The periodoscope Author:William Tyler Smith Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: could occur, so long as the individual remained in perfect health. It would still point correctly to the condition of the sexual functions, whether ovulation, ge... more »station, or lactation were proceeding. The slightest aberration must infallibly be an indication either of irregularity or failing health. Doubtless there are some highly favoured persons who would never experience any interruption or variation of the natural periodicities; in such cases, the instrument would need no readjustment, except at the commencement of pregnancy, during all the era of the catamenia and childbearing. Only, as I have said, every year a single day, the 365th, would have to be allowed for, and an additional day every fourth year, on account of leap- year. IT. CONCEPTION. There is a periodicity in the aptitude for conception in the human female, as well as in the other sexual functions, and a distinct periodicity of the sexual emotions attends the aptitude for impregnation. Women are more prone to conceive in the first few days after the termination of the catamenial period than at any other time. It appears from observation and experiment, that when the ovule is mature, it may be impregnated by the spermatozoids, either in the ovisac, or in the extremities of the Fallopian tubes. During the catamenial flow, the ovaria are making preparations for the discharge of the ovule through the Fallopian tubes, and this dischargeis in general not completed until after the catamenial period has passed. After the cessation of each catamenial flow, the aptitude for conception diminishes every day, until it is at its minimum in the mid-date between the cessation of the discharge of one period, and the commencement of the discharge of the next. It is, however, quite possible for conception to take place a ...« less