The hymen : an essay, delivered (by appointment) before the New York Medical Union / by T. Gaillard Thomas.

  • Thomas, T. Gaillard (Theodore Gaillard), 1832-1903.
Date:
[1859]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The hymen : an essay, delivered (by appointment) before the New York Medical Union / by T. Gaillard Thomas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    that membrane, the rupture of which was regarded as the car- nAl consummation of* the ceremony of which he was the patron. From its crescentic shape, it is by some supposed to have been the symbol represented upon the brow of the virgin god- dess Diana ; the outward and visible sign of inward purity and unblemished chastity; But as Diana and Luna were the same spirits, it is more natural to suppose that the sign which she bore had reference to the crescent moon. Anatomy, and not poetry, was probably mother to the name, the origin of which, it is likely, was the Greek word vfirjv; in the Latin rendered hymen; and in the Saxon tongue a membrane. By some of the old writers the word hymen was applied not only to this structure, but to any membrane, as the serous covering of the lungs, liver, heart, etc., as will be seen by reference to the Chirurgia Universalis of Francis Joel, edition of 1663. We see an analogous use made of the word in entomology, where all that class of insects whose wings are membranous, are called Hymenoptera, from v\ii\v a mem- brane, and nTEpov a wing, and a beautiful similitude exists between its use in botany and anatomy; in the former it desig- nates the fine pellicle which incloses the flower in the bud ; in the latter it defines the gauze-like veil, which guards the bud- ding functions of womanhood ; both about to expand and cul- minate coincidently with its rupture. Literature of the Hymen.—An examination into the history of the hymen, presents one of the most singular instances of direct contradiction of authorities, on a subject which one would at a first glance imagine admitted of no doubt, or diversity of opinion. Indeed, were proof wanted (which, alas! is not the case) of the great uncertainties environing the reception of even the simplest facts in medicine, none more convincing could be given than that arising from a review of the opinions held on this subject at various periods. That the most ancient people of whom we know aught were acquainted with the existence of the hymen, there cannot be any reasonable doubt; for a distinct allusion is made to it in the writings of the Hebrew legislator, Moses, who lived Anno Mundi 2433, his death occurring 1,490 years before the birth of Christ. After this I have met with no allusion to it until 194 years before Christ, when Terence seems to allude to it in describing the pain and hemorrhage attending the first conjugal approaches of a virgin. Cicero, who lived 42 years before Christ, points plainly to it in the following line (De Divinat. lib. ii.), referring to a woman of whom he had dreamed, qua3 obsignatam habebat naturam; and Pliny (Hist. Nat. lib. vii c. 16), a. d. 23, tells of Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, con-