AND, in short, I humbly pray, that HE may (out of his infinite _Goodness_ and _Mercy_) always enable ME, according to my best Inclinations, faithfully to perform these good _Offices_, which I know to be so much my indispensible and incumbent _Duty_, in that _STATION_, his All-wise _Providence_ hath allotted me, as to the Affairs of LIFE.
WHENCE I come, in the next Place, by due Order, to treat particularly of the _Contents_ of the preceding _Chapter_; and, _First_, to set forth an _Anatomical Description_ of the several PARTS of _Generation_ in manner following.
CHAP. V. _Of the External Parts of GENERATION._
THESE _Parts_ are generally so well known, that I would not so much as mention them, out of _Modesty_, were it not, that, I presume, the _young MIDWIFE_ may find something in the ensuing _Description_ worth her singular _Notice_; which however, I shall not so much insist upon: But succinctly——
BEGINNING with the _First_, call’d the VULVA or PUDENDUM; we find it situated below the OS PUBIS, having a great _Chink_ or _Fissure_ in the _Middle_, as it has the FRÆNULUM and PERINÆUM in the _lower Part_. And above the _Chink_ there is a little _Protuberance_ occasioned by _Fat_ under the Skin, call’d MONS VENERIS.
THE two LABIA VULVÆ being a little separated, the NYMPHÆ appear, join’d one to each interior Side of them: _They_ are two small Pieces of red _Membranous Flesh_, much resembling _Pullet’s Gills_: _They_ encrease the Pleasure of _Copulation_, and direct the Course of the _Urine_.
IN the upper Part of the _Chink_, next to the OS PUBIS, are several little round _Substances_; which the most ingenious _Fallopius_ call’d the CLITORIS, almost hid under the _Skin_ denominated the PRÆPUTIUM.
A little deeper, or straight below the CLITORIS, is the URETHRA, or _Orifice_ of the Neck of the Bladder; being a little _Hole_ as big as a _Goose-Quill_; which discovers itself by a small Eminence, and is about two _Inches long_.
BETWIXT the _Muscle_, call’d SPHINCTER URETHRÆ, and the inner _Membrane_ of the VAGINA, are several small _Glands_; whose excretory _Ducts_ are the _Holes_ observable about the _URETHRA_, call’d[153]_LACUNÆ GRAFFI_; which discharge a _Liquor_ for lubricating or making the VAGINA slippery, and encreasing the _Venereal Titillation_.