Scott's encyclopaedia of sex : a practical encyclopaedia arranged in alphabetical order, explanatory of everything pertaining to sexual physiology, psychology and pathology.

  • Scott, George Ryley, 1886-
Date:
[1939]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Scott's encyclopaedia of sex : a practical encyclopaedia arranged in alphabetical order, explanatory of everything pertaining to sexual physiology, psychology and pathology. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    54/404 (page 34)
    BIDET BIRTH (LEGITIMATE) says that in 1493 there was generated of a woman and a dog, an issue, which from the navel upwards perfectly re- sembled the shape of the mother, but therehence downwards the sire, that is, the dogge.1 He gives further instances of monstrous creatures resulting from intercourse between women and pigs, goats and other animals. This hypothesis, to account for the birth of strange creatures, survives in some quarters even to this day.2 Literature: Iwan Bloch, The Sexual Life of Our Time, London, 1919; R. v. Krafft-Ebing, Psychopathia Sexualis, New York, 1925; Paolo Mantegazza, Sexual Relations of Mankind, New York, 1935- BIDET. A basin, which may be either fixed or movable, which is used in douch- ing or swabbing the female genitals. BIGAMY. Section 57 of the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 defines bigamy as a felony committed by a man or woman who '' being married shall marry any other person during the life of the former husband or wife, whether the second marriage shall take place in Eng- land or Ireland or elsewhere. The only exceptions are where the first husband or wife has been '' continuously absent'' for at least seven years; where the first mar- riage has been declared void or dissolved by divorce, or the bigamist is not a British subject. The words or elsewhere have been held to apply to any country, so that a British subject who has made a bigamous marriage in any part of the world may be tried for the offence in England. It should be noted, however, that for a second marriage to constitute bigamy, the first marriage must have been a valid one, and the proof of such validity is essential to any proceedings that are brought. Further, the provision of evidence that the bigamous alliance was contracted in the belief, arrived at after inquiry and on reasonable grounds, that the first spouse was dead, constitutes a good defence even if the period of absence is under seven years. In such circum- stances, the second marriage would be- come void. The punishment for bigamy is penal servitude for a period not exceed- ing seven years, or imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a period not exceeding two years. Official statistics show that bigamy is increasing in frequency in Great Britain. The average number of bigamous alliances exceeds three hundred a year. BIJOU INDISCRET. An ARTIFICIAL PHALLUS, which see. BILABE. A two-bladed surgical instru- ment used for the purpose of removing small stones from the bladder and urethra. BILATERAL. Affecting or relating to both sides of the body, or each of a pair of organs which are situated on opposite sides, as the ovaries. BINDER (OBSTETRIC). A bandage or belt worn round the abdomen after childbirth. BIOPSY. The surgical removal of a piece of tissue which is diseased or sus- pected of being diseased, for the purpose of examination or diagnosis. BIOVULAR TWINS. See under TWINS. BIPARA. A woman who has given birth to two children at separate pregnancies or is undergoing her second confinement. BIRTH. Childbirth. Parturition. De- livery of a living fcetus. See under CHILDBIRTH. BIRTH (CONCEALMENT OF). Sec- tion 60 of the Offences Against the Person Act, 1861, states: If any woman shall be delivered of a child, every person who shall by any secret disposition of the dead body of the child, whether such child died before, at, or after its birth, en- deavour to conceal the birth thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour. It is necessary to prove that the child whose birth is held to be concealed was dead at the time of concealment. BIRTH (LEGITIMATE). The birth of a child is, in law, held to be legitimate if it occurs in lawful wedlock, i.e. when a man and a woman, lawfully wedded, are cohabiting; or when not more than the period of gestation has elapsed since the death of the husband. See also under ILLEGITIMACY. 1 Ambrose Pare, Works, p. 982. 1634. 3 The belief that a woman, through copulation with animals, can give birth to monsters, is not confined to the illiterate section of the community. Some few years ago a man of my acquaintance, belonging to the so-called educated classes and a magistrate, in all solemnity, assured me that such creatures were born and had to be destroyed.