It would seem probable that in this erection, contraction,
and descent of the uterus, and its simultaneous expulsion of
mucus, we have the decisive moment in the completion of de-
tumescence in woman, and it is probable that the thick mucus,
unlike the earlier more limpid secretion, which women are some-
times aware of after orgasm, is emitted from the womb at this
time. This is, however, not absolutely certain. Some authori-
ties regard detumescence in women as accomplished in the pour-
ing out of secretions, others in the rhythmic genital contrac-
tions; the sexual parts may, however, be copiously bathed in
mucus for an indefinitely long period before the final stage of
detumescence is achieved, and the rhythmic contractions are
also taking place at a somewhat early period ; in neither respect
is there any obvious increase at the final moment of orgasm.
In women this would seem to be more conspicuously a nervous
manifestation than in men. On the subjective side it is very



' Cf. the discussion of hysteria in "Auto-Erotism," vol. i of these
Studies.
= Hirst, Text-Book of Obstetrics, 1899, p. 67.
EROTIC SYMBOLISM. 161

pronounced, with its feeling of relieved tension and agreeable
repose — a moment when, as one woman expresses it, together
with intense pleasure, there is, as it were, a floating up into a
higher sphere, like the beginning of chloroform narcosis — but
on the objective side this culminating moment is less easy to
define.
