THE SEXUAL ORGANS. 623 



aspect, and, particularly in a lateral view, dark borders. The pale 

 filamentary portion has an average length of 0'02 of a line, and at its 

 anterior end, where it joins the broader extremity of the body, with a 

 slight constriction, it is wider (0-0003-0-0005 of a line, and also flat- 

 tened, being gradually prolonged into an extremely fine point, scarcely 

 visible even under the highest magnifying powers. In vigorous men 

 the semen, throughout the vas deferens and in the globus minor of the 

 epididymis is composed of these corpuscles, occasionally intermixed 

 with isolated granules, nuclei, and cells, whilst in the upper part of the 

 epididymis and in the body of the testis other elements, such as the above- 

 described cells and cysts, preponderate more and more, and finally con- 

 stitute the entire secretion. These spermatic cells and cysts, as I term 

 them, have a definite relation to the spermatic filaments, for in each 

 nucleus, as was first shown by me, a spermatic filament is developed on 

 the inner wall, in the form of a spiral corpuscle with two or three turns. 

 How this really arises is unknown; very probably as a sort of deposit 

 from the contents of the nucleus, which at the same time become clear, 

 in the same way as the spiral filaments of the vegetable cell are formed ; 

 but it may at all events be asserted as a positive fact, that the testis 

 itself is the proper site of this development, so that, under normal condi- 

 tions, developed, spermatic filaments may always be found in the nuclei, 

 in the internal portions of the gland, and frequently in every seminiferous 

 tube without exception. But in the normal course of things the sper- 

 matic filaments in the testis itself do not become liberated at all, or in 

 very small proportion, and the tubuli seminiferi, consequently, are by 

 no means the situation in which spermatic filaments are to be sought 

 for, although even here, on the addition of water, which causes the sub- 

 stance by which they are enclosed to burst, they will always be found. 

 They do not occur in the free state before reaching the rete testis and 

 coni vasculosi. First, the nuclei burst, and the filaments remain in the 

 spermatic cells, in which, when numerous (1020), they are very regu- 

 larly disposed in close apposition, with the heads and tails together, in 

 a curved bundle, or when in less number, confusedly aggregated. Ulti- 

 mately these cells and cysts also burst, the filaments are liberated, and, 

 forming a dense entangled crowd, entirely fill the epididymis, still in 

 part associated in bundles, which, however, also are soon broken up, in 

 part isolated. In the lower portion of the epididymis, the entire pro- 

 cess of development is usually concluded, though it happens, not unfre- 

 quently, that isolated transitional forms are conveyed still farther, and 

 are not completely developed before reaching the vas deferens. 



The semen, regarded as a whole, as it is found in the vas deferens, is 

 a whitish, viscid, inodorous material, consisting almost entirely of sper- 

 matic filaments, and containing between those bodies an extremely 

 minute quantity of a connective fluid. The chemical composition of 



