(The case has even been recorded
of a prostitute with syphilitic condylomata, a somewhat masculine
type of pubic arch, and vulva rather posteriorly placed, whose
hymen had never been penetrated.) The hymen may be of a yielding
or folding type, so that complete penetration may take place and
yet the hymen be afterwards found unruptured. It occasionally
happens that the hymen is found intact at the end of pregnancy.
In some, though not all, of these cases there has been conception
without intromission of the penis. This has occurred even when
the entrance was very minute. The possibility of such conception
has long been recognized, and Schurig (_Syllepsilogia_, 1731,
Section I, cap. VIII, p. 2) quotes ancient authors who have
recorded cases. For some typical modern cases see Guerard
(_Centralblatt fuer Gynaekologie_, No. 15, 1895), in one of whose
cases the hymen of the pregnant woman scarcely admitted a hair;
also Braun (ib., No. 23, 1895).
The hymen has played a very definite and pronounced part in the social and
moral life of humanity. Until recently it has been more difficult to
decide what precise biological function it has exercised to ensure its
development and preservation.
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