y after marriage was frequently practiced to
ascertain if a girl was or was not a virgin. There were various
ways of doing this. One was to measure with a thread the
circumference of the bride's neck before she went to bed on the
bridal night. If in the morning the same thread would not go
around her neck it was a sure sign that she had lost her
virginity during the night; if not, she was still a virgin or had
been deflowered at an earlier period. Catullus alluded to this
custom, which still exists, or existed until lately, in the south
of France. It is perfectly sound, for it rests on the intimate
response by congestion of the thyroid gland to sexual excitement.
(_Parthenologia_, p. 283; Bierent, _La Puberte_, p. 150; Havelock
Ellis, _Man and Woman_, fourth edition, p. 267.)

Some say, Schurig tells us, that the voice, which in the virgin
is shrill, becomes rougher and deeper after the first coitus. He
quotes Riolan's statement that it is certain that the voice of
those who indulge in venery is changed. On that account the
ancients bound down the penis of their singers, and Martial said
that those who wish to preserve their voices should avoid coitus.
Democritus who one day had greeted a girl as "maiden" on the
following day addressed her as "woman," while in the same way it
is said that Albertus Magnus, observing from his study a girl
going for wine for her master, knew that she had had sexual
intercourse by the way because on her return her voice had become
deeper. Here, again, the ancient belief has a solid basis, for
the voice and the larynx are really affected by sexual
conditions. (_Parthenologia_, p. 286; Marro, _La Puberte_, p.
303; Havelock Ellis, op. cit., pp. 271, 289.)

Others, again, Schurig proceeds, have judged that the goaty smell
given out in the armpits during the venereal act is also no
uncertain sign of defloration, such odor being perceptible in
those who use much venery, and not seldom in harlots and the
newly married, while, as Hippocrates said, it is not perceived in
boys and girls. (_Parthenologia_, p. 286; cf. the previous volume
of these _Studies_, "Sexual Selection in Man," p. 64.)

In virgins, Schurig remarks, the pubic hair is said to be long
and not twisted, while in women accustomed to coitus it is
crisper. But it is only after long and re