Under such conditions, the penis is inserted into the widened and distended vaginal passage.  Once together, a mutual back and forth, or partly in and out movement, of the organs is begun and carried on by the man and woman, which action further enlarges the parts and raises them to a still higher degree of tension and excitement.  It is supposed by some that this frictional movement of the parts develops an electrical current, which increases in tension as the act is continued; and that it is the mission of the pubic hair, which is a non-conductor, to confine these currents to the parts in contact.

Now there are two other glands in these organs; one in the male and one in the female, which performs a most wonderful function in this part of the sexual act.  These are the “glans penis” in the male and the “clitoris” in the female.  The first is located at the apex of the male organ, and the other at the upper-middle and exterior part of the vulva.  These glands are covered with a most delicate cuticle, and are filled with highly sensitive nerves.  As the act progresses, these glands become more and more sensitized, and nervously surcharged, until, as a climax, they finally cause a sort of nervous explosion of the organs involved.  This climax is called an “orgasm” in scientific language.  Among most men and women it is spoken of as “spending.”

On the part of the man, this orgasm causes the semen, which till this instant has remained in the prostate pocket, to be suddenly driven out of this place of deposit, and thrown in jets, and with spasmodic force, through the entire length of the penis, and, as it were, shot into the vaginal passage and the uterine cavity, till the whole region is literally deluged with the life-giving fluid.  At the same time, the mouth of the womb opens wide; and into it pours, or rushes, this “father stuff,” entirely surrounding and flooding the ovum, if it be in the womb.  This is the climax of the sexual act, which is called “coitus,” a word which means, going together.

With the myriads of spermatozoa swarming about it, if the vital part of the ovum comes in contact with some one of them, any one of which, brought into such contact, will fertilize it, conception results.  The woman is then pregnant, and the period of gestation is begun.

This is a brief description of the act of coitus and of the means by which pregnancy takes place.  It is, however, only a small part of the story of the sex relations of husbands and wives; and, be it said, a very small part of that, as will now be shown.

As has already been said, this use of the sex organs, merely to produce progeny, and so insure a continuance of the race, is a quality that mankind shares with all the rest of the animal kingdom.  In all essentials, so far as the material parts of the act are concerned, the beginnings of the new life in the human family differ not a whit from that of any other mammals.  In each case the ovum is produced by the ovaries of the female, passes into the womb, is there met by the semen from the male, fertilized by the spermatozoa, and so the foetus gets its start.  This is the universal means by which the beginnings of all animal reproductive life takes place.