472 



SEMEN. 



secretory operations ; for, as Bichat observed, 

 respecting the inflammation and suppuration 

 of the testicle after its complete isolation from 

 the larger masses of the nervous system, the 

 establishment and maintenance of a morbid 

 secretion was just as conclusive evidence of 

 the independent character of the process, as 

 if the normal product of the testis had been 

 continued.* 



Upon all these grounds we feel justified in 

 asserting, that no adequate ground has yet 

 been furnished by pathological observation 

 and experiment, for the establishment of any 

 other doctrine as to the relation between the 

 nervous system and the organic functions, than 

 the last of those just stated. It is perfectly 

 conformable to the facts supplied by com- 

 parative physiology, and by the history of 

 developement ; and may be said to rest upon 

 them as upon a broad foundation. It har- 

 monises sufficiently well with the results of 

 experiment and pathological observation on 

 man and the higher animals, to be considered 

 as giving the most satisfactory interpretation 

 of them which, in the present state of our 

 knowledge, seems likely to be attained ; and 

 if it be not the whole truth, is evidently not 

 far from it. On the other hand, the doctrine 

 that nervous influence is essential to the per- 

 formance of the nutritive and secretory oper- 

 ations, is opposed to the mass of phenomena 

 presented in the vegetable world, in the lower 

 tribes of the animal creation, and in the his- 

 tory of the developement of the higher ; to the 

 exact knowledge we now possess of the 

 structure of glands themselves ; and even to 

 the results of those experiments and patho- 

 logical observations which have been relied 

 upon to prove it, when these are carefully 

 sifted. ( W. B. Carpenter.') 



SEMEN. Sperma; Sperm, Engl.; Gr. 

 o-Trepjun ; (Term. Samen ; Fr. Sperme. Male 

 animals, when perfectly developed and capable 

 of procreation, secrete a thickish white fluid 

 in their testicles, which possesses the faculty 

 of inciting the generative parts of correspond- 

 ing female individuals to a series of processes, 

 the ultimate result of which is the developement 

 of the embryo. This fluid, so indispensably 

 necessary as the medium of sexual generation, 

 is the seed or semen. 



Histological elements of the semen. Mi- 

 croscopic analysis proves that the most essen- 

 tial morphological constituent of the semen 

 consists in the spermatozoa (animalcula sper- 

 matica), a number of corporeal elements, dis- 

 tinguished by their specific shape, and by their 

 pecul ar phenomena of vitality. The attention 

 of physiologists and others has been actively 

 directed towards them, ever since their dis"~ 

 rovery by Ham and Lcitwenhock ; and the most 

 varied and frequently the wildest assumptions 

 and conjectures have been occasioned in con- 

 sequence. In spite of the intimate relation 

 which they evidently occupy with regard to 

 the procreative capacity of the semen, they 



* Anatomic Gcne'rale, toru. iv. p. C01. 



have been considered, even up to the most 

 recent period, as independent animal orga- 

 nizations, or parasitical animals. The reason 

 adduced for such a conjecture is the peculiar 

 motion which may be observed in almost all 

 of these formations, and which in many cases 

 bears a striking resemblance to voluntary mo- 

 tion. This assumption, however, is perfectly 

 irreconcileable with our present knowledge of 

 the quality and developement of these bodies, 

 based as it is principally upon the discoveries 

 of It. Wagner, Van Sic-bold, and Kolliker. 



With our present means of a scientific diag- 

 nosis, it can be proved that the formations in 

 question are mere elementary constituents of 

 the animal organization, like the ova, consti- 

 tuents equally as necessary for the spermatic 

 fluid as the blood-globules are for the blood. 

 The remarkable phenomena of the life of sper- 

 matozoa are quite analogous to those pheno- 

 mena of motion observable not only in animal 

 formations, but also in vegetable structures; 

 as, for instance, in the spores of the algae 

 and of the lower species of fungi, in the 

 so termed vibriones, which grow out into the 

 fibres of the conferva called " hygrogrocis." 



The denomination of " animalcula sperma- 

 tica, spermatozoa," is based upon the assump- 

 tion that these moveable elements of the semen 

 are animated organizations endowed with all 

 the attributes of animals ; and they were, ac- 

 cordingly, classified among the Infusoria or 

 Helminthea. Kolliker*, the first who most 

 distinctly expressed the assertion that the so 

 called spermatozoa are mere elementary parts 

 of the organization, mere histological ele- 

 ments, applied to them the name of fila spcr- 

 matlca ; a designation which would certainly 

 be appropriate, if all the formations in ques- 

 tion possessed a linear form. V. Siebold'f, 

 rejecting the old name on the same grounds, 

 has proposed that of spermatozoides, which, 

 however, we consider as still less happily 

 chosen. We confess that we cannot exactly 

 see the necessity of creating a new designation 

 for these spermatic elements at all, the less 

 so as many names in our scientific nomen- 

 clature specify something quite different from 

 that which they immediately indicate. We 

 shall therefore principally use for the future 

 the old name of spermatozoa, admitting at the 

 same time that it is not quite a suitable one, 

 and that it might probably be better expressed 

 by the designation of corpuscula seminis, or 

 spermatococci, by which they have occasion- 

 ally been distinguished. 



The spermatozoa, or corpuscula seminis, 

 ar:- not merely normal, but in fact the essen- 

 tial constituents of the procreative semen. 

 Indeed, it appears, in many cases, espe- 

 cially among the lower animals, that they 

 are its only constituents. The presence of 

 a fluid, liquor seminis, to hold them in sus- 



* Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Gesclilochtsver- 

 hjiltnissi'ii und der Samenfliissigkeit \virbellosen 

 Tliiere. Ik-rlin, 1841. 



f Ubcr die Spermatozooiden der Locustinen. 

 From the Acta Acad. Leop. Carol, Nat. Cur. vol. 

 xxi. Part I. S. 1. 



