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LIBS #. 



V 

 PREFACE "^ 



When I took up my studies on semen in 1944, on behalf of the 

 Agricultural Research Council, I became painfully aware of the 

 fact that information on the physiology of semen, its chemical 

 aspects in particular, is rather difficult to come by; the older 

 observations and records being hidden away in books and 

 journals not readily accessible in any but the best equipped 

 libraries, and moreover, scattered throughout an exceptionally 

 wide range of publications, which embrace disciplines as far 

 apart as say, agriculture, urology and cytology. Judging from 

 numerous requests for information, received from fellow 

 workers in the field, biochemists, clinicians, zoologists and 

 veterinary officers alike, the absence of a fairly comprehensive 

 and up-to-date treatise on the chemical physiology of semen 

 must have proved a serious handicap to many in their scientific 

 and practical pursuits. Therefore, I accepted gladly the invita- 

 tion to write this book; having agreed to produce but a 'little 

 book', I have often found it rather irksome to condense the 

 vast mass of data into the allotted space; had it not been for 

 the encouragement and ready help of colleagues — my wife not 

 least among them, the task would have been even more 

 burdensome. 



Biochemistry of semen is a relatively modern, but rapidly 

 expanding, field of physiology; consequently, many of our 

 present views, particularly as regards the biological significance 

 of various chemical constituents of semen, may have to be 

 revised or modified in the near future. That being so, I like to 

 look upon this book, or at any rate, those parts of it which 

 deal with the newer, still fluid concepts, as something in the 

 nature of an Interim Report, designed to furnish information 

 and to convey ideas emerging from the state of knowledge as 

 available at the time of writing, however imperfect that may be. 

 In presenting the recently acquired evidence, I have tried to 

 render justice to developments in the sphere of mammalian as 



