[202] EXERCITATIO SEXTA.
De gallinae vulva.

6th exercise
The vulva of the hen

AB orificio uterino exteriori ad interiora et matricem, in qua ovum perficitur, transitus est; quem in aliis animalibus vaginam uteri sive vulvam nominamus; in quam mas penem suum in coitu ad matricem usque immittit. At vero in gallina, traiectus hic adeo implexus, et interioris suae tunicae laxitate rugosus est; ut, licet e matrice foras facilis via pateat, atque ingens ovum illac haud magno negotio prodeat; ingredi tamen maris penem, semenque eius interiorem uteri cavitatem subire, vix sit verisimile: nam neque stilo, nec seta viam intus reperire potui; nec Fabricio etiam aliquam invenire contigit. Imo vero, eodem teste, ne quidem inflatus aer in uterum penetrat. Quae causa, opinor, fuit, cur ille a partibus interioribus ad exteriores progrediens, uteri historiam descripserit. Quinetiam pensitata hac uteri fabrica, negat semen in uteri cavitatem [203] pertingere, aut ullam ovi partem constituere[1]. In qua sententia ego etiam libens nomen meum profiteor. Enimvero nihil in ovo foecundo (quod idem in subventaneo non sit) vel additum vel mutatum reperias, unde galli semen uterum subintrasse atque ovum tetigisse constet. Quinetiam, licet sine galli congressu ova omnia irrita sint et subventanea, eius tamen opera (etiam aliquandiu post coitum) ova subsequentia, quorum necdum principium aut materia exstat, foecunda evadunt.

From the external uterine orifice toward the inner parts and the uterus, in which the egg is completed, a passage exists which in the other animals we call vagina of the uterus or vulva, in which the male during the coition introduces its penis up to the uterus. But in the hen this way is so narrow and rough because of the relaxation of its inside tunic that, although an easy way exists from the uterus toward the outside, and a big egg from here moves forward without a great difficulty, it is nevertheless hardly likely that the penis of the male enters and that its semen goes up in the inner cavity of the uterus. In fact, neither with a stylus nor with a bristle I have been able to find a way of access, and neither to Fabrizi happened to find one. On the contrary to say the truth, as he himself testifies, neither the insufflated air penetrates in the uterus. I think that this has been the reason why he did the description of the uterus proceeding from the inner parts to the external ones. Besides, nevertheless he examined also this uterine structure, he denies that the semen comes in the uterine cavity or that it gives rise to some part of the egg. I also gladly associate my name to this affirmation. But, truly, in a fertile egg (as it also happens in a windy one) you would find nothing added or changed, that's why it would result that the semen of the cock entered the uterus and came in contact with the egg. Furthermore, although without the mating with the cock all the eggs are sterile and windy, nevertheless thanks to its intervention (also at a certain distance of time from mating) the future eggs, of which the principle or the matter yet doesn't exist, turn out to be fertile.

Fabricius[2], ut modum explicet, quo galli semen ova foecunda reddit, haec habet: Cum in ovo semen non appareat, et tamen gallo in uterum porrigatur; quaeritur, cur in uterum galli semen immittatur, si in ovum non ingreditur? Item, si in ovo non adest, quomodo ovum foecundum ex galli semine, quod non habet, efficiatur? Mea opinio est, galli semen in uteri principium immissum, efficere totum uterum, et simul quoque omnes vitellos eo cadentes, ac totum denique ovum, foecundum: idque facere sua facultate, seu spiritali substantia irradiante; eo modo, quo videmus ex testibus et semine alia quoque animalia foecunda reddi. Si quis enim in memoriam revocaverit incredibilem illam transmutationem, qua animal exsectum afficitur, dum calorem, robur, et foecunditatem in toto corpore amittit; facile id quod dicimus uni tantum gallinae utero evenire concedet. Sed, quod omnino verum sit, virtutem foecundandi tota ova, et quoque uterum a semine galli provenire, patet ex eo, quod mulieres agunt, quae gallinam domi gallo destitutam habentes, eam per unum atque alterum diem alibi gallo committunt: ex hoc enim exiguo tempore succedit ovorum omnium foecunditas per totum illud anni tempus. Id quod et Aristoteles[3] confirmat, qui vult, quod cum semel aves coierint, omnia fere ova foecunda habere perseverent. Porro seminis foecundandi virtus[4], ne ullo modo exhalare possit, sed diutius in utero consisteret, ac toti impertiretur; natura [204] ipsum conclusit, reposuitque in cavitatem, quasi bursam, podici vicinam, et utero appensam, et ingressu tantum donatam, ut inibi diutius semine detento, virtus eiusdem magis conservaretur, et universo communicaretur utero.

Fabrizi, in order to explain how the semen of the cock makes fertile the eggs, writes as follows: «Since the semen is not visible in the egg, while nevertheless it is brought in the uterus by the cock, we wonder: why the semen of the cock is introduced in the uterus if it doesn't enter the egg? Likewise, if it is not in the egg, how is the egg made fertile by the semen of the cock which it doesn't possess? My opinion is that the semen of the cock, introduced into the initial part of the uterus, fertilizes the whole uterus and contemporarily also all the yolks going down here and finally the whole egg. And it does this for its power, that is, for the substance that radiates as being a breath, likewise we see that also other animals are made fertile by the testicles and by the semen. If someone, in fact, recalls to the memory that unbelievable transformation by which the castrated animal is struck when it loses in the whole body the heat, the strength and the fertility, easily he will allow that what we say is happening only to hen's uterus alone. But that it is wholly true that the power of fertilizing all the eggs as well as the uterus comes from the semen of the cock, it is evident from what the women do, who, having at home a hen without the cock, they entrust her to a cock in another locality for one or two days. In fact, thanks to this short lapse of time, the fertility of all the eggs happens all through that period of the year. Also Aristotle confirms this, who pretends that when the birds mated only once, they continue to have almost all the eggs fertile. Moreover, so that the fecundating power of the semen is not able at all to fade away, but so that it can remain as long as it could in the uterus and to wholly permeate it, the nature confined and placed it in a cavity similar to a bursa - a pouch -  which is located near the cloaca and suspended to the uterus - the bursa of Fabricius*, and endowed only with an entrance, so that preserving here the semen for a rather long time, its strength is more preserved and is distributed to the whole uterus.»

Ego vero experimenti praedicti veritatem suspicabar; eoque magis, quod philosophi verba mala fide recitata cernerem: neque enim is dixit, Aves, cum semel coierunt, omnia fere ova foecunda habere perseverant; sed, omnia fere ova habere perseverant: ubi Fabricius τὸ foecunda de suo addidit. Aliud autem est, aves ex coitu ova concipere; aliud, ova ex coitu foecundari. Idque ex praecedentibus Aristotelis verbis clarius liquet, ubi ait: Omnino in avium genere, ne ea quidem ova, quae per coitum oriuntur, possunt magna ex parte augeri, nisi coitus avis continuetur. Cuius rei causa est, quod, ut in mulieribus coitu maris detrahitur mensium excrementum (trahit enim humorem uterus tepefactus, et meatus aperiuntur), sic in avibus evenit, dum paulatim menstruum excrementum accedit, quod foras decedere non potest, quoniam parum est, et superne ad cinctum continetur, sed in uterum ipsum collabitur. Hoc enim ovum augetur, sicut foetus viviparorum eo quod per umbilicum affluit. Nam cum semel aves coierunt, omnia fere ova semper habere perseverant, sed parva admodum et imperfecta, ideoque infoecunda; siquidem perfectio ovi est, foecundum esse. Si igitur, sine coitu avis continuato, ne ea quidem ova, quae per coitum concepta sunt, augentur, sive, ut Fabricius interpretatus est, perficiuntur; multo minus foecunda reddentur ea ova, quae aves citra coitum habere perseverant.

Truly I was suspicious about the truthfulness of the aforesaid observation, much more since I realized that the words of the philosopher were quoted in a not reliable way. In fact he didn't say «When the birds mated only once, they continue to have almost all the eggs fertile», but «they continue to have almost all the eggs», where therefore Fabrizi added his term fertile. Actually one thing is "the birds conceive the eggs because of the coition", another thing is "the eggs are fertilized because of the coition". And this is rather clearly evident from the previous words of Aristotle, when he says: «In the genus of the birds those eggs born through the coition are not able at all to grow in a large extent if the coition of the bird doesn't continue. The cause of this lies in the fact that, as in the women through the coition of the male the residue of the months is removed (in fact the heated uterus attracts the liquid and the meatus are opening), so it happens in the birds while slowly the residue of the menses comes, since it cannot go outside, being few, and it is contained aloft in proximity of the belt, but it falls in the uterus itself. In fact this egg increases like the fetus of the viviparous animals by what is coming through the navel. In fact when the birds mated only once, they continue in possessing forever almost all the eggs, but very small and unfinished» and therefore infertile; since the perfection of the egg consists in the fact to be fertile. If therefore, without a continuation of the coition by the bird, the eggs conceived through the coition don't grow, or, as Fabrizi interpreted, they don't reach the perfection, those eggs the birds continue to have without the coition will become very less fertile.

Ne quis autem existimet, his verbis (trahit enim uterus tepefactus, et meatus aperiuntur) concludi, posse uterum attrahere semen galli intra cavitatem suam; sciendum, a philosopho non dici, uterum attrahere semen forinsecus; sed in mulieribus per venas et meatus coitus calore apertos, e proprio corpore menstruum [205] sanguinem attrahi; et pariter in avibus, sanguinem ad uterum a continuato coitu tepefactum trahi, indeque ova augeri; sicut foetus viviparorum per umbilicum solent.

And nobody has to think that, because of these words («in fact the heated uterus attracts, and the meatus open») we can conclude that the uterus can attract the semen of the cock into its cavity. We need to know that by the philosopher is not said that the uterus attracts the semen from outside, but that in the women, through the veins and the orifices opened by the heat of the coition, the menstrual blood is attracted by their own body, and likewise in the birds the blood heated by the continuous coition is attracted in the uterus and that from this fact the eggs grow, as the fetuses of the viviparous animals usually are doing through the navel.

Quae autem de cavitate illa sive bursa adnectit, in qua, per annum integrum, semen galli hospitari autumat; ea iam ante a nobis refutata sunt; ubi, nullum semen in ea contineri, et gallo pariter ac gallinae inesse, asseruimus.[5]

Those things he is adding about that cavity or bursa - the bursa of Fabricius*, in which he affirms that the semen of the cock is housed for a whole year, already have been previously rejected by me, when I affirmed that in it no semen is contained, and that it is present both in cock and hen.

Quamobrem, ut facile crediderim (si, per foecunditatem, plurium et maiorum ovorum proventum intelligamus) pauperum muliercularum gallinas (quibus probabile est deesse pabuli copiam), nisi cum gallo assueverint, pauciora et minora ova parituras; (secundum illud philosophi: Quod si semel cum gallo coierint, tum per totum annum ova maiora, meliora, et numerosiora habere perseverabunt: in quem finem pabuli quoque abundantia et bonitas plurimum conducunt) gallinas tamen ex paucis cum gallo coitionibus, ova omnia per integrum anni spatium foecunda parere, id, inquam, minus verisimile mihi videbatur. Nam si pauci coitus ad diuturnam adeo generationem sufficerent; natura, quae nihil agit frustra, mares in avium genere minus salaces effecisset; nec gallus toties quotidie gallinas suas etiam invitas ad coitum solicitaret.

That's why, even if easily I would have believed (if, for fertility, we mean a production of eggs in high number and of greater dimensions) that the hens of the poor little women (who probably are missing an abundance of food) if didn't accompany with the cock, would have laid eggs in lesser number and size (according to that phrase of the philosopher «Since, if they will mate only once with the cock, for the whole year they will continue to have greater, better and more numerous eggs» to such a goal also the abundance and the goodness of the food are helping a lot), nevertheless I would say that it seemed me less likely that the hens with few mating with the cock were laying all fertile eggs for the whole year. In fact if few mating would be enough for such a lasting generation, the nature, which doesn't do anything without motivation, would have made the males less salacious among the birds, neither daily the cock would instigate its hens so many times to mating also against their will.

Novimus gallinam, quamprimum ova enixa nidum deserit, voce strepera clamitare, gallumque ad coitum pellicere; qui pariter elata et singultiente voce respondens, eam anxie quaeritat, inventamque subito comprimit: quod sane, nisi procreandi causa, fieri natura noluisset.

We know that the hen abandons the nest as soon as she laid the eggs, repeatedly shouts with a yelling voice and attracts the cock to mating, who, answering with a likewise high and hiccupping voice, looks for her with anxiety, and after having found her, at once he mounts her. The nature had never permitted this to happen unless for reasons of reproduction.

Phasianus mas, in aviario detentus, adeo flagranti libidine aestuat, ut, nisi complures foemellas, ad minimum sex, secum habuerit, eas iterato saepius coitu male mulctet; et foecunditatem impediat potius, quam promoveat. Vidi aliquando foemellam phasianum, a gallo simul concluso (quem nec occultando sese, neque aufugiendo, evitare poterat) adeo delassatam, [206] dorsoque ob frequentiores eius insultus deplumem, ut tandem miseris modis exagitata prae moerore deficeret. In eadem tamen dissecta, ovorum ne rudimenta quidem inveni.

A male pheasant, locked up in an aviary, trembles to such a point of an ardent lust that, if he didn't have with himself numerous females, at least 6, he would punish them with a mating rather often repeated and would prevent their fertility rather than to promote it. I have sometimes seen a female of pheasant to such a point worn out by the male confined together with her (she would not have been able to avoid him neither hiding herself, nor running away), and plucked on the back because of his rather frequent mating, that finally, tormented by the violent manners, she died because of the sadness. Nevertheless, after having sectioned her, I didn't find any sketch of eggs inside her.

Observavi etiam anatem marem, coniuge carentem, et cum gallinis commorantem, tanta libidine aestuare, ut gallinam iuvenculam quoquoversum per horas aliquot insectaretur, rostro vellicaret, tandemque in defatigatam insilierit, stuprumque pati coegerit.

I also observed a male duck deprived of companion and lingering with the hens, to boil of so much lust to pursue for some hours a young hen in every direction, to pinch her with the beak, and finally to climb above the exhausted one and to force her to suffer the rape.

Gallus gallinaceus in proelio victor, non modo in superati coniuges, sed in ipsum victum quoque libidinem suam exercet.

A cock winner during a fight not only pours out his lust on the wives of the defeated, but also on the defeated itself.

Similiter foemellae aliquae in libidinem adeo proclives sunt, ut mares suos morsiunculis vellicent (quasi in aurem veneris gaudia insusurrarent), supersiliant, aliisque artibus ad coitum invitent: in quo numero sunt columbae et passeres.

Likewise some females are so inclined to the lust to titillate their males with some small bites (as whispering in the ear the pleasures of the sex), to climb upon them and to invite them to the coition with other techniques: the females of pigeon and sparrow are found in this group.

Non videtur igitur verisimile, paucas aliquot coitiones principio anni celebratas, ovorum omnium, per integrum eius decursum, subsequentium foecunditati sufficere.

Therefore it doesn't seem likely that some few mating done at the beginning of the year are sufficient for the fertility of all the following eggs laid during the whole length of the year.

Ego tamen aliquando (ut hic Fabricio patrocinium parem) verna tempestate (de coitus foecunditatis tempore et necessitate aliquid certi indagaturus) gallinas duas a gallo seclusas per quatriduum detinui, quae interea singulae tria ova pepererant, non minus aliis ovis prolifica. Iterumque aliam gallinam seclusi, quae decimo ab inde die ovum peperit; aliudque die vicesimo, et utrumque foecundum. Ut videatur, posse unum atque alterum coitum, integrum racemum, omniaque illius anni ova foecunda reddere.

However sometimes (to prepare at this point the defence of Fabrizi) in the spring time (on the point of investigating something certain about the period of the fertility and about the necessity of the coition) for 4 days I held two hens separated from the cock, each of which in the meantime laid 3 eggs, not less prolific than the other eggs. And again I separated another hen that laid an egg the tenth day starting from such moment, and another egg the twentieth day, and both the eggs were fertile. As it would seem, one or two mating would be able to make fertile a whole cluster and all the eggs of that year.

Dicam etiam, quod tunc temporis porro observaram. Cum utramque gallinam aliquandiu, ut dixi, seclusam gallo restituerem; quarum altera ovo gravida, altera recens enixa erat; gallus huic ocius occurrit, eamque avide ter quaterve compressit: alteram vero circumibat saepius, pedibusque alas fricando salutare [207] visus est, adventumque gratulari; veruntamen ad priorem reversus, eam iterum iterumque iniit, coitumque per vim repetiit: neglecta interea gravida, quam nullo modo ad venerem solicitabat. Mirabar ego, quibus indiciis ille internosceret, coitum huic profuturum, alteri vero importunum fore. Profecto dictu haud adeo pronum est, quomodo vel visu, vel auditu, vel olfactu, mares (etiam e longiquo) intelligant, foemellas cupidinis oestro percelli, coitumque appetere. Aliqui, etiamsi vocem illarum duntaxat audiant, vel locum in quo minxerint, aut vestigia solum olfaciant, statim libidine accenduntur, easdemque ad coitum insectantur. Verum de hac re alibi, in tractatu de animalium amore, libidine, et coitu, universim erit dicendi locus. Iam ad propositum revertor.

I will also report what in that time I furthermore observed. Having returned to the cock both hens that, as I said, had been separated for a certain time, one of which was pregnant of an egg, the other one had laid recently, the cock at once went towards this hen and with avidity mounted her three or four times. On the contrary rather often he was turning around the other and he has been seen to greet her by rubbing the wings with the legs and to be glad for her arrival. Nevertheless, after he went back to the previous one, repeatedly mounted her and pretended the coition resorting to the strength, while the pregnant one in the meantime had been neglected and in no way he solicited her to an intercourse. I was amazed by what signs he was able to distinguish that to this one the coition would have been useful, while to the other one it would have been inopportune. Certainly it is not easy at all to be said in what manner, or by the sight, or by the hearing, or by the sense of smell the males (also from far away) succeed in understanding that the females are struck by the stimulus of the lust and are desiring the coition. Some cocks, even only hearing their voice, or only sniffing the point in which they urinated or their tracks, immediately are excited by the lust and pursue them to mount. In truth the place to diffusedly speak on this matter will be in another place, in the treatment of the love, of the lust, of the coition of the animals. Now I go back to the initial matter.