so unyielding as to require
the aid of a knife before coition can take place.

4. THE PRESENCE OF THE HYMEN was formerly considered a test of
virginity, but this theory is no longer held by competent authorities,
as disease or accidents or other circumstances may cause its rupture.

5. THE OVARIES.--The ovaries are little glands for the purpose of
forming the female ova or egg. They are not fully developed until the
period of puberty, and usually are about the size of a large chestnut.
The are located in the broad ligaments between the uterus and the
Fallopian tubes. During pregnancy the ovaries change position; they
are brought farther into the abdominal cavity as the uterus expands.

6. OFFICE OF THE OVARY.--The ovary is to the female what the testicle
is to the male. It is the germ vitalizing organ and the most essential
part of the generative apparatus. The ovary is not only an organ for
the formation of the ova, but is also designed for their separation
when they reach maturity.

7. FALLOPION TUBES.--These are the ducts that lead from the ovaries to
the uterus. They are entirely detached from the glands or ovaries, and
are developed on both sides of the body.

8. OFFICE OF THE FALLOPIAN TUBES.--The Fallopian tubes have a double
office: receiving the ova from the ovaries and conducting it into
the uterus, as well as receiving the spermatic fluid of the male and
conveying it from the uterus in the direction of the ovaries, the
tubes being the seat of impregnation.

[Illustration: OVUM.]

9. STERILITY IN FEMALES.--Sterility in the female is sometimes caused
by a morbid adhesion of the tube to a portion of the ovary. By what
power the mouth of the tube is directed toward a particular portion
of an ovary, from which the ovum is about to be discharged, remains
entirely unknown, as does also the precise nature of the cause which
effects this movement.

[Illustration: Ripe Ovum from the Ovary.]

* * * * *

THE MYSTERIES OF THE FORMATION OF LIFE.

1. SCIENTIFIC THEORIES.--Darwin, Huxley, Haeckel, Tyndall, Meyer,
and other renowned scientists, have tried to find the _missing link_
between man and animal; they have also exhausted their genius in
trying to fathom the mysteries of the beginning of life, or find where
the animal and mineral kingdoms unite to form life; but they have
added to the vast accumulation of theories only, and the world is but
little wiser on this mysteri