(Hyrtl.) There is the secretion
from the glands of Bartholin. There is again the vaginal
secretion, opaque and albuminous, which appears to be alkaline
when secreted, but becomes acid under the decomposing influence
of bacteria, which are, however, harmless and not pathogenic.
(Gow, _Obstetrical Society of London_, January 3, 1894.) There
is, finally, the mucous uterine secretion, which is alkaline,
and, being poured out during orgasm, is believed to protect the
spermatozoa from destruction by the acid vaginal secretion.

The belief that the mucus poured out in women during sexual
excitement is feminine semen and therefore essential to
conception had many remarkable consequences and was widespread
until the seventeenth century. Thus, in the chapter "De Modo
coeundi et de regimine eorum qui coeunt" of _De Secretis
Mulierum_, there is insistence on the importance of the proper
mixture of the male semen with the female semen and of arranging
that it shall not escape from the vagina. The woman must lie
quiet for several hours at least, not rising even to urinate, and
when she gets up, be very temperate in eating and drinking, and
not run or jump, pretending that she has a headache. It was the
belief in feminine semen which led some theologians to lay down
that a woman might masturbate if she had not experienced orgasm
in coitus. Schurig in his _Muliebria_ (1729, pp. 159, et seq.)
discusses the opinions of old authors regarding the nature,
source, and uses of the female genital secretions, and quotes
authorities against the old view that it was female semen. In a
subsequent work (_Syllepsilogia_, 1731, pp. 3, et seq.) he
returns to the same question, quotes authors who accept a
feminine semen, shows that Harvey denied it any significance, and
himself decides against it. It has not seriously been brought
forward since.

When erection is completed in both the man and the woman the conditions
necessary for conjugation have at last been fulfilled. In all animals,
even those most nearly allied to man, coitus is effected by the male
approaching the female posteriorly. In man the normal method of male
approach is anteriorly, face to face. Leonardo da Vinci, in a well-known
drawing representing a sagittal section of a man and a woman connected in
this position of so-called Venus obversa; has shown how well adapt