Page:The Works of William Harvey (part 1 of 2).djvu/577

 sion, five caruncles, soft warts, or papillae. The first of these is larger than any of the others, and each in succession is smaller than the one before it, just as the cornua themselves become smaller and smaller towards their termination. Some of the caruncles grow to the thickness of the largest finger, and look like proud flesh ; - some are white, others of a deeper red.

From the 26th to the 28th of September, and also subse- quently, in the month of October, the uterus becomes thicker, and the carunculse mentioned come to resemble the nipples of the woman's breast : you might fancy them ready to pour out milk. Having removed their apex that I might examine their internal structure, I found them made up of innume- rable white points compacted together, like so many bristles erect, and connected by means of a certain mucous viscidity; compressed between the fore finger and thumb, from the base upwards, a minute drop of blood oozed out from each point, a fact which led me, after farther investigation, to conclude that they were entirely made up of the capillary branches of arteries.

During the season of intercourse, therefore, the uterine ves- sels, particularly the arteries, are observed to be more nume- rous and of larger size ; although the parts called the female testes, as I have said above, are neither larger nor more highly gorged with blood than before, and do not appear to be altered in any way from their former state.

The inner aspect of the uterus or cornua uteri, where it is puckered into cells, is as smooth and soft as the ventricles of the brain, or the glans penis within the prepuce. Nothing, however, can be discovered there neither the semen of the male, nor aught else having reference to the conception during the whole of the months of September and October, although I have instituted repeated dissections with a view of examining the conception at this period. The males have been doing their duty all the while ; nevertheless, reiterated dissec- tion shows nothing. This is the conclusion to which I have come, after many years of observation. I have only occasion- ally found the five caruncles so close together that they formed a kind of continuous protuberance into the interior of the uterus. But when, after repeated inspections, I still found nothing more in the uterus, I began to doubt, and to ask