AND PREGNANCY. 365 



lation.* Leeuwenhoeck, in the case of rabbits. Ruysch found 

 it not only in the uterus, but in the Fallopian tubes of two wo- 

 men killed in the act of adultery. f Postellus, Riolan, Carpus, 

 and Cheselden also believed they found it in the uterus. J Haller 

 once found it in the uterus of a sheep, forty-five minutes after 

 coition. § Fallopius frequently found it in the tubes. j| Haller 

 very justly remarks that some of those who believed they saw 

 semen in the uterus, probably saw mucus only. He inclines, 

 however, with almost all physiologists, to the opinion that 

 the semen does enter the uterus. The length of the penis, * 

 the force of emission, the peristaltic action of the vagina during 

 the heat of some brutes,** the existence of a bifid glans with two 

 orifices in the penis of the males of some species the females 

 of which have two ora uteri, f f are circumstances of no little 

 weight in favour of the opinion that the semen does pene- 

 trate at least into the uterus. Mr. Hunter, however, actually 

 saw it projected into the uterus of a bitch ' which he killed by 

 dividing the spinal marrow while united with the male. J J 



Dr. Haighton, with the view of ascertaining whether it is 

 necessary to impregnation that the semen pass along the Fallo- 

 pian tubes, made a number of experiments on the effects of tying 

 and dividing them in rabbits at different periods relative to 



* Galen, De semine. lib. i. c. 2. 



•f Ruysch, Thes. Anat. p. 90. tab. vi. fig. I. 



J Boerhaave, Pralect. Acad. Haller's note to p. 1 82. T. 6. 



§ Haller, Elementa Physiol. T. 8. p. 22. 



II Opera, i. fol. m. 421. 



** See, for instance, the Med. Chir. Trans. Vol. x. p. 266. 



ft Account of the structure of the Wombat, by Sir E. Home. Phil. Trans. 

 1798. ' 



XX Home, Phil. Trans. 1817. Saumarez, 1. c. p. 429. 



Mr. Saumarez observed in two instances, when two hours and a half only 

 had elapsed after coition, and before corpora lutea were formed, globular, 

 pearl-coloured bodies as large as a pin's head, which, on being squeezed, burst 

 and discharged a very subtle fluid to some distance. Dr. Haighton commonly 

 met with them. Whether these were semen, having undergone some change, 

 is uncertain. 



The 



