Aristotle · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| "This one he made a watcher over his own troubles, and marked him out — the hoopoe, a bold bird of the rocks, in full armor, who at the shining of spring shakes out the wing of a pale falcon. For he will show two forms, that of a boy and his own, from a single womb. But when at the new harvest the ear of corn grows yellow, a speckled wing again enfolds him. And ever in hatred of these he will remove himself to another place, to lonely thickets and crags." Among birds some are dust-bathers, some are water-bathers, and some are neither dust-bathers nor water-bathers. Those that are not fliers but ground-dwellers are dust-bathers — for example the hen, the partridge, the francolin, the lark, the pheasant; and of the straight-taloned birds some, and all those that spend their time around a river or marshes or the sea, are water-bathers; others do both, both dust-bathe and water-bathe, for example the pigeon and the sparrow; but of the hook-taloned birds most do neither. This, then, is how these matters stand. It is peculiar to some small birds to make a sound by passing wind, as the turtle-doves do; such birds also make a vigorous movement about the seat together with the call. K.
2| As a man and a woman advance in age, the cause of their failing to produce offspring when they come together is sometimes present in both, sometimes in one of the two only. First, then, one must examine in the case of the female how things stand with respect to the womb, so that if the cause lies in it, it may receive treatment, and if not there, the attention may be directed toward some other of the causes. Now, just as with any other part, it is evident whether it is healthy when it performs its own work sufficiently, is free of pain, and is unwearied after its activities — an eye, for instance, when it produces no discharge, sees, and is not disturbed after seeing nor rendered unable to see again. So too a womb that causes no pain, and performs what is its own work sufficiently, and after its activities is not incapacitated but unwearied, is a healthy one. It is also said that a womb which is not in good condition can nevertheless be well and painlessly disposed toward its own work, provided its work is not worse than this condition would allow, just as nothing prevents an eye from seeing accurately even though the eye does not have all its parts in good condition, or if there is some growth on it.
3| Likewise too a womb, if it is well positioned in the relevant place, would not be harmed with respect to this at all. Now a womb that is in good condition must, first, not be now in one position and now in another with respect to its place, but remain similarly situated; except that a movement to a somewhat farther position may occur without any affection or pain, and the womb must be no less sensitive when touched. This is not hard to judge. That wombs must be of this kind is clear from the following. For if they do not draw near closely, they will not be capable of contracting at the same time, since the place from which they need to draw material back will be far off for them. And if they do not remain close, and are not able to go back farther, they will be duller in sensation. They must always be capable of being touched throughout, so as not to open quickly — they must do this very readily, and be keen of perception. These, then, are the conditions that must hold; and those in which they do not hold are in need of some treatment. Also the menses must occur properly, that is, at equal intervals and without irregularity, when the body is healthy. For their occurring in this regular way indicates that it is in good condition for opening and receiving the moisture from the body, whenever the body yields it. But whenever they are released too often, or too seldom, or irregularly, while the rest of the body is not a contributing cause but is healthy, this must be happening on account of the womb itself.
4| And on account of dullness of sensation they do not open at the proper times, so that they receive little, or rather they draw the moisture to themselves more forcibly on account of some inflammation in them, so that they show signs of needing treatment, just as the eyes too, and the bladder and the stomach and the rest — for all inflamed places draw to themselves moisture of the kind that is naturally excreted into each place, but not of that particular kind or amount. Likewise too the womb, when it gives off more, indicates some phlegmatic affection, if what it gives off is similar in kind but greater in amount. But if what comes forth is unlike the normal discharge and more putrid than what occurs in healthy women, this is already an affection and becomes plainly evident, for it is necessary that certain pains also mark that the womb is in a condition it should not be in. In healthy women the discharge that comes forth is white and somewhat corrupted in smell, in some at the beginning, but in most as the menses are ending. Those, then, in whom the discharge is more corrupted than in healthy women, or irregular, whether greater or less in amount, need treatment more, since these conditions are impediments to childbearing. Those in whom only the timing is uneven and not at equal intervals are less hindered by the affection, though it does show that the condition of the womb is shifting and not remaining constantly the same. This affection is of a kind that can harm women who are well suited for conception, yet it is not a disease, but rather the sort of affection that can also settle down without treatment, provided the woman does not further aggravate it herself.
5| But if they change in order or in quantity, while the rest of the body is not in the same condition but at one time is moister, at another drier, the womb is not at all responsible for this; rather it must follow the condition of the body, receiving and releasing in due proportion. Now if the body is healthy but changing, and they do this, the wombs themselves need no treatment at all; but if the body is diseased, either the discharge returns less because the residue is being used up elsewhere, or the body itself is ailing. And if they release more because the body is discharging itself this way, this too does not indicate that the wombs themselves need treatment, but that the body does. The fact that in all women the menses change together with the conditions of the body shows that nothing responsible lies in the wombs, since the wombs themselves continue to be healthy. They are at one time weaker, at another stronger in themselves, and at one time moister, at another drier. And the discharge comes to them more when the body itself has more, less when it has less; and if the body is moist, the discharge is more watery, if dry, more full of blood. And the discharges begin from white, milk-like matter, which remains without odor; but toward the end they are red, and finally whiter again, at the last mixing. These white discharges have an odor not of putrefaction, but one that is sharper and heavier, and not of pus—
6| —and without any dissolving, though with warmth, when this is the manner of the signs. So for those women in whom this happens in this way, the matters concerning the womb stand as they should for childbearing. And first these things must be examined, whether they are in good condition, and after that how the mouth of the womb is disposed. For it must stand straight; otherwise the wombs will not draw the seed into themselves. For the woman too emits toward the front of the womb, as is clear whenever women have complete emissions in sleep; for then this place needs attention, having become moist, just as if she had had intercourse with a man—since what comes from the man too is emitted there, into the same place, and not inward into the womb itself. But whenever the emission happens there, from there the wombs draw it in with the breath, as the nostrils draw in air, and so draw in the seed. That is why women conceive having intercourse in any position whatever, because the emission of seed for both women and men happens when the mouth of the womb is turned entirely to the front; but if it were emitted into the womb itself, they would not conceive whatever the position of intercourse. But if the wombs do not look straight but toward the hips or the lower back or the lower abdomen, it is impossible to conceive, for the reason already stated, because they would not be able to take up the seed. Now if they are disposed this way strongly, either by nature or through disease, the condition is incurable—
7| —but if it is a rupture, either by nature or through disease, caused by an inflammation that has drawn it to one side, the condition inclines to that side. For women who are going to become pregnant it is necessary, as has been said, that the mouth stand straight, and besides this, that it open well. By 'well' I mean this: that when the menses begin, the mouth, when touched, will be softer than before, and not obviously gaping open. But if it is in this state, let the first signs that appear be the white ones. But whenever the signs are more flesh-colored in hue, the mouth will clearly be open without pain, whether touched or not touched, and neither numb nor otherwise different from its own usual state. When the menses have ceased, let the mouth be wide open and dry, but not hard, for a day and a half or even two days. For these things, occurring in this way, indicate that the wombs are in good condition and are doing their own work: by not opening at once but by the mouth becoming soft first—because they loosen together with the rest of the body as it loosens, and do not obstruct, and release first what comes from the mouth itself—and whenever the body discharges more, they open fully; which is a sign of a mouth in a healthy state. And when the signs, on ceasing, do not close up at once, this indicates that, if the woman should fail to conceive, the wombs become empty and dry and thirsty, and have no residue left around the passage.
8| So being of a drawing, retentive nature, the wombs indicate that they are in good condition for conceiving once the man has approached, whenever they are in this state without pain and with loss of sensation. And it is a good sign for the body not to be otherwise different than usual; for this too indicates that nothing prevents the wombs from closing together whenever they should. Concerning the mouth of the womb, then, the inquiry proceeds from these signs, as to whether it is as it should be or not. Concerning the womb itself, the following must occur after the purification: first, in sleep, that she seems to have intercourse with a man and to emit, as though she were actually consorting with him, easily; if this appears to happen to her more often, it is better. And on rising, that she sometimes needs the same treatment as when she has had intercourse with a man, and at other times needs drying; and let this dryness not be continuous, but afterward, following the waking, let it become moist again, sometimes sooner, sometimes later, this lasting up to about half the day after a short interval has passed. And let the moisture be of the same kind as when she has had intercourse with a man. For all these things indicate that the womb is receptive of what is given to it, and that the cotyledons are of a drawing nature, and retentive of what they take, and, on sensing it, release it. Further, that gases arise in it without any disorder, just as in the stomach, and are released, and become larger and smaller in themselves, without disease; for these things too show clearly that the wombs are no more rigid than they should be, and are numb neither by nature nor by disease, but are able, according to what they receive, to give room to what is growing within. They also have the capacity to stretch. But whenever this does not happen, they are either too dense or too insensate, either by nature or by disease.
9| That is why such wombs cannot nourish the embryos, but even destroy them: if they are extremely so, while the embryos are still small; if less so, when they are already bigger; but if only slightly so, they raise the offspring to be inferior, as though the offspring had been nourished in a poor vessel. Further, when touched, the right and left parts of the womb should be even, and everything else likewise. And during intercourse with a man, it should become moist in between, but not often nor excessively. This condition is like a sweating of the place, just as the mouth produces saliva in many circumstances—both in connection with the passage of food, and when we talk and work hard ourselves; and our eyes shed tears when we look at brighter things, and under stronger cold or heat, which these parts master whenever they happen to be in a moister condition. So too the wombs become moist when working, whenever they happen to be in a moister disposition. And this happens even to wombs very well formed by nature. That is why women always need attention, whether more or less, just as the mouth needs to spit. But in some women so much moisture arises that they cannot draw up the man's seed in pure form, on account of its mixing with the moisture arising from the woman.
10| In addition to these conditions, this too must be considered: whether it happens that, whenever she seems in sleep to have had intercourse with a man, one notes how she rises from it—for instance, whether she is weaker, and whether this is always so, not sometimes so and sometimes not, or whether she is sometimes even stronger; and whether she is not drier at first and then becomes moist afterward. For these things must happen in the fertile woman. For becoming enfeebled indicates that the body is disposed always to emit seed, and this makes the woman fertile; and among fleshy women it is weaker. And that this happens without disease is a sign that the discharge of this occurs according to nature and in the manner it should; for if not, the weakness would be a diseased one. And sometimes becoming stronger, with the womb dry and then becoming moist afterward, is a sign that the whole body is taking in and dissipating the seed, and not the womb alone, and that the body too is strong. For the womb draws in with the breath what has come to it from outside, as has been said before. For the seed is not emitted into the womb itself, but into the place where the man too emits. And whatever is done by means of breath is all done with strength. So it is clear that the body too draws toward such emission. There are some women who suffer something of this sort, which they call 'being wind-blown'—
11| This too must not happen to her. This is the affection in question: when women have intercourse with a man, they neither visibly emit seed nor conceive, and for this reason it is called a windy discharge. The cause of the affection is the womb, when it is excessively dry; for it draws the moisture to itself and then releases it outward, and this moisture wastes away, and becoming a small thing out of itself, falls away and escapes notice on account of its smallness as it exits. And when the womb is affected by this severely and becomes extremely dry, it quickly casts off the seed, and it quickly becomes clear that the woman is not pregnant. But if it does not do this very quickly, in the intervening time she seems to be pregnant, holding whatever she has within herself, until she casts it off. And the same affections happen to these women quickly as happen to women who are truly pregnant, and if a long time passes, the womb rises up, so that she plainly seems to be pregnant, until it falls away; then the womb becomes again as it was before. People attribute this affection to a divine cause; but it is curable, unless the woman is by nature such as to be affected severely in this affected part. A sign that women are not of this kind is if they are seen not to emit seed, whenever they receive it from the man and do not conceive.
12| Women are also prevented from conceiving if their wombs have a spasm. Spasms occur in the wombs either through inflammation, when the womb is stretched, or in childbirth, when a great mass suddenly falls upon it and the mouth does not open; then a spasm occurs from the stretching. A sign that a woman does not have a spasm is if the womb does not appear to come to inflammation in the course of its own workings; for a womb that has a spasm would sometimes become inflamed. Further, if there is a growth on the mouth of the womb, since it has become much ulcerated, it hinders conception. And a sign that women do not have these conditions is if the womb appears to open well and to close again, whenever their menstrual discharge and their intercourse with a man occur. Further, there are women in whom the mouth of the womb is somehow grown together, in some from birth, in others through disease. This happens and is sometimes curable, sometimes incurable. This is not hard to recognize, if it is present; for it is not possible either to receive anything that is needed or to emit anything. If, then, a woman appears both to receive from the man and to emit, it is clear that this would be a test against the affection. As for those women for whom none of these things is an obstacle, but who are as has been said, if the man is not responsible for the childlessness, or if both are able to produce children but are not matched with one another in emitting seed at the same time but differ greatly, these people will [not] have children.
13| As to whether the causes lie with the man, there are other signs one might take as well; but the easiest to observe would be his approaching other women and begetting children by them. But if a couple are not in step with one another, though everything mentioned is present, they do not beget children. For this shows that this alone is the cause. For if the woman too contributes to the seed and to generation, clearly both partners must run their course together. If, then, the one completes quickly and the other slowly (for women are for the most part slower), this prevents conception; this is why some couples, once paired together, do beget children with one another; while others, who fail to beget together, do run in step in intercourse whenever they happen upon other partners. For if the woman is aroused and prepared and has suitable thoughts, while the man has been previously distressed and chilled, they will necessarily then run out of step with one another. Further, sometimes it happens that women who have had erotic dreams and men who have had intercourse become more vigorous afterward, not in strength but in health. This happens whenever much seed has been collected at the place from which it is emitted. If, then, it departs at that time, the women become no weaker; for they are not always weakened by its departure, when what remains is sufficient — no more than they would be if that seed were both useless and burdensome, as when they are relieved of a surplus;
14| that is why they become more vigorous not in strength but in lightness of body. But when what departs comes from as much as the body needs, then it makes them weaker. And this weakness quickly ceases, if the body is otherwise healthy and the woman is of an age which quickly produces seed again; for this is characteristic of bodies that are growing and of things that are still increasing. And it is precisely then that women most often fail to notice that they have conceived. For they do not think they have conceived unless they perceive it. But those who emit happen to suppose that both must coincide at the same moment, both from the woman and from the man. And it escapes notice most of all in those women who think it impossible to conceive unless the seed is dried up and what was given plainly disappears. But it sometimes happens that both the woman herself and the man emit more than can disappear, more than is sufficient. So whenever a sufficient amount is drawn in but much is left over, then women fail to notice that they have conceived. That such a thing can occur, and that this affection does not arise from the whole of the seed, is shown by all those animals that bear many young from a single mating, and by the generation of twins, when they come from a single mating; for it is clear that they did not come from the whole of it, but a certain place took a part of it, while many times that amount was left over. Further, if many offspring come from a single mating, as is seen sometimes happening among pigs and among twins, it is clear that the seed does not come from the whole of the body, but was apportioned by each kind.
15| For it is possible for a part to be separated off from the whole, and the whole to be divided into many parts. So that it is impossible for it to come both all at once and part by part. Further, the woman emits toward the front of the mouth of the womb, at the same place as the man does, whenever he approaches her. For she draws from there by means of breath, just as with the mouth or the nostrils. For everything that is not brought forward by organs, and does not have an inward growth from above while being hollow, is drawn by breath from this place. That is why women take care that this place become dry in this way, just as it was before this happened. This is the natural character of the passage through which it comes, in women. They have a stalk, just as men have the genital member. But it is at the mouth that they breathe out, for this reason, through a small passage somewhat higher up, by which women urinate. That is why, whenever they are aroused for intercourse, this place is not in the same condition as before they are aroused. Now from this stalk a discharge occurs, and the front part of the womb is much larger than the passage by which it falls into that place. This is, in this respect, similar to the case of the nostrils; for the nostrils have, on the inside, a certain passage toward the throat and toward the outer air; in the same way that organ also has, toward the outside, a passage that is very small and narrow, only enough for the exit of breath, but the passage toward the front of the womb is wide and free-flowing, just as the nostrils have the passage toward the air larger than the one toward the mouth and throat.
16| In the same way, women too have a larger passage toward the front of the womb, and the outer one is wider. Whatever contributes to this produces the same effects, because the woman too emits fertile seed. And these same causes are what occur in her case. For indeed, in the case of those for whom the cause of a disease or of death seems to belong to something else, people look at the last stage in relation to the starting-points, which is what one ought to look at. For in some women these are the primary causes, in others none of them are, and in others some are and some are not. The outcomes, then, correspond in due proportion; and for some it happens that they pass through all of these same affections, for others through many, for those with many causes; for others through few, and for others through none at all, for those who have none.
17| Animals become evident whenever they need to be mated. For they pursue the males — hens, for instance, pursue the male and crouch down themselves, if the male is not eager. Other animals do this too. If then the same affections appear in all animals with regard to intercourse, it is clear that the causes too are the same. But indeed the hen has a desire not only to receive but also to release. Here is a sign of this: if the male is not present, another hen goes under her, and she becomes pregnant, and lays wind-eggs, as though she desires to release her own seed on that occasion too, and does release it, just as when a male copulates with her. Other animals do this as well, since someone has already tested it by rearing singing locusts, taking them while they were still young; and they became pregnant of their own accord. From these facts it is clear that every female contributes to the seed, if indeed this is seen to happen even in a single kind alone, without the male. For the wind-egg creature differs in nothing from a fertile one, except in not generating an animal. And this — that a fertile egg does generate an animal — is because it came from both parents. That is why not everything that comes from the male appears fertile either, but some of it is infertile, whenever what comes from both is not properly fitted together.
18| Further, women too have erotic dreams, and the same affections occur in them after the dream-emission as when they have intercourse with a man: a loosening and a loss of strength. It is clear, then — if they appear to emit seed in the dream-emission — that they contribute to generation on that occasion too, because after the dream-emissions that same place is moistened, and they themselves need the same care for themselves as when they have intercourse with a man. So it is evident that emission of seed occurs from both, if the offspring is to be fertile. The womb does not emit into itself, but outward, to the same place as the man does; then from there it draws the seed in to itself. Of females, some generate offspring from themselves alone — the hen, for instance, generates wind-eggs — but others generate nothing at all, as mares and ewes do not. Or is it rather because the hen emits directly into the womb, and there is no outer place into which she — or the male either — releases seed? That is why, if the cock does not happen to be mating, he pours his seed out onto the ground. But for the four-footed animals there is a separate outer place, into which both the female and the male emit; and in the other animals this female emission is mixed together with the other fluids and does not form a mass in the womb, because it does not pass inside, whereas in hens the womb receives it and concocts it together into a body resembling the true product in other respects, except that it is not an animal.
19| Hence the animal must come from both parents. But one can raise an objection here, if women speak truly when they claim that they rise up dry after a dream-emission. For it is clear that the womb draws the seed upward from below; so why then do females not generate offspring by themselves, since the womb draws in the male's seed too once it is mixed in? Why do not goats likewise draw in their own seed, which extends out to the outside? In goats this condition occurs, and they remain pregnant for many years. For they bear what is called a "mole," as also happened to a certain woman. After she had had intercourse with her husband and believed she had conceived, the mass of her womb grew, and at first the other signs proceeded normally. But when the time for delivery came, she neither gave birth nor did the mass grow smaller; instead she continued in this state for three or four years, until, when dysentery struck and she was in danger, she gave birth to a large mass of flesh, which they call a "mole." In some women the condition even grows old along with them and dies with them. Does this condition arise because of heat, whenever the womb happens to be hot and dry and, on account of this, contracts and draws in toward itself, and does so to such a degree that it is able to take up the seed and hold it fast to itself? For in women so disposed, if what results is not a mixture from both parents, but instead — as with the wind-egg — the womb receives something from one parent alone, then what is called a "mole" occurs: neither an animal, because it does not come from both, nor lifeless, because what was received was itself living, as with wind-eggs.
20| It remains in place for a long time both because of the condition of the womb, and because the hen, laying many eggs into herself, has her womb affected by them one after another, bringing each forward and laying it; and once the womb has opened once, even the last egg comes out. For there is nothing holding it back; rather, once the body has become disposed to release, when it was full it no longer makes the womb resistant to release. In animals that bear live young, because the growing embryo's power keeps changing and needs different nourishment at different times, the womb becomes somewhat inflamed and this brings about birth in the same way. But the flesh of the mole, because it is not an animal, always remains among the undifferentiated things. For one should not suppose that whatever burdens the womb causes any inflammation at all. Hence in some women the condition even dies along with them, unless by the good fortune of some illness it happens otherwise, as with the woman seized by dysentery. Does the condition arise, as has been said, because of heat, or rather because of moisture, in that the mass, so to speak, seals itself shut — or does it arise whenever the womb is neither so cold as to release the mass, nor so hot as to concoct it? That is also why the condition is long-lasting, just as things being boiled that take a long time remain unfinished for a long while. But things properly boiled reach completion, and quickly. Wombs of this sort, being at an extreme, make the time long.
21| Further, its not being an animal — since it does not move — is why it produces no labor pains. For labor pain is a movement of the connective tissues, which the embryo brings about because it is alive. And the hardness that develops in the mass is the result of this obstruction. For it becomes so hard that people cannot cut through it even with an axe. Now boiled things, and everything properly concocted, become soft, while things cut off unconcocted are hard. Many doctors, being ignorant, say — because of the resemblance — that the condition is a "mole," if they merely see the belly swelling without dropsy, together with a withholding of the monthly discharge, whenever this condition becomes prolonged. But this is not so; true moles occur only rarely. At times there is a confluence of cold, moist, watery residues, at other times of thicker ones, into the region around the belly, if a woman's nature or bodily state is of that sort. For these produce neither pain nor heat, on account of their coldness. Having grown, some larger and some smaller, they bring on no other disease beyond themselves, but lie quiet like a kind of deformity. The cessation of the monthly discharge occurs because the residues are used up in this direction instead, just as also happens when women are nursing;
22| for in nursing women too, either it does not occur, or only a little does. And sometimes what flows together out of the flesh into the place between the womb and the belly seems to be a "mole," though it is not. It is not difficult to tell, by touching the womb, whether it is really a mole. For if the womb is compact and shows no enlargement, it is clear that the condition is not in it. But if it is in the state it is in when it holds a child, because it has a mole, it will be hot and cold and dry by turns, because the fluids have turned inward, and its mouth will be in the same state as when women are pregnant. But if the mass is something else, the womb will feel cold to the touch and not dry, and its mouth will always remain unchanged.