It is of a figure almost round, inclining somewhat to an oblong, in part
resembling a pear; for being broad at the bottom, it gradually
terminates in the point of the orifice which is narrow.
The length, breadth and thickness of the womb differ according to the
age and disposition of the body. For in virgins not ripe it is very
small in all its dimensions, but in women whose terms flow in great
quantities, and such as frequently use copulation, it is much larger,
and if they have had children, it is larger in them than in such as have
had none; but in women of a good stature and well shaped, it is (as I
have said before), from the entry of the privy parts to the bottom of
the womb usually about eight inches; but the length of the body of the
womb alone, does not exceed three; the breadth thereof is near about the
same, and of the thickness of the little finger, when the womb is not
pregnant, but when the woman is with child, it becomes of a prodigious
greatness, and the nearer she is to delivery, the more the womb is
extended.
It is not without reason then, that nature (or the God of Nature) has
made the womb of a membranous substance; for thereby it does the easier
open to conceive, is gradually dilated by the growth of the foetus or
young one, and is afterwards contracted or closed again, to thrust forth
both it and the after-burden, and then to retire to its primitive seat.
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