Bartholinus anatomy made from the precepts of his father, and from the observations of all modern anatomists, together with his own ... / published by Nich. Culpeper and Abdiah Cole.

Chap. XXIV. Of the Yard.

THe Genital Member of a Man is com∣monly* 1.1 called in Latin Penis a penden∣do, because it hangs, also Virga the Rod or Yard, Colis, &c. Many other Names are wont to be put upon it, which are better past over then mentioned. In English tis most usually termed the Yard or Prick. Plato in his Timaeus compares it to a certain living Creature, be∣cause it hath an Appetite to Generation. Howbeit, it is indeed the Part and Instrument of a Live-wight, and the Faculty of Appetite is seated in the Brain.

Tis seated at the Roots of Os pubis, that carnal Copulation might more conveni∣ently* 1.2 be accomplished, and that it might be no impediment to other parts▪ it is placed in the mid∣dle, because only one in number. Yet there was once a man dissected at Bononia who had two Yards. Which also Obsequens relates of a Boy, among his Prodigies. Another named Anna, being lately a vagrant in Italy, had no Yard, but instead thereof a certain piece of spongy flesh under his Navil, which Nature had pro∣vided him to piss withal.

Its Figure is round and long; but not ex∣actly, because it is broader on the upper ••ide,* 1.3 which they call the Back of the Yard.

Its Magnitude consisting in thickness and* 1.4 length, does vary, both in the several sorts of Animals, and in the Individual Creatures of the same sort. Particularly, tis in Man so great as was necessary to propagate his species or kind: But pro∣portionally shorter then in many Brutes, because Man∣kind couples after another manner then those beasts do. In particular Men, there is exceeding great vari∣ety. For it is for the most part greater then ordinary, 1. In little Men. 2. In such as abstain from carnal Embracements, if we beleive Galen. 3. If the Navil∣strings be not tied close to the Navil in Infants; for otherwise, by reason of the Urachus or Piss-pipe, the Bladder and neighboring Parts, are drawn more up∣wards. Yet Spigelius is herein of a quite contrary mind. 4. In such as have large Noses. For the proportion of the Yard answers that of the Nose very much, if we will beleive Physiognomists. 5. In Block-heads and dull-pated Asses. Some Nations have this Member larger then ordinary, as the Aethiopians or Black∣mores.

It consists of the Scarf-skin, Skin, fleshy Membrane, and a proper substance of its own.

It is void of Fat, even in the fattest* 1.5 men. And it is a great question why there is no Fat found either in it or a∣bout it. Some, as Laurentius, think it is because fat through its softness would hinder its erection: But the Yard will stand, as long as the Bodies thereof are blown up. Others make the Cause to be least the weight thereof should do hurt, and that the Yard might not grow too great. But if there were a little Fat, it would add nothing to the weight, nor would it enlarge the Yard over much. The truer Cause therefore is this, that there is therefore no Fat, that its sense might not be dulled, and the pleasure of Copulation abated, when the Fat should melt by rubbing the Yard.

Its proper Substance is not boney as it is in a Dog, a Wolf, a Fox, a Whale,* 1.6 &c. but peculiar and proper to it self, such as is no where to be found in any* 1.7 other Part of the Body. Now there are four proper Parts of the Yard, the Urethra or Piss-pipe, the Nut, and the two nervous Bodies.

The URETHRA or Piss-pipe, is a nervous* 1.8 Pipe or Channel, alwaies of the same size, from the neck of the bladder (to which it is joyned, but does not arise therefrom, nor communicate there∣with) like a long neck, to the End of the Yard; save where the Nut is joyned with the nervous Bodies. For there indeed it hath a superficial Cavern or Hollow∣ness, in which an Ulcer and intollerable pain does somtimes happen▪ when some corro••i••e humor is th•••••• collected, by means of a Gonorrhaea, or some other occasion. It is exceedingly widened in persons trou∣bled with the stone. Alpinus saw it so wide in Aegypt, that it would receive a large Hazel-nut. And there∣fore it is easily blown up, to draw out the stone.

In the beginning thereof are those Pores, through which we said before the seed stills forth. There is also a little Membrane or Caruncle like a Valve stretched before it, to keep the seed and urin from returning into the spermatick Vessels. It is eroded or fretted by sharp Humors, or by use of the Catheter, whence follows a perpetual Gonorrhaea. Riolanus observs that it is found in Boys, till the twentieth year of their Age, but I see no cause why it should not remain in their after Age, when the encrease of seed, makes it more necessa∣ry then formerly.

The Bodies of the Yard do embrace and touch this Urethra, and it is •…•…d back with them, and so rea∣ches to the N•…•… the figure of an S.

Moreover th•…•…ath a double Membrane and a 〈◊〉〈◊〉 also •…•…it self▪

[illustration]

[illustration]

The XXIV. TABLE.

All the Parts of the Yard are represented in this TABLE.

The Explication of the FIGURES.

FIG. I

• AA. The inner Surface of the Ure∣thra being dissected.
• B. A Part of the Urethra which makes its way into the Nut.
• CC. The Nut of the Yard.
• DD. The two Nervous Bodies of the Yard.

FIG. II.

• A. The Membrane of the Nervous Body separated.
• B. The blackish Pith of the said Body.
• C. The Nut of the Yard made ••are.

FIG. III.

• AAA. The inner Part of the Nervous Body, all the spongy Substance being taken out of it.
• B. The Nerve which goes into the said Body.
• CCC. The Artery of the said Body.
• DD. The transparent Partition, by Spigelius so called.

FIG. IV.

• AAA. Veins running along the Back of the Yard.
• BB. Arteries.
• CC. The Nerves of the Yard.
• D. The Nut of the Yard.

FIG. V. Shews the Muscles of the Yard in their places.

• AA. The Parts about the Buttocks.
• B. The Region of the Share.
• C. The Yard with its Skin ••••ead off
• DD. The two Nervous Bodies.
• E. The Urethra or Piss-pipe.
• FF. Two Muscles which widen the Piss-pipe.
• GG. Two Muscles which raise the Yard.
• ...aa. Their Beginning cut off from the Hip-bone.
• H. The Fundament.
• I. The Sphincter Muscle of the Fundament.
• KK. Two Muscles which draw up the Arse-gut.

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One Membrane is internal and thin, of exquisite sense, as those can witness who are troubled with the stone. With which also the Nut is covered; and it is bred out of the thin Membrane, which cloaths the Nerves of the Yard. The other is external, more fleshy and furnished with transverse Nerves. The mid∣dle part of its proper substance, is loose, spongy, and black, that it may be distended together with the ner∣vous Bodies.

The Use of the Urethra•…•…mon passage for the Urin, Seed, and o•…•…

The Nut or Head of the Yard, is the* 1.9 outmost swelling part thereof, roundish or pointed, even and compassed with a Circle like a Crown.

It hath Flesh more sensible and solid then the rest of the Yard, covered with an exceeding thin Membrane.

It is soft and of exquisite sense, for Titillations sake. In some Men it is more sharp, in others more blunt.

It hath a Coat or Covering called the Fore-skin, or Praeputium a putando, from cutting off, for the Jews and Turks cut it off, and therefore they are nick-nam'd A∣pellae

and Recutiti, skinless or skin-cut. In which Na∣tions tis wonderful what Vestingus told me himself saw, viz. that in young Boys it grows out so long and poin∣ted, that it resembles a tayl. Hildanus observed it in a certain person very great and fleshy. At the lower end it is tied to the Nut by a Membrane or Band termed Fraenum the Bridle, which is terminated in the hole of the Nut. Some will have it to be made up of the ex∣tremities of the Nerves. Carolus Stephanus thinks it is composed of a Combination of the Tendons of the Muscles of the Yard, and a Nerve.

The two nervous Bodies, on each side* 1.10 one, do make up the remaining and grea∣test part of the Yard: the whole substance whereof is like a most thick spungy Arte∣ry, stuffed with flesh.

For the substance thereof is twofold, the first exter∣nal, compact, hard, and nervous; the other internal, spungy, thin, and hollow, and of a dark-red colour en∣clining to black; and therefore Vesalius saies tis filled with a great deal of black Blood, like a Pudding.

Now this substance is rare and pory,* 1.11 that it may be filled with Spirit, and Ve∣nal and Arterial Blood; by which means the nervous substance thereof is the more stretched, and the Spirits are not soon dissipated, whence proceeds the hard∣ness and stiffness of the Yard, not so much for Copulations sake, as that the man might squirt his seed right out as far as might be, even to the Orifice of the Womb, after the Yard hath been moved in the female Privity.

These two Bodies have their Original from the lo∣wer parts of the Hip-bones, as from a firm and stable Foundation, to which they are strongly tied with two Ligaments; where in their Rise they keep some di∣stance, that place may be allowed to the Urethra; and then they are carried upwards, and grow into one a∣bout the middle of the Share-bone (like the two horns of the letter y) but so as they do not both remain per∣fect, but they loose near a third part of their nervous substance. Howbeit they remain distinct, by the coming between of some membranous partition (which con∣sists not of a double Membrane, as at the Rise of the Bodies, but of one single one) very thin and transpa∣rent, strengthned with nervous and strong transverse fi∣bres; which fibres are ranked and ordered like a Wea∣vers Comb.

All kind of Vessels enter into the Yard, Nerves, Veins, and Arteries. 1. External ones running in the Skin, ve∣ry frequent, from the Pudenda, and also internal ones spred through its Body. They are therefore mistaken, that think the Yard is destitute of Veins. Its internal Arteries are two remarkable ones, arising from the Hy∣pogastrica, which are inserted at the beginning of the growing together of the Bodies, and are spred up and down, according to the length of the Yard, But in the middle, where the Septum or partition is thinnest, they send branches up and down, through the spaces of the Fibres, the right Artery into the left Body, and the left Artery into the right Body, carrying Spirit and Blood, to blow up, erect, and nourish the Yard. The Nerves also are disseminated from the Marrow of Os sacrum, through the Yard, as well the external and Skin-nerves, as the internal, and those remarkable ones, which ascend through the middle of the forked division, and are thence disseminated into the Muscles, the whole Body, and the Nut; that there might be an exquisite sense and delectation.

Also the Yard hath two pare of Mus∣cles.* 1.12

The first pare short and thick, are the Yard Erectors; this pare arises nervous, under the be∣ginning of the Yard, from an Appendix of the Hip, and growing fleshy, it is carried to the bodies of the Yard, into which it is inserted, not far from their Ori∣ginal.

Their Use is to raise and keep the Yard up in Co∣pulation.

The second Pare which widens the Urethra is longer, but thinner or leaner. These two fleshy Muscles arise from the Sphincter of the Fundament, following the length of the Yard: then they are carried beneath and inserted into the sides of the Urethra, about the middle thereof.

Its Use is to widen the lower part of the Piss-pipe, both in pissing, and especially in Copulation, when the bodies of the Yard are full, that the Egress of the Seed may not be hindred. And in these Muscles is the place where Surgeons do commonly take out stones. The Line of the Cod being drawn to one side, accor∣ding to their length, and not according to their breadth as Marianus sanctus notes against the Ancients, an hol∣low Catheter being thrust into the Ureter, upon which, the Incision is to be made, which manner of cutting Aquapendent describes and approves of.

The Use of the Yard is for Copulati∣on:* 1.13 which a man cannot rightly per∣form without the Erection of his Yard, and the squir∣ting out of the Seed which follows thereupon. For the man squirts his Seed right out into the Mouth of the Womb, where being afterward joyned with the womans Seed, an drawn in, and re∣tained by the Womb, Conception is said* 1.14 to be made.

A secondary Use thereof is to void urin, yet was it not therefore made, seeing women do make water without it. By reason of this twofold use of the yard, the Arabians make two passages, as Vesalius tells us, who observed such a like Conformation in a certain person.

In some the Nut of their Yard is not bored through in the sore part where it ought to be, but in the lower part, as Hofman hath noted out of Aristotle and Paulus, who cannot make water if their Yard do not stand, or when they sit. Others, and that more frequently, have it imperforated in the upper part. They are both un∣apt for Generation. Somtimes the Yard hath no pas∣sage at all as Julius Obsequens hath observed.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Its Names.
• * 1.2

  Situation.
• * 1.3

  Figure.
• * 1.4

  Mag∣nitude.
• * 1.5

  Why the Yard is void of Fat, the first Opi∣nion. Laurentius his Error.
• * 1.6

  Its Substance.
• * 1.7

  The four Parts of the Yard.
• * 1.8

  Urethra.
• * 1.9

  The Nut of the Yard. ••
• * 1.10

  The nervous Bodies.
• * 1.11

  Whence the hardness and Erection of the Yard pro∣ceeds.
• * 1.12

  The Muscles of the Yard.
• * 1.13

  Copulation.
• * 1.14

  Conception.