retain, for the natural period of gestation, its precious fruit.

In some cases, when the womb is really in its right position. and all the organs of generation are in a sound state, the cavity of the womb may be closed by inflammation. In others, the lining of the cavity may be so affected by inflammation that it will peel off, either in a body, or in strips or shreds, so that when conception does take place, if conception be possible, the infant foetus, with its placenta, is carried away sooner or later, by this shedding of the lining of the womb's cavity. In some cases of this kind which have come under my observation, conception would take place and pregnancy continue to the second, third, and in some instances, to the fourth month, and then all would be detached and pass off in a shapeless mass, or else in fragments. Ulceration in the lining of the cavity may exist, and poison or destroy the life of the spermatozoa, and thus prevent conception.

It is sometimes found that a body of coagulated albumen blocks up the canal leading from the mouth of the uterus to the cavity, so that the spermatozoa can neither pass through it, nor between it and the walls of the canal. It should be understood that there are glands in the uterus which secrete albumen for the purpose of lubricating the parts and facilitating the passage of the child in confinement. These glands are usually active in sexual intercourse, and somewhat so in menstruation; but when this albumen possesses unnatural properties, especially glutinous, it may obstruct the passage as I have explained, and although the obstruction may be swept out by tho menstrual blood each month, such may be the condition of the glands that another plug will almost instantly form, allowing no opportunity for the spermatozoa to ascend the canal, Chronic irritation or inflam

mation may cause a puffiness of the lining of the neck of the womb so as to effect the same result. Stricture of the neck of the womb may also prevent the spermatozoa from entering the cavity. Chronic irritation may not only exist in the lining of the neck, but also up through the cavity just sufficient to produce a high degree of sensitiveness, such as sometimes exists in the lining of the stomach. When this condition prevails, the presence of the seed of the male in the womb causes contractions either at the time it is received or not many days after, and it is thrown off just as food is thrown from the stomach by vomiting when this kind of irritation exists in the stomach.

Ovarian affections are often the cause of barrenness. It must be remembered that the ovaries in health are the organs which produce the ova or eggs of the female. They are to the female what the testicles are to the male. In them is produced the little germ which, united with the male germ, forms the foetus. Foetus is a name given to the child in the first stages of its utero life.

The ovaries are subject to many affections which might be properly stated as inflammatory, ulcerous, cancerous, tumorous, dropsical, and paralytic. Fig. 129, represents an ovary affected with cysts, or abnormal formations of the ova or eggs. The letters b represent

Fig. 129.

DISEASED OVARY.

these cysts. The female affected with an ovarian disease of this character may be compared to a tree that puts forth sickly blossoms, followed by fungi or blasted imitations of fruit which fall to the ground without ever reaching maturity. Such trees are often seen, which, however beautiful to look upon, produce nothing but fibrous, shapeless fungi, which could hardly be called imitations of fruit. An ovum such as

that shown in b, if impregnated by a healthy spermatozoon, does not possess sufficient vitality in most cases to remain ten days in the uterus; and, if it remains for a few months, it usually amounts to nothing