In women the results of detumescence are the same, except that the tendency to lassitude is not marked unless the act has been several times repeated; there is a sensation of repose and self-assurance, and often an accession of free and joyous energy. After completely satisfactory detumescence she may experience a feeling as of intoxication, lasting for several hours, an intoxication that is followed by no evil reaction. Such, so far as our present vague and imperfect knowledge extends, are the main features in the process of detumescence. In the future, without doubt, we shall learn to know more precisely a process which has been so supremely important in the life of man and of his ancestors. FOOTNOTES: [98] The elements furnished by the sense of touch in sexual selection have been discussed in the first section of the previous volume of these _Studies_. [99] See Appendix A. "The Origins of the Kiss," in the previous volume. [100] See, e.g., Art. "Erection," by Retterer, in Richet's _Dictionnaire de Physiologie_, vol. v. [101] Guibaut, _Traité Clinique des Maladies des Femmes_, p. 242. Adler discusses the sexual secretions in women and their significance, _Die Mangelhafte Geschlechtsempfindung des Weibes_, pp. 19-26. [102] In some parts of the world this is further aided by artificial means. Thus it is stated by Riedel (as quoted by Ploss and Bartels) that in the Gorong Archipelago the bridegroom, before the first coitus, anoints the bride's pudenda with an ointment containing opium, musk, etc. I have been told of an English bride who was instructed by her mother to use a candle for the same purpose. [103] _Parthenologia_, pp. 302, et seq. [104] The connection of this mucous flow with sexual emotion was discussed early in the eighteenth century by Schurig in his _Gynæcologia_, pp. 8-11; it is frequently passed over by more modern writers. [105] The drawing is reproduced by Ploss and Bartels, _Das Weib_, vol. i, Chapter XVII; many facts bearing on the ethnography of coitus are brought together in this chapter. [106] Onanoff (Paris Société de Biologie, May 3, 1890) proposed the name of bulbo-cavernous reflex for the smart contraction of the ischio-and bulbo-cavernosus muscles (erector penis and accelerator urinæ) produced by mechanical excitation of the glans. This reflex is clinically elicited by placing the index-finger of the left hand on the region of the bulb while the right hand rapidly rubs the dorsal surface of the glands with the edge of a piece of paper or lightly pinches the mucous membrane; a twitching of the region of the bulb is then perceived. This reflex is always present in healthy adult subjects and indicates the integrity of the physical mechanism of detumescence. It has been described by Hughes. (C.H. Hughes, "The Virile or Bulbo-cavernous Reflex," _Alienist and Neurologist_, January, 1898.) [107] Roubaud, _Traité de l'Impuissance_, 1855, p. 39. [108] _Das Weib_, seventh edition, vol. i, p. 510.