954 OP GENERATION. 



ticle itself; hence no accurate analysis can be made of it in the Human sub- 

 ject. The peculiar odor which the Semen possesses does not appear to belong 

 to the proper spermatic fluid ; but is probably derived from one or other of the 

 secretions with which it is mingled. The chemical analyses which have been 

 made of this fluid are all defective, inasmuch as they do not distinguish the 

 real secretion of the testes from the mucus, prostatic fluid, &c., with which it is 

 mingled. It may be stated, however, that it has an alkaline reaction, and con- 

 tains albumen, with a peculiar animal principle termed Spermatin ; and also 

 saline matter, consisting chiefly of muriates and phosphates, especially the lat- 

 ter, which form crystals when the fluid has stood for some little time. 



958. The essential peculiarity of the Spermatic fluid consists in the presence 

 of a large number of very minute bodies, only discernible with a high power 

 of the Microscope ; and these, in ordinary cases, remain in active motion for 

 some time after they have quitted the living organism. The Human Sperma- 

 tozoon (of which representations are given in Plate I., Fig. 1) consists of a little 

 oval flattened " body" between the l-600th and the l-800th of a line in length, 

 from which proceeds a long filiform "tail," gradually tapering to the finest point, 

 of l-50th or at most l-40th of a line in length. The whole is perfectly trans- 

 parent; and nothing that can be termed structure can be satisfactorily distin- 

 guished within it. Its movements are principally executed by the tail, which 

 has a kind of vibratile undulating motion. They may continue for many hours 

 after the emission of the fluid; and they are not checked by its admixture with 

 other secretions, such as the urine and the prostatic fluid. Thus, in cases of 

 nocturnal emission, the Spermatozoa may not unfrequently be found actively 

 moving through the urine in the morning ; and those contained in the seminal 

 fluid collected from females that have just copulated, are frequently found to 

 live many days. Their presence maybe readily detected by a Microscope- of 

 sufficient power, even when they have long ceased to move, and are broken into 

 fragments; and the Physician and the Medical Jurist will frequently derive 

 much assistance from an examination of this kind. Thus, cases are of no un- 

 common occurrence, especially among those who have been too much addicted 

 to sexual indulgence, in which seminal emissions take place unconsciously and 

 frequently, and produce great general derangement of the health ; and the true 

 nature of the complaint is obscure, until the fact has been detected by ocular 

 examination. Again, in charges of rape, in which evidence of actual emission 

 is required, a microscopic examination of the stiffened spots left on the linen 

 will seldom fail in obtaining proof, if the act have been completed : in such 

 cases, however, we must not expect to meet with more than fragments of Sper- 

 matozoa; but these are so unlike anything else, that little doubt need be enter- 

 tained regarding them. It has been proposed to employ the same test in juri- 

 dical inquiries respecting doubtful cases of death by suspension, seminal emis- 

 sions being not unfrequent results of this kind of violence; but there are many 

 obvious objections which should prevent much confidence being placed in it. 1 



959. The mode of evolution of the Spermatozoa, first discovered by Wagner, 

 and more perfectly elucidated by Kolliker, is such as to indicate that these 

 bodies are true products of the formative action of the organs in which they 

 are found, and cannot be ranked (as they long were) in the same category with 

 Animalcules. They are developed in the interior of cells, or " vesicles of evo- 

 lution," such as are visible in the seminal fluid in various stages of develop- 

 ment (Plate I., Fig. 2, A, B, c), and have been known under the name of 

 " seminal granules." These appear to have been themselves formed within 

 parent-cells, which are probably to be regarded as the epithelial cells of the 



1 See the Author's Article " Asphyxia," in the "Library of Practical Medicine," and 

 tfie authorities there referred to. 



