name of _carunculæ myrtiformes_ is applied. The subjoined diagram will familiarize the reader with the situations of the female organs thus far given. It exhibits a sectional view of the contents of the pelvis, or lower part of the abdomen:— [Illustration: 1. The bladder. 2. The urethra, or entrance to ditto. 3. The vagina. 4. The womb. 5. The ovary. 6. The fimbria, and fallopian tube. 7. The rectum, or lower extremity of the bowel. 8. The hymen.] Much has been said regarding the presence of the _hymen_ in its entire state. It has been deemed by many to be there placed as a moral evidence of chastity; but its laceration is by no means an infallible test of dishonor. In females of feeble or consumptive health, and others of delicate constitutions generally, the aperture of the hymen may become dilated from natural causes—from too profuse a flow of the menstrual flux, from local debility of the part itself, such as exist in the disease known by the name of the _whites_; and it is sometimes to be traced to the habit of personal and solitary excitement, as will be presently alluded to. The membrane is occasionally so dense and hard as to resist sexual cohabitation; and only upon dividing it by the scalpel, can intercourse be sustained. At other times it is so fragile and so vascular as to be torn with the least violence, and profuse hæmorrhage to follow. At the end of the vagina is the _uterus_. It is suspended by what anatomists call its broad ligaments, which have certain local attachments. It resembles in shape a pear. It is of a peculiar structure, capable of great distension, and possessing extraordinary properties. It is divided into a body, neck, and mouth, and when unimpregnated, is very compact, and occupies but little space. The interior is consequently very small, and it secretes and pours forth at certain periods a sanguinous discharge, termed the _menstrua_. When conception has occurred, the mouth of the womb, which before was open, becomes permanently closed until the period of delivery. Connected with the womb, and constituting a most important part of its machinery, there are discovered in the roof of the interior of the uterus, two openings, which are the ends of two tubes or canals, called the fallopian tubes. These tubes have their origin in the _ovaria_, which are two small bodies encased in the ligamentous band supporting the uterus, and resembling the testicle of the male; hence they have been called the female _testes_. These ovaria contain a number of little vesicles of the size of mustard-seeds, and some of the size of a pea, in number from twelve to fifteen. These vesicles are denominated the eggs of the human species. Annexed to the ovaria are observed, surrounding the tubes, certain _fimbriæ_, which grasp the ovaria during the copulative act, when prolific, and squeeze out, as it were, one of these little eggs, and propel it into the uterus.