In 1844 Kobelt wrote in his important book, _Die
Mannlichen und Weiblichen Wollust-Organe_, that in his attempt to show
that the female organs are exactly analogous to the male the reader will
probably be unable to follow him, while even Johannes Mueller, the father
of scientific physiology, declared at about the same period that the
clitoris is essentially different from the penis. It is indeed but three
centuries since the clitoris was so little known that (in 1593) Realdus
Columbus actually claimed the honor of discovering it. Columbus was not
its discoverer, for Fallopius speedily showed that Avicenna and Albucasis
had referred to it.[85] The Arabs appear to have been very familiar with
it, and, from the various names they gave it, clearly understood the
important part it plays in generating voluptuous emotion.[86] But it was
known in classic antiquity; the Greeks called it myrton, the myrtle-berry;
Galen and Soranus called it nymphe because it is covered as a bride is
veiled, while the old Latin name was _tentigo_, from its power of entering
into erection, and _columella_, the little pillar, from its shape. The
modern term, which is Greek and refers to the sensitiveness of the part to
voluptuous titillation, is said to have originated with Suidas and
Pollux.
Pages:
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275