The "Mika" or "Kulpi" operation of the Australian aboriginals / by T.P. Anderson Stuart.

  • Anderson Stuart, Thomas Peter, 1856-1920.
Date:
[1896?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The "Mika" or "Kulpi" operation of the Australian aboriginals / by T.P. Anderson Stuart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    the vagina with it. Further, we are told, and it is certainly the case in the subject of my photograph, that the release of the corpora cavernosa below permits the organ to be flattened and widened, especially during erection. This will itself tend to widen the vaginal orifice and so permit the fluid to enter more easily. Thus while the imperfection of the tube prevents all the fluid being lodged well within the passage, a quantity will certainly be left within the lower part of it. In my opinion therefore, it is a question of degree—in the normal condition a large quantity is left in the passage, in the mika condition it is a small quantity. What then is the probable effect of this diminution of the quantity of fluid introduced? I think there will generally be upon the whole, lessened chance of fecundation, but in particular cases it may not be very marked at all, and the recorded observa- tions as to the number of children in the camps of mika-practising tribes support this view, which, however, is opposed to the opinions expressed by many writers. Creed,^ for instance, regards the mika as the most perfect form of Malthusianism practicable,'^ and says that impregnation is impossible, and this effect seems to be the desired end for which the operation is performed. Eyre however, who first described the condition, does not go so far as that. He says, this extraordinary and inexplicable custom must have a great tendency to prevent the rapid increase of population, and its adoption may perhaps be a wise ordination of Providence for that purpose, in a country of so desert and arid a character as that which these people occupy. Taking everything into consideration, I conclude that (1) Nothing whatever can be definitely stated as to the origin of the custom. (2) The operation does not necessarily render the man sterile. It merely diminishes his fertility; what the degree of diminu- tion may be will depend entirely on circumstances. 1 Loc. ext., p. 95.