Sex efficiency through exercises : special physical culture for women / by Th. H. van de Velde ; [photos, by E. Steinemann].
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in the anterior (fore) portion of the levator, i.e., the levator vaginae. For this important muscular mechanism may be set in motion separately and independently. Further, it is possible—and for full sex efficiency, necessary—to be able to set the sphincter muscle at the entrance of the vagina—the so- called Constrictor Cunni—and the lower anterior part of the levator, in motion separately and independently of one another. I would refer to Plate IV., which shows both the superficial Constrictor Cunni and part of the levator above it, in section. But it should be borne in mind that the fibres of the L. V.— here shown in section—do not run in the direction b—c—d, but are intersected diagonally ; as is also the C. C. Thus, the fibres of the L. V. are not parallel to the axis of the vagina, as might be inferred, but transverse to it. Moreover—and I would lay special stress on this—the whole levator stratum, as depicted in section on Plate IV., is somewhat exaggerated. In reality, this stratum has not the even convex curve downward, suggested in the broken line b—c—d. In its foremost region, where it encircles the vaginal walls just over midway (from outer orifice to fornix), the muscle shows a shallow inward curve or hour-glass contraction (c in Plate IV.), and fits closely to the vagina. Many anatomists have confirmed this structural peculiarity, and during gynaecological examination it may be proved, for, if the woman " draws in " or contracts her levator against the examining physician's finger, there is often a perceptible contraction, not only in the lower third of the vagina—as shown in b—but a separate pressure and contraction, higher up and deeper inside ; and this higher, interior, contractile zone may be very narrow, and operates not from back to front, but from either side. If it is gently tapped by the intromittent finger, like a harp-string, there is a momentary increase of tension and a closer contraction. And, in cases of extreme irritability of the levator, there may be a most distressing cramp supervening both during lengthy gynaeco- logical examinations and in actual coitus (Vaginismus superior). It is more or less painful, sometimes acutely so, and may catch up and grip the male organ just behind the Corona Glandis (rear rim of the tip) so tightly that it cannot