ed the
position is to the normal position of the organs in the human
species.[105]

Among monkeys, it is stated, congress is sometimes performed when
the female is on all fours; at other times the male brings the
female between his thighs when he is sitting, holding her with
his forepaws. Froriep informed Lawrence that the male sometimes
supported his feet on the female's calves. (Sir W. Lawrence,
_Lectures on Physiology_, 1823, p. 186.) A summary of the methods
of congress practiced by the various animals below mammals will
be found in the article "Copulation" by H. de Varigny in Richet's
_Dictionnaire de Physiologie_, vol. iv.

The anterior position in coitus, with the female partner lying
supine, is so widespread throughout the world that it may fairly
be termed the most typically human attitude in sexual congress.
It is found represented in Egyptian graves at Benihassan,
belonging to the Twelfth Dynasty; it is regarded by Mohammedans
as the normal position, although other positions are permitted by
the Prophet: "Your wives are your tillage: go in unto your
tillage in what manner soever you will;" it is that adopted in
Malacca; it appears, from Peruvian antiquities, to have been the
position generally, though not exclusively, adopted in ancient
Peru; it is found in many parts of Africa, and seems also to have
been the most usual position among the American aborigines.

Various modifications of this position are, however, found. Thus,
in some parts of the world, as among the Suahelis in Zanzibar,
the male partner adopts the supine position. In Loango, according
to Pechuel-Loesche, coitus is performed lying on the side.
Sometimes, as on the west coast of Africa, the woman is supine
and the man more or less erect; or, as among the Queenslanders
(as described by Roth) the woman is supine and the man squats on
his heels with her thighs clasping his flanks, while he raises
her buttocks with his hands.

The position of coitus in which the man is supine is without
doubt a natural and frequent variation of the specifically human
obverse method of coitus. It was evidently familiar to the
Romans. Ovid mentions it (_Ars Amatoria_, III, 777-8),
recommending it to little women, and saying that Andromache was
too tall to practice it with Hector. Aristophanes refers to it,
and ther