animals

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

So much then for the properties of testicles in male animals.

In female animals furnished with a womb, the womb is not in all
cases the same in form or endowed with the same properties, but both
in the vivipara and the ovipara great diversities present
themselves. In all creatures that have the womb close to the genitals,
the womb is two-horned, and one horn lies to the right-hand side and
the other to the left; its commencement, however, is single, and so is
the orifice, resembling in the case of the most numerous and largest
animals a tube composed of much flesh and gristle. Of these parts
one is termed the hystera or delphys, whence is derived the word
adelphos, and the other part, the tube or orifice, is termed metra. In
all biped or quadruped vivipara the womb is in all cases below the
midriff, as in man, the dog, the pig, the horse, and the ox; the
same is the case also in all horned animals. At the extremity of the
so-called ceratia, or horns, the wombs of most animals have a twist or
convolution.