A LIPO-GEL REACTION. 237 



24 to 30 hours at room temperature. On two occasions sperma- 

 tozoa that had been kept in the refrigerator for nine days showed 

 motility when brought into room temperature. 1 Spermatozoa 

 removed and kept under aseptic conditions may remain alive for 

 eight days in the refrigerator and for four or five days at room 

 temperature. Even infected spermatozoa retain their motility 

 for some time and move through the field of the microscope 

 carrying bacteria with them. I have injected spermatozoa from 

 the ram into the excised uterus of a sheep. In two hours the 

 spermatozoa were found to have penetrated into the uterine 

 tube but they were greatly damaged and fragmented and many 

 of them had been phagocitized. Those spermatozoa which were 

 still alive were in a state of agitation and covered with bacteria. 

 It appears that the surface of the spermatozoa is very sticky 

 and that all kinds of particles therefore adhere readily to them. 2 



The spermatozoa are placed normally in a very infected organ, 

 namely, the vagina. The penis itself bears some species of 

 bacteria and at all events at the moment of copulation many 

 bacteria are introduced from the outside into the vagina. These 

 bacteria are carried up into the uterine tubes by the spermatozoa 

 and constitute a menace for the peritoneum which is well known 

 to be exceedingly sensitive to infection. The agglutination of 

 the spermatozoa by the follicular fluid would hold these bacteria 

 and permit them to be phagocytized more readily, thus protecting 

 the peritoneum from possible infection. 



This hypothesis of the protective role of the coagulating 

 substance in the follicular fluid does not exclude the possible 

 importance of this fluid in fertilization; also it is not possible, 

 at the present time, to estimate more accurately the practical 

 efficacy of this protective role of the coagulating substance. 3 



1 The same observation on favorable effect of low temperature upon longevity 

 of spermatozoa has been repeatedly made e.g. by Redenz in the paper already 

 mentioned; Cf. also Mettenheimer, M., "Sperma und kunstliche Befruchtung bei 

 Mensch und Tier," Munch. Med. Woch., schr. 72, Jahr. g. 1925, p. 977; Metten- 

 heimer, M., Arch. f. Gynak., 1925, Bd. 162, p. 215. 



2 I found after I finished my work, that the proof that spermatozoa may trans- 

 port bacteria was already furnished by Rotter, "\Yie ascendiert die Gonorrhoe," 

 Archiv f. Gyndkologie, Bd. 117, S. 153. This author has proved that spermatozoa 

 can transport Bacillus sublilis and gonococcus. 



3 1 am obliged for editing this paper to Dr. Libbie Hyman to whom I express 

 mv best thanks. 



