Studies in the Psychology of Sex Volume V Part 15

[151]

Blumenbach, Anthropological Treatises, p. 248.

[152]

Bierent, La p.u.b.erte, p. 148.

[153]

Venturi, Degenerazioni Psico-sessuali, pp. 408-410.

[154]

Anatomy of Melancholy, Part III, Section II, Mem. II, Sub. II.

[155]

British Gynaecological Journal, February, 1887, p. 505.

[156]

Power, Lancet, November 26, 1887.

[157]

With regard to the s.e.xual relationships of personal odor, see the previous volume of these Studies, "s.e.xual Selection in Man," section on Smell.

[158]

In European folk-lore thick lips in a woman are sometimes regarded as a sign of sensuality, ???pt?d?a, vol. ii, p, 258.

[159]

The direct dependence of s.e.xual pigmentation on the primary s.e.xual glands is well ill.u.s.trated by a true hermaphroditic adult finch exhibited at the Academy of Sciences of Amsterdam (May 31, 1890); this bird had a testis on the right side and an ovary on the left, and on the right side its plumage was of the male's colors, on the left of the female's color.

[160]

See. e.g., Papillault, Bulletin Societe d'Anthropologie, 1899, p. 446.

[161]

Guinard, Art. "Castration," Richet's Dictionnaire de Physiologie.

[162]

J. Whitridge Williams, Obstetrics, 1903, p. 132.

[163]

Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, 1878, p. 19.

[164]

C. Pitre, Medicina Populare Siciliana, p. 47. In England, from notes sent to me by one correspondent, it would appear that the proportion of dark and s.e.xually apt women to fair and s.e.xually apt women is as 3 to 1. The experience of others would doubtless give varying results, and in any case the fallacies are numerous. See, in the previous volume of these Studies, "s.e.xual Selection in Man," Section IV.

[165]

In j.a.pan the same belief would appear to be held. In a nude figure representing the typical voluptuous woman by the j.a.panese painter Marugama Okio (reproduced in Ploss's Das Weib) the pubic and axillary hair is profuse, though usually spa.r.s.e in j.a.pan.

[166]

Centralblatt fur Gynakologie, No. 9, 1896.

[167]

It is important to remember that there is little correlation in this matter between the hair of the head and the s.e.xual hair, if not a certain opposition. (See ante, p. 127.) According to one of the aphorisms of Hippocrates, repeated by Buffon, eunuchs do not become bald, and Aristotle seems to have believed that s.e.xual intercourse is a cause of baldness in men. (Layc.o.c.k, Nervous Diseases of Women, p. 23.)

[168]

For some of the evidence on this point, see Havelock Ellis, "The Comparative Abilities of the Fair and the Dark," Monthly Review, August, 1901; cf. id., A Study of British Genius, Chapter X.

THE PSYCHIC STATE IN PREGNANCY.

The Relationship of Maternal and s.e.xual Emotion-Conception and Loss of Virginity-The Anciently Accepted Signs of This Condition-The Pervading Effects of Pregnancy on the Organism-Pigmentation-The Blood and Circulation-The Thyroid-Changes in the Nervous System-The Vomiting of Pregnancy-The Longings of Pregnant Women-Maternal Impressions-Evidence for and Against Their Validity-The Question Still Open-Imperfection of Our Knowledge-The Significance of Pregnancy.

In a.n.a.lyzing the s.e.xual impulse I have so far deliberately kept out of view the maternal instinct. This is necessary, for the maternal instinct is specific and distinct; it is directed to an aim which, however intimately a.s.sociated it may be with that of the s.e.xual impulse proper, can by no means be confounded with it. Yet the emotion of love, as it has finally developed in the world, is not purely of s.e.xual origin; it is partly s.e.xual, but it is also partly parental.[169]

In so far as it is parental it is certainly mainly maternal. There is a drawing by Bronzino in the Louvre of a woman's head gazing tenderly down at some invisible object; is it her child or her lover? Doubtless her child, yet the expression is equally adequate to the emotion evoked by a lover. If we were here specifically dealing with the emotion of love as a complex whole, and not with the psychology of the s.e.xual impulse, it would certainly be necessary to discuss the maternal instinct and its a.s.sociated emotions. In any case it seems desirable to touch on the psychic state of pregnancy, for we are here concerned not only with emotions very closely connected with the s.e.xual emotions in the narrower sense, but we here at last approach that state which it is the object of the whole s.e.xual process to achieve.

In civilized life a period of weeks, months, even years, may elapse between the establishment of s.e.xual relations and the occurrence of conception. Under primitive conditions the loss of the virginal condition practically involves the pregnant condition, so that under primitive conditions very little allowance is made for the state, so common among civilized peoples, of the woman who is no longer a virgin, yet not about to become a mother.

There is some interest in noting the signs of loss of virginity chiefly relied upon by ancient authors. In doing this it is convenient to follow mainly the full summary of authorities given by Schurig in his Barthenologia early in the eighteenth century. The ancient custom, known in cla.s.sic times, of measuring the neck the day 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 circ.u.mference 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 s.e.xual excitement. (Parthenologia, p. 283; Bierent, La p.u.b.erte, 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 p.e.n.i.s 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 s.e.xual 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 s.e.xual conditions. (Parthenologia, p. 286; Marro, La p.u.b.erte, 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, "s.e.xual 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 repeated coitus, some authors add, that the pubic hairs become crisp. Some recent observers, it may be remarked, have noted a connection between s.e.xual excitation and the condition of the pubic hair in women. (Cf. the present volume, ante p. 127.)

A sign to which the old authors often attached much importance was furnished by the urinary stream. In the De Secretis Mulierum, wrongly attributed to Albertus Magnus, it is laid down that "the virgin urinates higher than the woman." Riolan, in his Anthropographia, discussing the ability of virgins to e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.e urine to a height, states that Scaliger had observed women who were virgins emit urine in a high jet against a wall, but that married women could seldom do this. Bouaciolus also stated that the urine of virgins is emitted in a small stream to a distance with an acute hissing sound. (Parthenologia, p. 281.) A folk-lore belief in the reality of this influence is evidenced by the Picardy conte referred to already (ante, p. 53), "La Princesse qui p.i.s.se au dessus les Meules." There is no doubt a tendency for the various stresses of s.e.xual life to produce an influence in this direction, though they act far too slowly and uncertainly to be a reliable index to the presence or the absence of virginity.

Another common ancient test of virginity by urination rests on a psychic basis, and appears in a variety of forms which are really all reducible to the same principle. Thus we are told in De Secretis Mulierum that to ascertain if a girl is seduced she should be given to eat of powdered crocus flowers, and if she has been seduced she immediately urinates. We are here concerned with auto-suggestion, and it may well be believed that with nervous and credulous girls this test often revealed the truth.

A further test of virginity discussed by Schurig is the presence of modesty of countenance. If a woman blushes her virtue is safe. In this way girls who have themselves had experience of the marriage bed are said to detect the virgin. The virgin's eyes are cast down and almost motionless, while she who has known a man has eyes that are bright and quick. But this sign is equivocal, says Schurig, for girls are different, and can simulate the modesty they do not feel. Yet this indication also rests on a fundamentally sound psychological basis. (See "The Evolution of Modesty," in the first volume of these Studies.)

In his Syllepsilogia (Section V, cap. I-II), published in 1731, Schurig discusses further the anciently recognized signs of pregnancy. The real or imaginary signs of pregnancy sought by various primitive peoples of the past and present are brought together by Ploss and Bartels, Das Weib, bd. i, Chapter XXVII.

Both physically and psychically the occurrence of pregnancy is, however, a distinct event. It marks the beginning of a continuous physical process, which cannot fail to manifest psychic reactions. A great center of vital activity-practically a new center, for only the germinal form of it in menstruation had previously existed-has appeared and affects the whole organism. "From the moment that the embryo takes possession of the woman," Robert Barnes puts it, "every drop of blood, every fiber, every organ, is affected."[170]

A woman artist once observed to Dr. Stratz, that as the final aim of a woman is to become a mother and pregnancy is thus her blossoming time, a beautiful woman ought to be most beautiful when she is pregnant. That is so, Stratz replied, if her moment of greatest physical perfection corresponds with the early months of pregnancy, for with the beginning of pregnancy metabolism is increased, the color of the skin becomes more lively and delicate, the b.r.e.a.s.t.s firmer.[171] Pregnancy may, indeed, often become visible soon after conception by the brighter eye, the livelier glance, resulting from greater vascular activity, though later, with the increase of strain, the face may tend to become somewhat thin and distorted. The hair, Barnes states, a.s.sumes a new vigor, even though it may have been falling out before. The temperature rises; the weight increases, even apart from the growth of the ftus. The efflorescence of pregnancy shows itself, as in the blossoming and fecundated flower, by increased pigmentation.[172] The nipples with their areolae, and the mid-line of the belly, become darker; brown flecks (lentigo) tend to appear on the forehead, neck, arms, and body; while striae-at first blue-red, then a brilliant white-appear on the belly and thighs, though these are scarcely normal, for they are not seen in women with very elastic skins and are rare among peasants and savages.[173] The whole carriage of the woman tends to become changed with the development of the mighty seed of man planted within her; it simulates the carriage of pride with the arched back and protruded abdomen.[174] The pregnant woman has been lifted above the level of ordinary humanity to become the casket of an inestimable jewel.

It is in the blood and the circulation that the earliest of the most prominent symptoms of pregnancy are to be found. The ever increasing development of this new focus of vascular activity involves an increased vascular activity in the whole organism. This activity is present almost from the first-a few days after the impregnation of the ovum-in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and quickly becomes obvious to inspection and palpation. Before a quite pa.s.sive organ, the breast now rapidly increases in activity of circulation and in size, while certain characteristic changes begin to take place around the nipples.[175] As a result of the additional work imposed upon it the heart tends to become slightly hypertrophied in order to meet the additional strain; there may be some dilatation also.[176]

The recent investigations of Stengel and Stanton tend to show that the increase of the heart's work during pregnancy is less considerable than has generally been supposed, and that beyond some enlargement and dilatation of the right ventricle there is not usually any hypertrophy of the heart.

The total quant.i.ty of blood is raised. While increased in quant.i.ty, the blood appears on the whole to be somewhat depreciated in quality, though on this point there are considerable differences of opinion. Thus, as regards haemoglobin, some investigators have found that the old idea as to the poverty of haemoglobin in pregnancy is quite unfounded; a few have even found that the haemoglobin is increased. Most authorities have found the red cells diminished, though some only slightly, while the white cells, and also the fibrin, are increased. But toward the end of pregnancy there is a tendency, perhaps due to the establishment of compensation, for the blood to revert to the normal condition.[177]

It would appear probable, however, that the vascular phenomena of pregnancy are not altogether so simple as the above statement would imply. The activity of various glands at this time-well ill.u.s.trated by the marked salivation which sometimes occurs-indicates that other modifying forces are at work, and it has been suggested that the changes in the maternal circulation during pregnancy may best be explained by the theory that there are two opposing kinds of secretion poured into the blood in unusual degree during pregnancy: one contracting the vessels, the other dilating them, one or the other sometimes gaining the upper hand. Suprarenal extract, when administered, has a vaso-constricting influence, and thyroid extract a vasodilating influence; it may be surmised that within the body these glands perform similar functions.[178]

The important part played by the thyroid gland is indicated by its marked activity at the very beginning of pregnancy. We may probably a.s.sociate the general tendency to vasodilatation during early pregnancy with the tendency to goitre; Freund found an increase of the thyroid in 45 per cent. of 50 cases. The thyroid belongs to the same cla.s.s of ductless glands as the ovary, and, as Bland Sutton and others have insisted, the a.n.a.logies between the thyroid and the ovary are very numerous and significant. It may be added that in recent years Armand Gautier has noted the importance of the thyroid in elaborating nucleo-proteids containing a.r.s.enic and iodine, which are poured into the circulation during menstruation and pregnancy. The whole metabolism of the body is indeed affected, and during the latter part of pregnancy study of the ingesta and egesta has shown that a storage of nitrogen and even of water is taking place.[179] The woman, as Pinard puts it, forms the child out of her own flesh, not merely out of her food; the individual is being sacrificed to the species.

The changes in the nervous system of the pregnant woman correspond to those in the vascular system. There is the same increase of activity, a heightening of tension. Bruno Wolff, from experiments on b.i.t.c.hes, concluded that the central nervous system in women is probably more easily excited in the pregnant than in the non-pregnant state, though he was not prepared to call this cerebral excitability "specific."[180] Direct observations on pregnant women have shown, without doubt, a heightened nervous irritability. Reflex action generally is increased. Neumann investigated the knee-jerk in 500 women during pregnancy, labor, and the puerperium, and in a large number found that there was a progressive exaggeration with the advance of pregnancy, little or no change being observed in the early months; sometimes when no change was observed during pregnancy the knee-jerk still increased during labor, reaching its maximum at the moment of the expulsion of the ftus; the return to the normal condition took place gradually during the puerperium. Tridandani found in pregnant women that though the superficial reflexes, with the exception of the abdominal, were diminished, the deep and tendon reflexes were markedly increased, especially that of the knee, these changes being more marked in primiparae than in multiparae, and more p.r.o.nounced as pregnancy advanced, the normal condition returning with ten days after labor. Electrical excitability was sensibly diminished.[181]

One of the first signs of high nervous tension is vomiting. As is well known, this phenomenon commonly appears early in pregnancy, and it is by many considered entirely physiological. Barnes regards it as a kind of safety valve, a regulating function, letting off excessive tension and maintaining equilibrium.[182] Vomiting is, however, a convulsion, and is thus the simplest form of a kind of manifestation-to which the heightened nervous tension of pregnancy easily lends itself-that finds its extreme pathological form in eclampsia. In this connection it is of interest to point out that the pregnant woman here manifests in the highest degree a tendency which is marked in women generally, for the female s.e.x, apart altogether from pregnancy, is specially liable to convulsive phenomena.[183]