Ulisse Aldrovandi

Ornithologiae tomus alter - 1600

Liber Decimusquartus
qui est 
de Pulveratricibus Domesticis

Book 14th
concerning
domestic dust bathing fowls

transcribed by Fernando Civardi - translated by Elio Corti - reviewed by Roberto Ricciardi

201

 


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Huius cutis, vel praeputii foramen unicum existit, quod vulgares podicem Gallinarum credunt. Praeputium hoc formam habet sph<a>ericam, et musculum subiectum figura etiam sph<a>erica. Nam obtinet maiorem capacitatem, et cum utrumque foramen cooperiri debeat, cutis etiam maxime erat dilatanda, cui maxime extensioni sph<a>erica figura est accom<m>oda: prominet cutis haec praeputium referens, vel ipsius proportionale, turgidum, globosum, instar papillarum apicis. Musculus cutem praeputii subvestiens, sph<a>ericam, ut diximus, etiam figuram habet, cuius latitudo pollic{r}is existit. Fibras autem obtinuit non {parerellas} <parallelas>, vel aeque distantes, quemadmodum sphincter intestini humani, sed a circumferentia ad centrum conversas, et diametrales: quemadmodum ex subiecta figura demonstrabitur. Cur vero os uteri ad spinam, vel supernam partem, ponatur, coitum ipsum causam esse opinamur.

There is a single foramen of this skin, or prepuce, which common people believe is the anus of hens. This prepuce has a circular shape and has the underlying muscle circularly shaped too. For it has a larger width, and being that it must cover both foramina, also the skin had to widen out as much as possible, and the circular shape is suited for its utmost stretching out: this skin sticks out reminding a prepuce, or something analogous to it, turgid, globular, like tip of nipples. The muscle underlying the skin of the prepuce also has a circular shape, as I said, and is one thumb wide. But it does not have parallel fibers, or equidistant, as the sphincter of the human intestine has, but which from the circumference converge to the center with a radial direction: as it will be indicated in the picture below. Moreover, why the opening of the oviduct is located near the spine, or upper part, I think that the reason is the coitus itself.

 

AA. Gallinae pudenda.

O. Os uteri ad spinam superne.

DDDD. Circumferentia musculi praeputium

constringentis.

V. Exitus intestinorum, vel podex ad ventrem inferne.

EEEEE. Fibrae a circumferentia ad centrum pertinentes.

 

 

 

AA. External genitals of a hen.

O. Opening of the uterus [of the vagina] located above near the spine.

DDDD. Circumference of the muscle which constricts the prepuce.

V. Opening of the intestine, or podex, located below near the belly.

EEEEE. Fibers stretching from the periphery to the center.

Nam supergressu haec animalia coeuntia, instrumenta in proximo habere oportebat, quo facilius, et promptius invicem coniungerentur. Exitus praeterea intestinorum deorsum versus merito vergit. Nam infra etiam {ellius} <illius> est officium, quemadmodum scripsit Aristoteles, quod intelligere debemus ratione ipsorum excrementorum ex {elementati} <elementari> portione terrestri ad inferiora tendentium.

In fact, because of mounting each other, it was necessary that when mating these animals had close devices, so that they can join each other more easily and quickly. Furthermore the exit of the intestine is consequently slanting downwards. For its function is also carried on downwards, as Aristotle wrote, and we have to understand it as depending from the excrements themselves, since they are made up by earth portion of the element, so they are tending downwards.

Substantia uteri membranea, et crassa est (uterum nunc proprie dictum intelligo). Hoc enim corpus maxime omnium dilatatur, ac extenditur, et in ipsum recipitur ovum iam auctum, ac propemodum absolutum. Figura est concava, oblonga latior qua ad exitum pertinet, in longitudinem trium digitorum, caeterum angusta, rotundiorque intestini tenuis formam repraesentans. Porrigitur enim ab infimo abdomine iuxta ipsorum intestinorum usque ad locum conceptionis ovorum sub septo transverso, estque cum extenditur, longitudine dodrantali[1], cuius longitudinis ratione membranam obtinuit a spina dorsi proportionalem omnino, ac persimilem intestinorum mesenterio, quam et venae frequentes percurrunt cum ad nutritionem ipsius uteri, tum ad ovi intrinsecus contenti, dum pertransit a loco sub septo transverso ad ipsius uteri exitum, alitionem. Membrana autem spinae colligans, et connectens eadem prorsus existit ipsi mesenterio intestinorum, quin im<m>o eadem est, et substantia, et origine: quapropter consensum habet uterus praesertim cum ipsis intestinis.

The substance of the uterus is membranous and thick (I am now speaking of the uterus properly so-called). For this anatomical formation widens out and stretches out more than any other, and in it is held the egg already increased and almost completed. Its shape is concave, oblong, broader where its exit is located, and three fingers in length, for the rest it is narrow and somewhat round, so reminds the shape of the slender intestine. For it stretches from the lowest part of the abdomen, near the exit of the intestine, up to the place where the eggs are conceived under the transverse septum, and it is long ¾ of foot [around 23 cm] when extended; but as regards to its length it has been provided with a membrane of proportional size stretching from the dorsal spine, and quite similar to the mesentery of the intestine, and several veins run through it not only for nourishment of the oviduct itself, but also for sustenance of the egg contained within it while passing from its place under the transverse septum to the exit of the uterus [of the vagina]. Afterward, the membrane joining and connecting it with the spine is quite similar to the intestinal mesentery itself, and in fact it is identical both as substance and origin: that is the reason why the oviduct has a specific connection chiefly with intestine itself.

Figura uteri inaequalis, alibi angusta, oblonga, alibi lata, brevis: iuxta hanc varietatem varia quoque sortiri nomina debet. Nam uteri latitudo, infimo abdomini proxima, et in qua ovum iam absolutum continetur{;}<,> est ipsemet uterus{,}<;> reliquum vero corpus angustum, oblongum, rotundum, quod ad septum transversum extenditur, vel uteri stomachus, vel uterus productus, extensusve, vel uteri gula nuncupari posset. Est autem membranea, et tenuis, admodum diversa a reliquo utero protenso, et a substantia ipsius uteri, qui ad exitum iacet. Nam finis hic membraneus subtilis, et pellucidus existit, ac exanguis. Intestinum quoque uteri ratione figurae, et quantitatis cum longitudine rotunditatem cavernosam habeat, merito diceretur, cui accedit membranae occasio hanc uteri extensionem, vel productionem spinae colligantis, quod mesenterium uterinum appellamus. Intermedia pars uteri, quae est illius portio ab utero proprie dicto, finem interiacens crassam obtinet substantiam, albam, lacti similem, et [202] in semetipsam considentem, cuius {mesereon} <mesenterion> multiplices venas habet.

The shape of the oviduct is unequal, in one point narrow and oblong, elsewhere broad and short: depending on this variety - of shape - it must also receive various names. In fact the wide portion of the oviduct, very near the lowest part of the abdomen, and in which is held the egg already completed, is the uterus properly so-called; but the remaining narrow, oblong and round section, stretching toward the transverse septum, could be called or esophagus of the uterus, or lengthened as well as extended uterus, or throat of the uterus. Afterwards, it is membranous and thin, quite different from the remaining part of the uterus and from the substance of that part of the uterus which lies near the exit. For this final section is membranous, thin and diaphanous, and bloodless. Deservedly it could also be called intestine of the uterus as regards to its shape and extension, being that because of its length it has a hollow circumference, to which is adding the purchase of the membrane connecting this extension or prolongation of the uterus to the spine, a thing which I call mesentery of the uterus - dorsal ligament of the oviduct. The intermediate part of the oviduct - the magnum, which is located between the uterus properly so-called and its end - the upper extremity, has a substance thick, white, similar to milk, and settled in itself, and its mesentery has several veins.


201


[1] Per la struttura e le dimensioni dei vari tratti dell'apparato genitale della gallina secondo l'odierna terminologia anatomica si veda Summa Gallicana.