OP THE GENITAL FUNCTION IN MAN. 321 



at present to remark, that they have no fecundating 

 principle, and much less are the germs of future off- 

 spring. (G) 



529. The genital fluid gradually collected in the 

 vesicles is retained for subsequent excretion, and by 

 its stay experiences changes nearly similar to those 

 of the bile in the gall bladder, — becoming more inspis- 

 sated and concentrated by the removal of its watery 

 portion.* 



530. As the whole of the testis and spermatic chord 

 abounds in lymphatic vessels, which carry back to the 

 blood a fluid with a seminal impregnation and thus 

 facilitate the secretion of semen in the manner before 

 described (477) ; so the vesiculee seminales are like- 

 wise furnished with a similar set of vessels, which, by 

 absorbing the inert watery part, render the remaining 

 semen more powerful. 



531. But I very much doubt whether, the semen is 

 ever absorbed during health; still more that it ever 

 passes into the neighbouring veins; and most of all, 

 that by this absorption, if it does occur, unseasonable 

 venereal appetites are prevented, since, if we compare 

 the phenomena of animals, procreating at particular 

 periods, with the constitution of those which are cas- 

 trated, we must conclude that this absorption is rather 

 the cause of ungovernable and almost rabid lust, 



* A paradoxical opinion was formerly entertained by some, — that the semen 

 is not discharged from the vesicnlae seminales but from the vasa defercntia, and 

 that the fluid of the vesicles is not truly spermatic and derived from the testis, 

 but of quite another kind and secreted in peculiar glands belonging to the 

 vesicles. This has gained some advocates among the moderns. J. Hunter, 

 On certain parts of the Animal Economy, p. 27. J. A. Chaptal, Journal tie 

 Physique. Febr. 1787. p. 101. It has been refuted by Sommcrring, in the 

 Bibliotheca Medica which 1 edited, vol. iii. p. 87. (H.) 



Y 



