Question One: Concerning the Genital Organs and Generation — Physiological Notions

I. The principal genital organs of the man are:

A. External: 1. The two testicles (teelballen, zaadklieren, seminal glands): they are two glands, or "two ovoid little bodies which, hidden within their covering or scrotum (balzak, bourse), protrude beneath the lower body and hang outside the trunk. They have obtained their name testes because they bear witness to virility."¹ In the testicles the zoosperms (spermatozoides, levenskiemen, zaaddraden) are elaborated, which seem to consist, as it were, of a head and a tail and to move after the manner of animals; nevertheless they are not regarded as animals, but merely as cells, because no sensitive life has thus far been discerned in them.² These are the masculine element essential to generation. They are mixed in a fluid which is produced from the same testicles and which can be ejaculated together with the zoosperms. But in order that it may be ejaculated and flow more easily, in its passage there is mixed with it a fluid which is secreted from various interior glands: thus a mixed liquid of white color and oily odor is obtained, perfectly suited for ejaculation. Such ejaculation is called pollution. The fluid elaborated by the testicles is called semen or sperm. When the semen is mixed with zoosperms, it is perfect semen, apt for generation: the zoosperms are the essential element of the semen.³

¹ Eschbach, cited work, diss. I, ch. 2, art. 2.

² They are about 50/1000 millimeters in length: the head has 5/1000 millimeters; the segment or body 6/1000, and the tail 40/1000 millimeters.

³ Not only spermata are produced by these testicles, but they are at the same time sources of internal secretion, which is mixed with the blood, and to which are attributed the signs of virility (beard, hair in the pubic region, masculine voice) and the power of nourishing sensual appetite. Vermeersch, De Castitate, n. 7.

2. The virile member, or rod (roede, verge: ordinarily about 9 cm. long in repose, about 15 cm. in erection): it is the organ destined for intromission into the genital organ of the woman and for depositing the semen there; beneath it is the urethra, or canal, which emits both sperm and urine.⁴ When it is filled with blood, the virile member is erected; and then, before the expulsion of semen, there is customarily produced and slightly emitted, from the glands which flow into the virile member, a thinner fluid. This effusion is called distillation by theologians.⁵ The extreme part of the member is occupied by the glans (eikel, gland), very excitable, which is covered by the prepuce (voorhuid), the extreme little skin of which the Jews used to cut away: this glans is the principal seat of venereal pleasure.

⁴ "Yet not in such a way that they are mixed. For, while the erection of the rod and the ardor of ejaculation continue, the urinary bladder, on account of the contraction of the smooth muscle of the urethra, is so closed that urine cannot go forth from the urinary bladder and be mixed with the sperm." Piscetta and Gennaro, Elementa Theologiae moralis, VII, p. 5.

⁵ In men, therefore, theologians distinguish pollution and distillation, because there is a twofold emission of diverse nature. The first is of the fluid mixed with zoosperms, thicker and denser. "In pollution the effusion of humor is more copious and joined with a great commotion and pleasure of the genitals; in distillation, on the contrary, the effusion of humor is often slight and occurs almost drop by drop, and ordinarily with only a slight commotion and pleasure, or scarcely any that is perceived." Noldin, cited work, n. 40. This humor, moreover, is of a thinner nature and without special color or odor.

B. Internal: 1. The two deferent canals (vasa deferentia, zaadleiders, 40-50 cm. long), which have their beginning from the testicles and, by a long circuit, flow into the urethra as ejaculatory canals.

2. The two seminal vesicles (zaadblaasjes), which are one among the various organs of a certain secretion. The deferent canals pass by them; hence zoosperms are often found in them, and these remain there for some time. From this they received their name, seminal vesicles, as if they were receptacles of the zoosperms.

II. The principal genital organs of the woman are:

A. External: 1. The external pudendum (schaamspleet), by which name is meant the complex of exterior parts, of which the principal are: the large lips (schaamlippen), or the two folds of the exterior skin; the small lips, or two smaller folds situated between the large lips; the clitoral organ (kittelaar), or a very small organ analogous to the virile member, without a urethra, 1-2 cm.,⁶ which is situated at the summit between the small lips, is pleasurably erected, and is an instrument of pleasure; the urinary meatus, or opening placed beneath the clitoral organ, through which urine is emitted; and so forth.

⁶ Sometimes it appears greatly developed, 6-7 cm., and then certain women abuse it, approaching others after the manner of a man. This is one of the forms of the sin of sodomy.

2. The female genital canal (scheede: ordinarily about 7-9 cm. long in front, 8-10 behind), which is found beneath the clitoral organ and urinary meatus, in the middle between the small lips. It is a canal of cylindrical form leading from the exterior part to the interior, and is the receptive organ destined for receiving the virile member, the due vessel; through it also the monthly blood is emitted and the fetus comes forth; hence it is flaccid and very extensible. Its mouth in virgins is regularly covered by a membrane, the hymen, the seal of virginity (maagdenvlies), which usually imitates the figure of a half moon, so that it does not close the whole mouth. In the heat of concupiscence the female genital canal emits, rarely outwardly, rather into the cavity of the uterus, a fluid similar to that which men emit in distillation; this is rightly called distillation, or also feminine pollution, while the ancients called it the seed of the woman. Erroneously, however: for although it renders copulation more suitable and the intromission of the man easier, nevertheless it in no way directly serves generation.

3. To these may be added the breasts or paps, which are destined not for generation itself but for producing and giving milk.

B. Internal: 1. The uterus or womb⁷ (baarmoeder), which communicates with the female genital canal and is destined to contain the fetus.

⁷ The ordinary dimensions in the normal state differ from virgins to multiparas, namely from about 60 mm. to 68 mm. in length, and from 38 to 43 mm. in breadth.

2. The ovaries (eierstokken, eiklieren): these are two glands to the right and to the left of the uterus, by which the ova, 200/1000 mm., are produced. The ova are the feminine element essential to generation.

3. The oviducts, or tubes (eileiders, 10-12 cm. long), which are two canals which communicate with the uterus and through which the eggs descend into it.

In the woman there are three principal seats of pleasure: first and chiefly the clitoral organ; secondly, the female genital canal as far as the uterus; thirdly, the mammary papillae of the breasts, the excitation of which carries with it an excitation, even a vehement one, of the genital organs. Hence, although by nature modesty is greater in the woman, by which she is drawn back from lust, nevertheless venereal satisfaction is greater; and therefore, after a woman has become lustful, she is often more prone to libido than the man.

III. The evolution of the genital organs.

In the fetus before the end of the third month the sex cannot be sufficiently distinguished, but the external genitals appear the same. Hence it is already understood that the opinion of Aristotle, whom many scholastics followed, is false, according to which the male fetus is animated after 40 days, the female after 80 days; for at this time the distinction of the sexes does not yet sufficiently appear. From the middle of the third month a certain point or genital tubercle is seen, which indicates the external organ, between two folds of skin which are divided below by a middle furrow. Already a little earlier there are two small internal glands, which in the course of the third month begin slowly to evolve and become ovaries in the female, testicles in the male. For these, before birth, are hidden in the abdomen in the lumbar region beneath the kidneys, and from birth they descend into the scrotum; yet it sometimes happens that one or both do not descend, and then one remains rudimentary: ectopia, displacement. But as the fourth month begins, the distinction of the sexes begins to appear in the external organ: in the male, the upper part or point increases greatly and evolves into the virile member, while in the female it remains small and becomes the clitoral organ; the lower part, or folds, in the male increase and are joined so that the scrotum may be formed; in the female they are more absorbed, and thus become the lips of the external pudendum.

From the time of puberty the organs begin to become apt for generation. The testicles begin to produce semen, and also internal secretion and zoosperms, although the semen is not immediately accustomed to be prolific. In our regions this time generally runs from the thirteenth or fourteenth to the sixteenth year; the elaboration of semen, once begun, of itself perseveres through the whole of life, even in old age, although then it does not always remain prolific.

Puberty in the female exists from the time of ovulation, which is customarily revealed by the menstrual flow, following the separation of a mature ovum, the lunar month being 28 days. This is a flow of blood which women suffer each month from the time of puberty, among us from the twelfth or thirteenth to the fifteenth year, up to about the fiftieth year: for each month in the ovaries an egg matures, at least one, which, having been separated from the ovaries, is carried into the uterus of the woman. At the same time the interior parts of the uterus are filled with blood, so that, if conception occurs, blood may be supplied for the evolution of the fetus. But if the egg has not been fertilized, the blood, and with the blood the egg, flows out through the female genital canal at a later time. This flow is called menstruation (regles, lunes, menstrues, stonden, maandstonden) and ordinarily lasts for two or three days, sometimes for more. Sometimes the health of the woman requires that the menstrual flow be provoked or checked by art, that is, by means of medicines. But from the age of about 45-50 years, ovulation and the flow of blood cease, and a little afterward the woman is no longer apt for generation but becomes sterile; this is called the age of return, or menopause (retour d'age, age critique, kritische tijd, de jaren, de keerjaren, de slechte jaren).⁸

⁸ Similarly, removal of the ovaries suppresses the flow of blood; likewise fertilization, and sometimes lactation.

At the time of puberty the breasts also develop in the female, so that they are able to produce milk; in the man they remain in a rudimentary state.

IV. Carnal copulation and fertilization. The essential elements of fertilization are the virile sperm, in which the zoosperms are contained, and the feminine ovum. Fertilization requires that some zoosperm enter the ovum before, having been separated from the ovary, it arrives through the oviduct into the uterus. To obtain this there is required the physical conjunction of man and woman, or carnal copulation (copula, coitus, paring), by which the man introduces the erect virile member into the woman's genital canal, so that in the very heat of the flesh he may emit and pour out the semen there. This copulation, in order that of itself it may be apt for generation, comprises:

1. the erection of the virile member, by which it is enlarged and made rigid;
2. its introduction into, and intromission within, the woman's genital canal, whence the man must injure and tear the seal of virginity in a virgin, which, once torn, does not return: the defloration of the virgin;
3. in the same place, in the heat of the flesh, the agitation and contraction of the virile member and the effusion of semen. To this in the woman, from the heat of concupiscence, there corresponds abundant distillation and contraction of the female genital canal; but these two are not necessary for generation.

The zoosperms, introduced into the female genital canal, swim in the semen and move themselves by vital motion so as to tend toward the interior parts of the female genital canal and uterus; and the uterus, as if by sucking, draws the spermatic fluid, thus seconding the motion of the zoosperms. Opposite this, the ovum separated from the ovaries descends through the oviduct. The progress of the ovum is slow, 7-8 days or more; on the other hand the motion of the zoosperms is relatively rapid, so that within the space of a few hours they enter the oviduct, where they can live for several days, 7-8 or more, and await the ovum.⁹ But if one zoosperm reaches the mature ovum, it will enter it, and from the conjunction of both fertilization and generation will occur. From the head of the zoosperm and the nucleus, or germinal vesicle, of the egg, there will be made one new cell, surrounded by the radiated protoplasm of the egg, which is the origin of the whole new living being.¹⁰

⁹ Therefore fertilization does not occur immediately after copulation, since the zoosperms can live for several days in the living body of the woman. Even after death they still move for one and a half to two days. At a temperature of 38-40 degrees they show themselves more lively; at a temperature of 20 degrees they appear without motion. They are killed by cold water; they are slain by electric lightning. Alkaline fluids favor their motion; acids harm them.

¹⁰ Hence the doctrine of many Scholastics, among whom is Saint Thomas, can no longer be sustained, who asserted that the feminine element in generation is merely passive. For although the masculine element actively provokes and determines the transformation of the ovum and conception, and the feminine element passively undergoes that transformation, though it seems to concur actively to some extent by attracting the head of the zoosperm, nevertheless each concurs actively in the same way toward the formation of the new being, namely by its own vital powers.

And so, by carnal conjunction, the man and woman have truly been made one from two: they have brought about one action by two similar parts, just as, so to speak, one organ is composed from each body. Namely, they constitute one principle of generation and one flesh.¹¹ By reason of the carnal commingling, not only does the member of one become the member of the other, but they are truly one flesh: the man has deposited something of himself in the woman, and the woman has made that semen her own; and the semen, which is something of the man, has now come into the possession of the woman's uterus. Thus marriage is truly and absolutely consummated.

¹¹ "They shall be two in one flesh, that is, through carnal mingling they are made one flesh; and thus the members of one become the members of the other ... from two there is made one principle in the act of generation." Saint Thomas, In I ad Cor. VI, 16. Likewise Cajetan: "in one perfect and just, that is, legitimate, principle of carnal generation." Cf. Vermeersch, cited work, p. 13. Some have erroneously understood carnal commingling as mingling with menstrual blood: for even if there is no menstruation, nevertheless by copulation marriage is consummated.

But if, after copulation, the zoosperms enter the ovum, they will be one flesh not only in the act of marriage, but also in its effect, in the new flesh composed from them. And thus a perfectly consummated marriage becomes still more fully consummated.¹²

¹² For then there will be the strictest commingling of flesh or of the elements serving generation, namely of semen and ovum.

But it should be noted that generation can strictly occur without intromission into the female genital canal, and that it suffices that the man deposit the semen at the mouth of the female genital canal, which then, by vital motion and by the attraction of the female genital canal, can enter. But in this way fertilization can occur only very rarely and accidentally; hence it does not suffice for copulation as nature instituted it, and men who are able to accomplish only this, and cannot effect intromission into the female genital canal, are impotent for completing copulation and for contracting marriage. A fortiori, artificial fertilization does not suffice for copulation, by which semen previously emitted is introduced by some art into the female genital canal or uterus; this, moreover, is gravely illicit.¹³

¹³ In the decree of the Holy Office, 24 March 1897, the matter concerns artificial fertilization properly so called. It would be otherwise if, after copulation had been duly performed and the semen deposited not indeed at the mouth but in the entrance of the female genital canal, it were gathered there, without being drawn out of the female genital canal, and by means of a little syringe carried more deeply toward the uterus. For in this way at no moment would the semen be deprived of its ordination toward the end of generation; hence this would not seem to be anything but assisting nature.

V. Impotence and sterility. The impotence of coeundi, or of copulating, is one thing; the impotence of generating is another. The former dirimently impedes marriage, which consists in the mutual handing over of bodies in order to carnal copulation, and therefore has as its immediate end copulation itself: this is impotence with respect to marriage itself. The latter, the impotence of generating, does not impede marriage itself, but only the further principal end for which marriage was instituted: this is not impotence of marriage, but only its sterility.

In other words: the primary end of the institution of marriage is one thing, and is generation; and the end of the thing instituted, or of marriage itself, is another, and is copulation of itself apt for generation. If this immediate end is attained, the thing itself is valid, even if by accident it is impossible that the further end, or primary end of the institution, be attained. But carnal copulation of itself apt for generation is essentially the act by which, through intromission of the virile member into the female genital canal, virile semen is emitted and deposited there. Hence whatever renders that copulation impossible, absolutely or relatively, constitutes the impediment of impotence; whatever does not impede copulation, but only generation, is not impotence, but only sterility. Hence:

A. Impotence (onvermogen) is present whenever there are not organs ready for carnal copulation, or when, though the organ remains, copulation is nevertheless impossible. It is absolute or relative according as it is toward every person or toward only some person. Hence:

1. In the man impotence is: a) absence of the virile member; b) defect of both testicles, or their perfect contusion or atrophy;¹⁴ c) double vasectomy, or resection of both deferent canals; d) disproportion of the virile member; e) hypospadia¹⁵ and epispadia, by which the meatus opens not at the extremity but in the middle of the virile member, whether on the lower part or on the upper part, so that the semen cannot be poured into the female genital canal; f) aphrodisia, or excessive heat, by which, from exaggerated excitation, the semen is lost before copulation; and anaphrodisia, or excessive frigidity, by which erection of the virile member and expulsion of semen are impeded.

¹⁴ Those who lack both testicles are called eunuchs; cf. Mt. XIX, 10 sq. Some are spadones, who are born thus; others are castrated, who by human art have been deprived of the testicles or even of the virile member itself. "A spado, or one who is born a eunuch, and one who was castrated as an infant, is incapable of true copulation; those deprived of both testes in adult age remain capable of copulation for some time, but generally through a more or less ample interval afterward they can no longer exercise copulation itself. Those deprived of the testes are deprived of the internal secretion by which the energy of copulating with effusion is nourished, so that they are destitute of satiative copulation with effusion, and then of the faculty of copulation." Thus Vermeersch, cited work, n. 60 and 84.

¹⁵ De Smet, De Matrimonio, n. 551, note 4, notes that that defect is sometimes cured by a mere change of position in copulating.

The first three make impotence absolute; the fifth and sixth make it relative; the fourth makes either one. The sixth ordinarily does not render one perpetually impotent; concerning the third it is disputed whether potency can be restored.

2. In the woman impotence is: a) defect of the female genital canal or of an opening in it, so that it cannot be perforated at all; b) excessive narrowness; c) vaginismus, by which, from excessive excitation, the external pudendum is closed, cannot endure intromission, and impedes copulation.

In the first case there is absolute impotence; in the second, relative; in the third, either one, and not always perpetual.

B. Sterility (onvruchtbaarheid) 1. in the man is the absence of prolific semen because, on account of an accidental and transient cause or an obstruction, the semen here and now is destitute of zoosperms, or because, on account of disease of the testicles, the seminal vesicle, the urethra, and so forth, the zoosperms are not sufficiently lively, or perish too quickly, or lack a necessary element, or are not apt to enter the ovum.

2. In the woman it is: a) perfect excision of both ovaries or perfect atrophy of them, so that no ovum is present; b) a vice or disturbance of the organ by which the ovum cannot mature; c) an impediment by which, whether naturally or artificially, for example from ligation of the oviduct or excision of the uterus, no conjunction of ovum and sperm is possible.

From these things one already understands that about which there was so much dispute: why absence of the testicles or of the emission of semen in the man is impotence, while absence of the ovaries or of the ovum in the woman is not.¹⁶ Namely, because the emission of semen is of the essence of copulation of itself apt for generation, whereas the ovum is not an essential element of copulation, but only of generation.

¹⁶ Thus the Holy Office, 3 February 1887; 23 July 1890; 31 July 1895; Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, 2 April 1909. Cf. Vermeersch, who maintains that this is the legitimate sense of the responses, and replies to adversaries, cited work, p. 53-55.

VI. Observation. From the preceding it is clear that both zoosperms and ova are living cells, endowed with their own vital principle, and not animated by a human soul; hence in no way can they be regarded as parts or organs of the body of the man or woman, although they are located in the body. This is very much to be noted for avoiding the false and depraved consequences of certain persons.