Abstract
It would be logical to believe that the history of the clitoris is part of the history of the external female genitalia. However, this is not the case. Knowledge of the clitoris was acquired at a later date and remained inaccurate and incomplete for a long time. More surprising still, after having finally been the subject of remarkable anatomical studies, the clitoris was then ignored or unknown during certain periods! It was only in the twentieth century that the significance of this anatomical formation was acknowledged and integrated into an actual apparatus: the bulbo-clitoral apparatus.
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Notes
- 1.
This is the case of the most famous of these Venuses, the Venus of Willendorf in Austria (24,000 years B.C.).
- 2.
Min God: one of the oldest divinities in old Egypt (god of fertility and reproduction).
- 3.
The most beautiful of these statuettes was found in a tomb at Badari. It is made out of ivory and dates back to the Predynastic era (4,500 B.C.). Its sexual symbolism is clear (“pubic” vulva, highlighted by a pattern). This statuette is kept at the British Museum.
- 4.
“I only know what women have taught me”, (Des chairs, XIX) in Hippocrates’ complete series of books and written work, Littré, vol.8.
- 5.
Hippocrates (towards 460 c. BC. in the Kos island–towards 370 c. BC at Larissa): Greek physician, “Father of medicine”.
- 6.
(Hippocrates, De naturâ muliebris, Lib II,).
- 7.
Aristotle (384 c. BC in Stagire–322 c. BC in Chalcis): Greek philosopher and scientist, one of Plato’s students. He considerably influenced Hellenistic medicine through his knowledge gained by performing dissections (animal dissections).
- 8.
(Aristotle, Treatise on the generation of animals, first book, chapter XIV, 728 b).
- 9.
(Aristotle, History of animals, Book X, p.637 to 621).
- 10.
(Aristotle History of animals, p 572 a and b).
- 11.
Soranos of Ephesus, a Greek physician, from Ephesus, practised in Rome during the second half of the first century and the beginning of the second century, under the reigns of the emperors Trajan then Adrien.
- 12.
The “methodical” doctrine prohibited, at Soranos, the execution of dissections (whereas dissections will be systematically performed by “dogmatics” such as Galien).
- 13.
(Soranos of Ephesus, Diseases in women 1, tà gynaikeïa, written in Greek and then translated into Latin).
- 14.
Rufus of Ephesus, a Greek physician, also lived during the reign of Trajan and wrote “About the name of the parts of the human body”.
- 15.
Claudius Galenus (Galen) (131 born in Pergamon in Asia Minor, died in 204?, in Rome) was a well-known physician and philosopher. He was the physician of the emperors Marc Aurele and Commode. He was also a great animal anatomist (as the dissection of human cadavers was prohibited in Rome). He is considered as the founding father of pharmacy (oath of Galen….galenics!). His work, which has been translated into Arabic, has largely contributed to the development of Arab medicine and then, in turn, to medieval medicine.
- 16.
Oribase (born around 325 at Pergamon, deceased around 395, in Constantinople) was the last of the famous Greek physicians.
- 17.
Avicenna (980–1037), a Persian physician, scientist and philosopher, wrote a book which has remained well known: Kitab Al Quanûm fi Al-Tibb (Book of the law concerning medicine), known under the abbreviation Quanûm (Canon). This book was written in Persian and was translated, one century and half later, into Latin by Gerard de Crémone, under the title Canon médicinae. It was only printed in Arabic in 1593.
- 18.
Abulcasis (Aboul Kasim Al Zahravi) (936?–1013), a physician and surgeon, rapidly became well known and his reputation reached all of Europe after his death. His major work, Kitab Al-Tasrif (Book of the medical method), is an encyclopaedia: 30 volumes! It was translated into Latin, such as Avicenna’s work, by Gerard de Crémone, during the twelfth century.
- 19.
Mondino de’ Liuzzi, an Italian physician (born in Bologna in 1270 and deceased in the same city in 1326).
- 20.
Until then, cadaveric dissection for gaining anatomical knowledge had been prohibited by the Church. Only a few autopsies were authorised for legal purposes. Thereafter, the progressive transgression of prohibitions was going to finally allow the development of human anatomy.
- 21.
Henri de Mondeville (born in Mondeville in 1260 and deceased in 1320) was a French anatomist, who was the surgeon of kings of France, Philippe le Bel and Louis le Hutin. In 1304, he was named professor in Montpellier (where his students included, among others, the famous Guy de Chauliac). He was also a professor in Bologna.
- 22.
Jacopo Berengario da Carpi, a physician and famous Italian anatomist (born in 1460 in Carpi and deceased in 1530), is one of the first to have included anatomical illustrations with his written work.
- 23.
Charles Estienne, a French physician, anatomist and printer (1504–1564), wrote many books in several fields and [in] especially La Dissection des Parties du corps humain (“the Dissection of the Parts of the human body” (divided into 3 books), published by Simon de Colines (who was his father-in-law), in 1546. This book was the translation of “Dissectione partium corporis humanis”, whose engravings on wood, executed by Estienne de la Rivière, a surgeon and engraver, had been ready since 1539 but whose publication had been interrupted due to a lawsuit for plagiarism. Charles Estienne was a great anatomist who especially discovered the nutrient foramina of the bones and their role.
- 24.
Andreas Vesalius, a physician, humanist and especially a famous anatomist (born in 1514 in Brussels and deceased in 1564 on the Island of Zakynthos, in Greece). He was a Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at Padua and also taught at Pisa and Bologna. It is in 1543 that he published his major work De humani corporis fabrica, in which he dared expose nearly 200 errors made by Galien, which generated considerable enmities. One year later, he left his position at Padua to become the surgeon of the emperor Charles Quint then of Philippe II of Spain. He died on the Island of Zakynthos from typhus when returning from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
- 25.
In Venice, a free city where nobody feared the anger of the Inquisition, we can still see the “Place de l’anatomie” (“Anatomy square”), where “public anatomies” took place (Fig. 1.1). This square is adjacent to a small canal were a gondola would come at night time to recover the leftovers from the dissection and evacuate them further at sea.
- 26.
The first “permanent anatomical amphitheatres” with a central dissection table, concentric observation circles for the students and a pulpit from which the Master anatomist gave his lesson, were only built in 1550 (Salamanca). The very beautiful and very famous amphitheatre of Padua, was only built in 1584, on the initiative of the anatomist Girolamo Fabrizi d’Acquapendente.
- 27.
Matteo Realdo Colombo (1515/1516–1559) was a student of Vesalius, who he replaced to teach anatomy at Padua. He then rowed with Vesalius, who learned that in his absence, his pupil had criticised one of his publications! Colombo then became a permanent Professor of Anatomy at the University of Pisa (in the service of Cosimo de Medici) then a Professor of Anatomy in Rome, at the papal University of Sapienza (in the service of the Pope Jules III). His discoveries (clitoris, stapes bone, pulmonary circulation, position of the kidneys) were all disputed by critics, on the basis that they had already been made by other anatomists. He also completed important research work on the pleura and the peritoneum. He recorded all of his “discoveries” in a remarkable book entitled De re anatomica, which sadly, was only published in 1559, after his death, and which did not contain any diagrams (which were to be completed by his friend, Michelangelo, with whom he shared a passion for cadaveric dissection in Rome). In 1550, he was appointed surgeon of the pope Jules III and remained in his service until his death. Among other things, he performed a dissection on a saint (such as proclaimed by the Church): Ignace de Loyola, deceased in Rome in 1556.
- 28.
This front page represents Colombo performing a dissection in the presence of the famous naturalist-physiologist, Andrea Cesalpino.
- 29.
Similarly to Colombo, Michael Servetus (1511–1553), a Spanish physician and theologist, also described pulmonary circulation, before being burnt to death for being a heretic, in Geneva, in 1553. However, it seems that the original discovery of this small circulation took place beforehand, such as mentioned in the work completed by Ibn al-Nafis (1210–1288), a Syrian physician and anatomist, which had been translated by a friend of Colombo’s.
- 30.
This caused two serious problems for him. He had to appear before the court of the Inquisition and only owed his salvation to his vehement defence, which he ensured himself, supported by his anatomical discoveries. At the end of his inquisitorial lawsuit, he was declared innocent but the publication of his book De re anatomica was prohibited (it was only to be published after his death, thanks to the tenacity of his 2 sons).
- 31.
Gabrielle Falloppio (Fallopius), known in France as Gabriel Fallope (1523–1562), was not only a great anatomist (professor at both Pisa and Padua) but was also a talented botanist. We owe him numerous discoveries, some of which refer to his name: the facial canal (aquaductus Fallopi), the uterine tubes (fallopian tubes) and also the “vagina” (a designation he introduced). He also made several important discoveries in the internal ear region.
- 32.
Thomas Bartholin (1619–1680), a Danish doctor and anatomist, was one of a long line of scientists in his family and is best known for his work on the lymphatic system. It was his son Caspar (the Younger), who first described the greater vestibular gland, which is now referred to as: “Bartholin’s gland”.
- 33.
Anatomia Reformata, which was first published in 1655, was in fact a revised and annotated edition of the work of his father, Caspar (the Elder), Anatomiae Istitutiones Corporis Humani, published in 1611.
- 34.
Jean Riolan the Younger (1577–1657) was doctor to Marie de Medicis and Louis XIII. In 1618, as a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, he published Anthropographia and Osteologia. The book, which was written in Latin, covered the anatomical description of man. A second complete edition was published in 1626. The second edition was translated into French in 1629 by G. Constant, who published it under the title Les œuvres anatomiques de Monsieur Jean Riolan (The Anatomical Works of Mr Jean Riolan).
- 35.
Regnier de Graaf, a Dutch doctor and anatomist (1641–1673) was taught by Sylvius in Paris and then worked at Delft. The year of his death, he and his colleague, Stenon, discovered the ovarian follicle, which adopted his name, “De Graaf follicle”. He also wrote the Histoire anatomique des parties génitales de l’homme et de la femme qui servent à la génération (Anatomical History of the Male and Female Genitalia employed for Generation) published in 1649, at the same time as a suc-pancreatic treatise.
- 36.
Pierre Dionis (1643–1718), obstetrician, was named by Louis XIV as surgeon responsible for teaching anatomy at the King’s Garden in 1672. In 1680 he became surgeon in ordinary to Queen Marie Thérèse, before being named first surgeon to the children of France in 1712. In 1713, he became the Duchess of Berry’s obstetrician. In 1715, he was called upon to assist Louis XIV in his last moments.
- 37.
Casserio Giulio (Julius Casserius Placentinus), whose date of birth is unknown (1552 ?) and who died in 1616, was a remarkable anatomist. He was a Professor of Anatomy, Physics and Surgery at the University of Padua, and like his great predecessors, he left numerous works on anatomy enriched with superb illustrations. His works on the sensory organs and the larynx are still relevant today.
- 38.
Govard Bidloo (1649–1713), Dutch doctor and anatomist, was a professor at Leiden and published an anatomical treatise, “Ontleding des menschelyken lichaams” in 1685, which contained 105 plates of anatomical drawings engraved from G. de Lairesse’s remarkable original drawings, which had themselves been published by their author by 1680 (Fig. 1.4). These drawings were reused by English anatomist William Cowper in his Anatomy of the human bodies of 1698, which earned this author an accusation of plagiarism and a violent quarrel with his colleague Bidloo.
- 39.
John Bell (1763–1820) was not only an excellent anatomist and a great vascular surgeon (he contributed to this specialisation’s beginnings) but also a talented artist. He was responsible for many of the illustrations to his own works. He wrote “Anatomy of the human body” in collaboration with his younger brother, Charles Bell, who became a celebrated neuroanatomist.
- 40.
Georg Ludwig Kobelt (1804–1857), a German anatomist, only joined the Faculty of Medicine after abandoning his legal studies that held no interest for him. He became a Professor of Anatomy at the University of Freiburg and also taught at Heidelberg. A keen dissector, he left some remarkable anatomical specimens, preserved in the anatomical collections of the two cities. He died of tuberculosis.
- 41.
The Breviary of Experimental Love (Payot) was written “on the occasion of the marriage of Prince Napoleon and Princess Clothilde of Savoy. It was discretely read by numerous physicians and a privileged few (Prince Napoleon, Claude Bernard, the actress Virginie Dejazet, Georges Masson, Georges Sand, Sainte-Beuve and the archbishop of Rheims.)
- 42.
Thus, today we are puzzled when consulting Bourgery and Jacob’s magnificent book from 1866 to 1867, in which an isolated clitoris is described, without the spongy bulbs (which are described later in the book, under their ancient name of “retiform plexus”).
- 43.
Brown died miserably, paralysed after several heart attacks and had to be financially assisted by a “Baker Brown Charitable Fund” contributed to by physicians and rather non-vindictive former patients, which had been operated.
- 44.
Some cases of “therapeutic” clitoridectomies, thankfully exceptional, were published until 1940.
- 45.
Edouard Joseph Louis Marie van Beneden (1846–1910), a renowned embryologist, was a Professor of Zoology, Anatomy and Comparative Physiology and Embryology at the University of Liège. He provided evidence not only for the fecundation process but also for the meiosis and mitosis processes.
- 46.
It is recalled that previous physicians referred to the liquid, which moistens the vagina during sexual excitation, “cyprine”. They believed it to be secreted by the clitoris and that this secretion played a role during fecundation.
- 47.
Sigismund Schlomo Freud (1856–1939) simplified his name in 1877 and was thereafter called Sigmund Freud. As neurologist and physician, and student of Meynert and Charcot, he became Professor and Director of Neurology at the “Clinique des Enfants malades” (Sick Children’s Clinic). He then settled in Vienna, which he only left in 1938 for London, after the Nazi invasion of Austria. He was the founder and uncontested Master of psychoanalysis. He was first diagnosed with oral cancer in 1923 and eventually died despite going through at least thirty different operations.
- 48.
Relationships of the bulbo-clitoral organ, connections with the Urethra, Chap. 13, p. 114–120.
- 49.
Dr. Alfred Charles Kinsey, Professor of Entomology and Zoology, published two books on human sexual behaviour with an enormous impact: Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male in 1948 and Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female in 1953. The latter was translated into French in 1954 as Comportement sexuel de la femme.
- 50.
William Howell Masters, a gynaecologist, and Virginia Eshelman Johnson, a psychologist, are known for their remarkable work on human sexuality in 1957–1965. Most notably, they described the various phases of sexual intercourse (see Chap. 15) and studied treatments for sexual disorders and dysfunctions.
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Di Marino, V., Lepidi, H. (2014). History of the Clitoris. In: Anatomic Study of the Clitoris and the Bulbo-Clitoral Organ. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04894-9_1
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