the great orifice and to receive the man's penis or yard in the act of
sexual intercourse, and to give passage to the child and to the urine.
The use of the wings and knobs, like myrtle berries, is for the security
of the internal parts, closing the orifice and neck of the bladder and
by their swelling up, to cause titillation and pleasure in those parts,
and also to obstruct the involuntary passage of the urine.

The action of the clitoris in women is similar to that of the penis in
men, viz., _erection_; and its lower end is the glans of the penis, and
has the same name. And as the _glans_ of man are the seat of the
greatest pleasure in copulation, so is this in the woman.

The action and use of the neck on the womb is the same as that of the
penis, viz., erection, brought about in different ways: first, in
copulation it becomes erect and made straight for the passage of the
penis into the womb; secondly, whilst the passage is filled with the
vital blood, it becomes narrower for embracing the penis; and the uses
of this erection are twofold:--first, because if the neck of the womb
were not erected, the man's yard could find no proper passage to the
womb, and, secondly, it hinders any damage or injury that might ensue
through the violent striking of the _penis_ during the act of
copulation.

The use of the veins that pass through the neck of the womb, is to
replenish it with blood and vigour, that so, as the moisture is consumed
by the heat engendered by sexual intercourse, it may be renewed by those
vessels; but their chief business is to convey nutriment to the womb.

The womb has many properties belonging to it: first, the retention of
the impregnated egg, and this is conception, properly so called;