This organization of the seminal globule, which makes it correspond to a representative of the body, soul spirit to the parent, finds in the female ova a corresponding threefold organization, equally representative of the female constitution. And the semen of the male therefore unites and combines with the ovum of the female, in each one of these three constituent and representative forms, in more or less perfect harmony, according to the more or less perfect adaptability of the male parent to the female. And as in the mingling of different races, the stronger takes the lead and predominates in the offspring; so in the union of the seed of the different individuals, the stronger predominates in the moral, mental and physical characteristics impressed upon the child. Thus as the lower, more gross and material portion of the male semen meets its counterpart in the grosser organization of the ovum, with which it unites and which it vitalizes with its degree of life; so each of the other constituent forms of the semen necessarily unite with and inspire the corresponding representative organization of the ovum. The ovum then receive, cherishes and nourishes the vitality imparted to it by the male semen, and the living form which is the result of such reception partakes of the qualities of the ovum on the one part and of the semen on the other, even as these are but faithful representatives of the various qualities, whether orderly or disorderly, of the male and female individuals from which they spring.
And even as it was states in general at beginning of this chapter, that all sexual organs of the male were for giving, and all those of the female were for receiving; so here now it is particularly seen how the female ovum becomes receptive of the semen of the male. And at the moment of this vital reception, the entire female organism feels its influence, and prepares forthwith to provide for the protection, sustenance, growth and development of the new creation. This impregnation and fecundation of the ovum is called Conception. And this product of conception usually remains quite within the ovary for about space of five days. During this time the first initial stages of subtle and mysterious vital organization and growth are taking place. Processes too minutely recondite for successful exploration by the eye of man. Wonderful arcana or nature! in which, after all our profoundest scrutiny into the mystery of life, we can discern only the means and the ends, but not the manner. We see the minute, representative forms of two lives combined to produce a third, in which shall appear, during all the possible three-score years and ten of its subsequent life, the general characteristics of the human race as distinguished from that of other forms of animate nature; the general characteristics of the nation or tribe to which its progenitors belong; the characteristics of the family as distinguished from those of other families in the vicinity; and lastly the personal peculiarities of each of the immediate parents, all which are impressed upon the embryonic germ, grow with its growth, and strengthen with its strength..
During this time in which the fecundated ovum remains quiet in the ovary, the interior surface of the uterus is being prepared for its reception. Under the influence of the impetus imparted to the entire system by this event of conception, the mucous lining membrane of the uterus becomes deeply congested, as in spontaneous ovulation. But the dynamic change which conception produces in the whole system, prevents this congestion from passing off in the form of critical hemorrhage, as otherwise in menstruation, and the formation of the decidua results instead.
Thus by the time the fecundated ovum bursts through its original seat in the ovary and reaches the uterus, it finds prepared for it a thick, rich, soft vascular and velvety lining, quite different from that which is to be found in the unimpregnated uterus. This hypertrophied development of the mucous coat of the uterus; forms a sort of bed into which the impregnated ovule is received immediately upon its escape from the Fallopian tube. This which is the original mucous lining membrane of the uterus, forms what is termed the decidua vera. While the subsequent extension of the same growth, which completely envelopes the ovum, is called the decidua reflexa. The decidua thus constituted and developed form a sort of nidus or nutritious nest, in which the villi of the ovum take root, and from which the development of the ovum itself, already quite advanced, now progresses still more rapidly.
Here then will appear the contrast between spontaneous ovulation and that which occurs in connection with impregnation. In the former instance, the disengaged ovum passes from the ovary through the Fallopian tube, only to be swept away by the menstrual flood, which forms the crisis of the menstrual molimen. In the latter instance, the fecundated ovum, reposing for a few days in its original bed in the ovary, emerges at length from the ovary, and passes into the uterus to find, as the result of the uterine congestion attendant upon its escape from the ovary, the beautiful provision already described for its reception, under the name of decidua vera. Under the influence of the same congestion that attends this emergence of the ovum from the ovary, the Fallopian tubes become erect, and fix their fimbriated extremities upon the exact portion of the ovaries from which the ova are about to issue. The stimulus which arouses these tubes to their almost instinctive action, is to be found not in the orgasm of copulation, as is alleged by many authors, but in the reflex action of the emergence and escape of the ovum itself. The same reflex action of the first birth of the ovum; of its escape from the ovary, causes the exact and timely application of the fimbria of the Fallopian tubes to the ovaries; and, in the case of spontaneous ovulation, results only in the critical discharge of the menses, which relieves the uterine congestion; while in the case of impregnated ovulation, Conception, it ultimates itself in that congestion of the mucous membrane of the which forms the alma mater of the descending ovum.
Hitherto we have attempted to explain the nature of generation, or the reproduction of the species; the nature of the Semen of the Male and of the Ova of the Female, their representative character; the mode of their union in copulation; the results of that union, in Conception; and the natural history of the Product of Conception form its first development and brief stay in ovary, to its arrival at its more permanent but still temporary resting-pace in the uterus. There will be seen an analogy between the repose and primary growth of the impregnated ovum in the ovary, and its much longer residence and final development in the uterus. The first is the era of Conception, the latter is the period of Gestation, or Utero-Gestation, to which we now invite your attention.
GESTATION, that act of bearing the product of conception, strictly speaking, begins at the moment of conception. As already explained, during a very small portion of this period the fecundated ovum is still retained the ovary. But after a few days consumed in the vital organization of the ovum itself and in preparing the uterus for its reception, the ovum usually descends into the uterus through the Fallopian tube of that side. From this moment the general term gestation is replaced by the more particular one of utero gestation. The cases of the so-called extra-uterine pregnancy occur from the failure of the impregnated ova to be properly transmitted through the Fallopian tubes to the uterus. In such cases the ovum may increase in size and development, being nourished in a manner to be subsequently described, wherever it may finally be deposited, whether in the Fallopian tube, in the adjacent folds of the perineum, or even in the ovary itself.
The more general term of gestation will however continue to be used here, since it is more convenient, and more applicable in some respects, such as in speaking of its period, which, reckoning from its commencement at the moment of conception to its close at parturition, is two hundred and seventy days, or nine solar months. This period is however by no means invariable. For, not to speak in this place of those abortions, miscarriage and premature deliveries which are the results of accident or of disease more or less palpably developed, there are many instances recorded of persons who from some individual peculiarity have prolonged this period. While in other instances there seems to have been a disposition to shorten this period, independent of any apparent morbid condition. Generally speaking, the shorter the period of gestation, the less viability has the child after birth.
A already explained, conception always takes place within the ovary; and where the embryo, the product of conception, descends regularly into the uterus, and there becomes developed, it constitutes what is termed a good, normal or uterine pregnancy. But when it does not thus descend and become developed in the womb, if it remain and is developed in the ovary, if it fall into the cavity of the peritoneum, stop in the Fallopian tube, or become engaged in the substance of the womb itself, it forms a bad, extraordinary or extrauterine pregnancy.
