The lips of the womb, which appear next, disclose its neck, if they are
separated, and two things may be observed in them, which are the neck
itself and the _hymen_, or more properly, the _claustrum virginale_, of
which I have spoken before. By the neck of the womb we must understand
the channel that lies between the above-mentioned knobs and the inner
bone of the womb, which receives the penis like a sheath, and so that it
may be more easily dilated by the pleasure of procreation, the substance
is sinewy and a little spongy. There are several folds or pleats in this
cavity, made by tunicles, which are wrinkled like a full blown rose. In
virgins they appear plainly, but in women who are used to copulation
they disappear, so that the inner side of the neck of the womb appears
smooth, but in old women it is more hard and gristly. But though this
channel is sometimes crooked and sinks down yet at the times of
copulation, labour, or of the monthly flow, it is erected or distended,
which overtension occasions the pain in childbirth.
The hymen, or _claustrum virginale_, is that which closes the neck of
the womb, and is broken by the first act of copulation; its use being
rather to check the undue menstrual flow in virgins, rather than to
serve any other purpose, and usually when it is broken, either by
copulation, or by any other means, a small quantity of blood flows from
it, attended with some little pain.
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