Aristotle

by Various Works [lit]

  nature it should be a mass of sanguineous liquid, and (3) since that

  which Nature endows with a smaller portion of heat is weaker, and

  (4) since it has already been stated that such is the character of the

  female- putting all these considerations together we see that the

  sanguineous matter discharged by the female is also a secretion. And

  such is the discharge of the so-called catamenia.

  It is plain, then, that the catamenia are a secretion, and that they

  are analogous in females to the semen in males. The circumstances

  connected with them are evidence that this view is correct. For the

  semen begins to appear in males and to be emitted at the same time

  of life that the catamenia begin to flow in females, and that they

  change their voice and their breasts begin to develop. So, too, in the

  decline of life the generative power fails in the one sex and the

  catamenia in the other.

  The following signs also indicate that this discharge in females

  is a secretion. Generally speaking women suffer neither from

  haemorrhoids nor bleeding at the nose nor anything else of the sort

  except when the catamenia are ceasing, and if anything of the kind

  occurs the flow is interfered with because the discharge is diverted

  to it.

  Further, the blood-vessels of women stand out less than those of

  men, and women are rounder and smoother because the secretion which in

  men goes to these vessels is drained away with the catamenia. We

  must suppose, too, that the same cause accounts for the fact that

  the bulk of the body is smaller in females than in males among the

  vivipara, since this is the only class in which the catamenia are

  discharged from the body. And in this class the fact is clearest in

  women, for the discharge is greater in women than in the other

  animals. Wherefore her pallor and the absence of prominent

  blood-vessels is most conspicuous, and the deficient development of

  her body compared with a man's is obvious.

  Now since this is what corresponds in the female to the semen in the

  male, and since it is not possible that two such discharges should

  be found together, it is plain that the female does not contribute

  semen to the generation of the offspring. For if she had semen she

  would not have the catamenia; but, as it is, because she has the

  latter she has not the former.

  It has been stated then that the catamenia are a secretion as the

  semen is, and confirmation of this view may be drawn from some of

  the phenomena of animals. For fat creatures produce less semen than

  lean ones, as observed before. The reason is that fat also, like

  semen, is a secretion, is in fact concocted blood, only not

  concocted in the same way as the semen. Thus, if the secretion is

  consumed to form fat the semen is naturally deficient. And so among

  the bloodless animals the cephalopoda and crustacea are in best

  condition about the time of producing eggs, for, because they are

  bloodless and no fat is formed in them, that which is analogous in

  them to fat is at that season drawn off to form the spermatic

  secretion.

  And a proof that the female does not emit similar semen to the male,

  and that the offspring is not formed by a mixture of both, as some

  say, is that often the female conceives without the sensation of

  pleasure in intercourse, and if again the pleasure is experience by

  her no less than by the male and the two sexes reach their goal

  together, yet often no conception takes place unless the liquid of the

  so-called catamenia is present in a right proportion. Hence the female

  does not produce young if the catamenia are absent altogether, nor

  often when, they being present, the efflux still continues; but she

  does so after the purgation. For in the one case she has not the

  nutriment or material from which the foetus can be framed by the power

  coming from the male and inherent in the semen, and in the other it is

  washed away with the catamenia because of their abundance. But when

  after their occurrence the greater part has been evacuated, the

  remainder is formed into a foetus. Cases of conception when the

  catamenia do not occur at all, or of conception during their discharge

  instead of after it, are due to the fact that in the former instance

  there is only so much liquid to begin with as remains behind after the

  discharge in fertile women, and no greater quantity is secreted so

  as to come away from the body, while in the latter instance the

  mouth of the uterus closes after the discharge. When, therefore, the

  quantity already expelled from the body is great but the discharge

  still continues, only not on such a scale as to wash away the semen,

  then it is that conception accompanies coition. Nor is it at all

  strange that the catamenia should still continue after conception

  (for even after it they recur to some extent, but are scanty and do

  not last during all the period of gestation; this, however, is a

  morbid phenomenon, wherefore it is found only in a few cases and

  then seldom, whereas it is that which happens as a regular thing

  that is according to Nature).

  It is clear then that the female contributes the material for

  generation, and that this is in the substance of the catamenia, and

  that they are a secretion.

  20

  Some think that the female contributes semen in coition because

  the pleasure she experiences is sometimes similar to that of the male,

  and also is attended by a liquid discharge. But this discharge is

  not seminal; it is merely proper to the part concerned in each case,

  for there is a discharge from the uterus which occurs in some women

  but not in others. It is found in those who are fair-skinned and of

  a feminine type generally, but not in those who are dark and of a

  masculine appearance. The amount of this discharge, when it occurs, is

  sometimes on a different scale from the emission of semen and far

  exceeds it. Moreover, different kinds of food cause a great difference

  in the quantity of such discharges; for instance some

  pungently-flavoured foods cause them to be conspicuously increased.

  And as to the pleasure which accompanies coition it is due to emission

  not only of semen, but also of a spiritus, the coming together of

  which precedes the emission. This is plain in the case of boys who are

  not yet able to emit semen, but are near the proper age, and of men

  who are impotent, for all these are capable of pleasure by

  attrition. And those who have been injured in the generative organs

  sometimes suffer from diarrhoea because the secretion, which they

  are not able to concoct and turn into semen, is diverted into the

  intestine. Now a boy is like a woman in form, and the woman is as it

  were an impotent male, for it is through a certain incapacity that the

  female is female, being incapable of concocting the nutriment in its

  last stage into semen (and this is either blood or that which is

  analogous to it in animals which are bloodless owing to the coldness

  of their nature). As then diarrhoea is caused in the bowels by the

&nb
sp; insufficient concoction of the blood, so are caused in the

  blood-vessels all discharges of blood, including that of the

  catamenia, for this also is such a discharge, only it is natural

  whereas the others are morbid.

  Thus it is clear that it is reasonable to suppose that generation

  comes from this. For the catamenia are semen not in a pure state but

  in need of working up, as in the formation of fruits the nutriment

  is present, when it is not yet sifted thoroughly, but needs working up

  to purify it. Thus the catamenia cause generation mixture with the

  semen, as this impure nutriment in plants is nutritious when mixed

  with pure nutriment.

  And a sign that the female does not emit semen is the fact that

  the pleasure of intercourse is caused by touch in the same region of

  the female as of the male; and yet is it not from thence that this

  flow proceeds. Further, it is not all females that have it at all, but

  only the sanguinea, and not all even of these, but only those whose

  uterus is not near the hypozoma and which do not lay eggs; it is not

  found in the animals which have no blood but only the analogous fluid

  (for what is blood in the former is represented by another fluid in

  the latter). The reason why neither the latter nor those sanguinea

  mentioned (i.e. those whose uterus is low and which do not lay eggs)

  have this effluxion is the dryness of their bodies; this allows but

  little matter to be secreted, only enough for generation but not

  enough to be discharged from the body. All animals that are viviparous

  without producing eggs first (such are man and all quadrupeds which

  bend their hind-legs outwards, for all these are viviparous without

  producing eggs)- all these have the catamenia, unless they are

  defective in development as the mule, only the efflux is not

  abundant as in women. Details of the facts in each animal have been

  given in the Enquiries concerning animals.

  The catamenia are more abundant in women than in the other

  animals, and men emit the most semen in proportion to their size.

  The reason is that the composition of their bodies is liquid and hot

  compared to others, for more matter must be secreted in such a case.

  Further, man has no such parts in his body as those to which the

  superfluous matter is diverted in the other animals; for he has no

  great quantity of hair in proportion to his body, nor outgrowths of

  bones, horns, and teeth.

  There is evidence that the semen is in the catamenia, for, as said

  before, this secretion appears in the male at the same time of life as

  the catamenia in the female; this indicates that the parts destined to

  receive each of these secretions are differentiated at the same time

  in both sexes; and as the neighboring parts in both become swollen the

  hair of puberty springs forth in both alike. As the parts in

  question are on the point of differentiating they are distended by the

  spiritus; this is clearer in males in the testes, but appears also

  about the breasts; in females it is more marked in the breasts, for it

  is when they have risen two fingers' breadth that the catamenia

  generally begin.

  Now, in all living things in which the male and female are not

  separated the semen (or seed) is a sort of embryo; by embryo I

  mean the first mixture of male and female; hence, from one semen comes

  one bodys- for example, one stalk of wheat from one grain, as one

  animal from one egg (for twin eggs are really two eggs). But in

  whatever kinds the sexes are distinguished, in these many animals

  may come from one emission of semen, showing that the semen differs in

  its nature in plants and animals. A proof of this is that animals

  which can bear more than one young one at a time do so in

  consequence of only one coition. Whereby, too, it is plain that the

  semen does not come from the whole of the body; for neither would

  the different parts of the semen already be separated as soon as

  discharged from the same part, nor could they be separated in the

  uterus if they had once entered it all together; but what does

  happen is just what one would expect, since what the male

  contributes to generation is the form and the efficient cause, while

  the female contributes the material. In fact, as in the coagulation of

  milk, the milk being the material, the fig-juice or rennet is that

  which contains the curdling principle, so acts the secretion of the

  male, being divided into parts in the female. Why it is sometimes

  divided into more or fewer parts, and sometimes not divided at all,

  will be the subject of another discussion. But because it does not

  differ in kind at any rate this does not matter, but what does

  matter is only that each part should correspond to the material, being

  neither too little to concoct it and fix it into form, nor too much so

  as to dry it up; it then generates a number of offspring. But from

  this first formative semen, if it remains one, and is not divided,

  only one young one comes into being.

  That, then, the female does not contribute semen to generation,

  but does contribute something, and that this is the matter of the

  catamenia, or that which is analogous to it in bloodless animals, is

  clear from what has been said, and also from a general and abstract

  survey of the question. For there must needs be that which generates

  and that from which it generates; even if these be one, still they

  must be distinct in form and their essence must be different; and in

  those animals that have these powers separate in two sexes the body

  and nature of the active and the passive sex must also differ. If,

  then, the male stands for the effective and active, and the female,

  considered as female, for the passive, it follows that what the female

  would contribute to the semen of the male would not be semen but

  material for the semen to work upon. This is just what we find to be

  the case, for the catamenia have in their nature an affinity to the

  primitive matter.

  21

  So much for the discussion of this question. At the same time the

  answer to the next question we have to investigate is clear from these

  considerations, I mean how it is that the male contributes to

  generation and how it is that the semen from the male is the cause

  of the offspring. Does it exist in the body of the embryo as a part of

  it from the first, mingling with the material which comes from the

  female? Or does the semen communicate nothing to the material body

  of the embryo but only to the power and movement in it? For this power

  is that which acts and makes, while that which is made and receives

  the form is the residue of the secretion in the female. Now the latter

  alternative appears to be the right one both a priori and in view of

  the facts. For, if we consider the question on general grounds, we

  find that, whenever one thing is made from two of which one is

  active and the other passive, the active agent does not exist in

  that which is made; and, still more generally, the same applies when

  one thing moves and another is moved; the movi
ng thing does not

  exist in that which is moved. But the female, as female, is passive,

  and the male, as male, is active, and the principle of the movement

  comes from him. Therefore, if we take the highest genera under which

  they each fall, the one being active and motive and the other

  passive and moved, that one thing which is produced comes from them

  only in the sense in which a bed comes into being from the carpenter

  and the wood, or in which a ball comes into being from the wax and the

  form. It is plain then that it is not necessary that anything at all

  should come away from the male, and if anything does come away it does

  not follow that this gives rise to the embryo as being in the

  embryo, but only as that which imparts the motion and as the form;

  so the medical art cures the patient.

  This a priori argument is confirmed by the facts. For it is for this

  reason that some males which unite with the female do not, it appears,

  insert any part of themselves into the female, but on the contrary the

  female inserts a part of herself into the male; this occurs in some

  insects. For the effect produced by the semen in the female (in the

  case of those animals whose males do insert a part) is produced in

  the case of these insects by the heat and power in the male animal

  itself when the female inserts that part of herself which receives the

  secretion. And therefore such animals remain united a long time, and

  when they are separated the young are produced quickly. For the

  union lasts until that which is analogous to the semen has done its

  work, and when they separate the female produces the embryo quickly;

  for the young is imperfect inasmuch as all such creatures give birth

  to scoleces.

  What occurs in birds and oviparous fishes is the greatest proof that

  neither does the semen come from all parts of the male nor does he

  emit anything of such a nature as to exist within that which is

  generated, as part of the material embryo, but that he only makes a

  living creature by the power which resides in the semen (as we said

  in the case of those insects whose females insert a part of themselves